Straw is not our thing

[Finn's Mom]

Apparently there is to be NO STRAW in the nesting boxes, Thank You.
I got excited for our first possible eggs and bought a bale of straw (90% of which is still in my garage waiting for it's mice inhabitants) and put some in the nesting boxes which have always had pine shavings in the bottom.
In my newbie excitement, I thought they would be pleased with me since they are a few days or as much as a week off from their possible first egg laying date and was surprised and amused to see that the straw had been moved not only from the nest boxes, but also all the way to the exit door where I scoop out the coop!
What happened to the cute little nests? Did I wait too long?

 

[Ravishaw]

they were impressed with you!

 

[sonjab314]

I put straw in for my girls and they love it. Even my rooster sleeps in one of the boxes

 

[Stonerowfarm]

Straw is fun to play with, especially for young chickens. I actually use hay, stolen from the goats. It's nice and soft and usually has some green to it. I load the nesting boxes but also scatter some around the run for the chickens to play with. Hopefully your girls will get the idea and leave the hay in the boxes for their eggs.

 

[nancy1zak]

My chickens played around with the straw in the nest boxes when they were young. They kicked it out and carried it around in their mouths. So, I gave up and just put pine shavings in the nest boxes. Once they started laying I tried the straw again since I had a bunch and was worried it would attract mice, and now they leave it in the nest boxes. Try it again once they start to lay eggs.

 

[crj]

I have 2 female Marans that do not like hay or pine shavings in the nestbox. They are still very young and probably not sure what that brown thing is that comes out of there butts. One lays on the floor of the coop, the perch and even outside on the ground. The other hen lays hers in the nest box. What she does do though is, push the pine shavings AND the hay against the wall of the nestbox. She has a nice circle of nothing on the bottom of the box. Problem is with both of these girls is that the egg must plop out because once in a while I'll get one that has a dent in it. So, I took a paper feed bag (empty) and cut it up into pieces that would fit the base of the next box. One bag per nest box. Then I put the shavings and hay in it. They may still push away the hay and shavings but at least now the egg will have a soft landing. The one that lays in the nextbox will even hide the egg in the front corner under the hay and shavings. Figure that one out. She may be embarrassed and doesn't want anyone to know about the egg.

BTW, chickens like mice!

 

[Jiff]

My girls laid on shavings for the first few months, molted for a few months, and when they started laying again they refused to lay on the shavings. They would lay their eggs near the box but not in it and would kick the shavings out. We replaced the shavings with an astro-turf/plastic outdoor rug and they have been laying in the box on the rug ever since. I like it a lot better too, it cushions the egg well and instead of having to buy shavings or straw I just rinse off the rug if it gets dirty.