My pullets should start laying anywhere from 1-8+ weeks from now. So today, I got the nesting boxes ready to go, best I can for a little while. I put up a darkening curtain, filled the boxes with just pine shavings, cuz that's all I have on hand right now, and added an old golf ball. My questions is, what should I be filling the boxes with for nesting material? What do you use? Dumb chicken minds want to know
I like to use wood shavings..(pine shavings are the same)...no cedar tho bad for their breathing...easier to keep clean...my hens also like straw...some use hay I believe (bugs tend to get into hay and straw quicker than shavings tho)...just depends on what you have on hand...
I use straw with a handful of cedar thrown underneath to discourage bugs, but not hinder breathing, plus I sprinkle DE in each nest and sort of shake it through to do the same thing. Eggs seem less likely to break with straw since it mats down under them better than shavings. Shavings would probably work, too, but you'd need a deeper box to hold them in and probably more of them for cushioning than straw.