What to line your nest boxes with?

[magikchick]

My girls are almost old enought to start laying. What do line their nest boxes with?

I have dried pine needles in them now. Is there something better I could use.

Marsha

 

[justusnak]

I use straw in mine...some use wood shaveings...guess its a personal preference.

 

[Rooster01]

I use hay and shavings in my nests.

 

[FamilyOfChickens]

I use wood shavings. Just make sure they're low-dust, and NOT cedar.

 

[mommahento5]

I have the roll-out nests and I use the roll-out nest pads that you can buy commercially. They are similiar to those green "welcome" mats that were popular many years ago. They are nice because they are able to be sprayed off and disinfected if needed.

I tried putting some other bedding in there, but my chickens tossed it all out, and don't seem to care one way or another if it is just the nest pad, or nest pad with bedding. So I don't bother putting the bedding in now. My only concern is pests getting in there. I am trying to get my hands on some food grade DE so I can dust the nests with it periodically, but haven't had any luck yet. My chickens have only just started laying 2 weeks ago and this is my first time raising chickens, so this is all new to us!

 

[polychickens]

My hens laid their first eggs 2 days ago in some straw stored on the floor.

Yesterday, I added some straw over top of pine shavings in their nest boxes to entice them to use the boxes. They rooted all the straw out onto the floor and laid in just the pine shavings in the boxes. Go figure.

Polychickens

 

[magikchick]

Thanks for your help. I guess I'll use the pine shavings.

Marsha