they keep taking the straw out of the box!!

I know how you feel.
I think my girls do it because they know mommy worked hard on it. lol
I'm not sure why they do they they have always done that with pine shavings as well.
Hope you find your answer.

 

I'm happy to hear i'm not the only one with that problem . They are 20 weeks and 15 weeks. My 20 week old White Rocks make a mess but not as much as my 15 week old comet. She digs all day and over the last week she sometimes stay in there ALL DAY LONG. I have no idea why she is in there digging and just peeping her head out every once in a while but if you find out let me know!

 

Mine have been doing that too! I don't know what it means but they only do it to the lower 5, so I just left them empty for now...

 

So are they bumping it out when they go in, trying to eat it, moving it etc (ie is it active or passive on their part)...? Have you watched the process? More info might be helpful.

I have found that, for me, straw is more slippery and doesn't make a good nest. I switched over to good quality horse grass hay (cuz that what I have on hand), I take a flake and make a depression in the center. It seems to come already joined together in the flake and it holds its nest shape much better than straw so the pieces don't get knocked out. I also added a small lip on the edge of the opening so that the hay was better contained. Not sure if this will help your situation, but it worked for me.

 

Mine do it too and they are 4 @ 3 months and 2 @ 2 months. I was using hay and they made a terrible mess of it and would not leave it in the coop. I switched to pine shavings and they still do it but have slowed down a bit lately. I dont attribute it to the switch though, they might just be hot from the heat wave that was here last week and decided to leave it alone. I have been ranging them more lately so that may have something to do with it, but Im not really sure. I have no idea why they do it they just do. I dont mind though it is kinda fun raking it around and watching them play in it again, like raking leaves and having your kids jump in them

 

I use wood shavings, and my hens often throw it out of the nestbox area.

At first, I thought I had a psycho hen that went berserk in there--- but then others posted that their chickens emptied the nest box too.... and NOW I think they are just trying to get comfortable--like fussy hens...a piece prickles into them and they adjust and rearrange and keep doing it until they are 'comfortable'.

Nothing to worry about IMO.

 

Quote:So what your saying is that I should stop re-arranging the mess/nest lol ????

 

My chickens of all ages do that. sometimes I just leave them none I mean they gonna take it out anyway.

 

Mine did that with the hay for about a week... Then I got an egg... 3 days later another. I have 3 hens still not laying, but they are starting to mess with the hay more, so maybe soon. This morning, Betty was stealing hay from Helen's nest. Betty laid her egg, then Helen stole her nest, rearranged it and laid her egg... They can be quite funny...

My question is, are they already laying? If not, they may be getting ready to, e.g. preparing their favorite nest spots.