What's in your nesting box?

[AKnewbie]

So we got one egg the day before from one of our nine 20wk Australorps. However, the egg was cracked since the hen dug out the wood shavings on the nesting box and laid the egg straight onto the wood.
We then put a bigger lip on the nesting box and replaced it with straw (figuring it would be harder to dig out than wood shavings) and today the middle part was bare wood again.
No egg though but I figure they're kind of on their way (I see squatting and just a general interest in the nesting boxes).
How do you prevent them from preparing their nest in such a manner?

 

[aoxa]

That's how they do it. If you want, add a shelf liner to the bottom to help soften the egg's landing

 

[AKnewbie]

Of course! Why didnt I think about that? LOL
Thank you!

 

[mickey328]

I would worry a bit about the liner...if they had a mind to, the chickens could scratch it apart and eat it. Might not hurt them but...?? About half of our girls like lots of bedding in the box and the other half seem not to like any, so they spend a lot of time rearranging. We cut a piece out of our "welcome" mat..it's the kind with the plastic bristles for wiping your feet on,...to fit in the box. They can scratch on it all they like and not pull it apart, and even if they kick all the litter out, the little plastic bristles support the egg.

 

[CuteTxChicks]

Great idea about the welcome mat. My girls are the same... One wants all the nesting materials, and the other kicks it all out.

 

[mickey328]

...and could each use her own box? No...of course not! LOL

 

[AKnewbie]

LOL. I'm finding that the more time I spend caring for the birds, the more interesting they become. LOL

 

[mickey328]

Yep, we got ours for eggs and didn't realize the "chicken channel" came with it! LOL

 

[LT]

We cut cardboard and put it in the bottom of the nest box. We didn't have a huge problem with broken eggs, but we did have a few, and the cardboard solved the problem. I have also heard of some using carpet squares in the bottom of the box.

 

[knightie]

I actually too one of those washable filters for the air conditioners and cut it to fit in the girls. Cause of course my girls love to kick their nesting materials out. All my white eggs were cracked and some of the brow ones were until I did that... Works great!