The best nest box bedding!!!!

[bald k9]

Hello hope this is the correct place for this!!! What is the best nest box bedding? I currenly use pine shavings for the floor and straw in the nest box ,I ask this question because all then hens lay in only one box [even tho i have 10 hole nest box] the eggs work their way thru the straw to the bottom, so i have to dig around ,and the straw gets everywhere! the boxes are about 7 or 8 inches deep thanks for the suggestions

 

[mrbstephens]

I've used both pine shavings and straw, but my hen dig it all out till it's a bare bottom. Then some of the eggs crack. Need advice.......

 

[Opa]

I use plastic nest pads. Work great and easy to clean.

 

[new chick 203]

I use pine needles I rake up. The long soft ones from white pines, they love it.

 

[TigerLilly]

Most of the time I use hay; sometimes I use the pine shavings. I always have hay for the goats & the zebu, but I don't always have shavings.

 

[CCourson05]

For my full grown chickens, I use hay. For my bantam silkies, I use pine needles. I think they like it better. I have used hay before, but I find it all over the place. The pine needles tend to stay in their boxes more.

 

[OkChickens]

In my egg layer coop 10 hole nest boxes I have straw. In my Wellsummers room I have milk crates with pine shavings with the front side cut with 3 inches on the bottom. I have a piece of plywood in the bottom of the milk crates to keep the pine shavings inside.

Nate

 

[Jasmine130]

Downstairs in the enclosed coop/run, my chooks have mostly dirt with some hay. They kick the hay all around and dig pits to sit in and dustbathe. I let them re-decorate to their taste and just clean it out once or twice a week.

Upstairs in the roost...that's a different story. They have mostly timothy hay, with some regular hay mixed in. They sometimes lay eggs up there (if not in their next boxes in the ark). They swirl the hay into a chicken-shaped oval and lay there. One time I opened the little door to the loft just in time for Celeste to lay an egg practically in my hand.
That was groovy!

 

[7L Farm]

I use hay it's been the ticket thus far.

 

[mkeawsh]

Pine shavings. I used to use both shavings and hay and the hens hated it. Would lay on the floor in the shavings instead of going into a nest box. So, they rule the roost and so now it's just shavings.