What's in your nesting box?

[Brookliner]

I bought a liner that is used in wire flower baskets it is made of coconut husks. Kind of matted about 3/4" thick. I cut it to fit my nest boxes - I use kitty litter buckets - and used 1/2 " self tapping screws to attach it to the front rim. The girls love it. The eggs stay clean and in one piece. They have shown no sign of wanting to eat it, but they have fluffed it up a bit scratching around. I will post a picture.

 

[Brookliner]

This is a picture of my frizzle hen with her chicks with the nest box in the background. All my chickens are bantams. Note the next box liner. Julia the hen is molting. Her chick is one of 3 Blue Wheaten Ameracuna chicks that she hatched. They are learning about eating dried meal worms. Protein to help with Julia's re-feathering.

 

[Jenny1]

Mine just lays in a plastic bin. There is a handful of grass in it. Havent had an egg break yet.

 

[aoxa]

Mine just lays in a plastic bin. There is a handful of grass in it. Havent had an egg break yet.

I haven't either. I did when I had wooden boxes though.

 

[mickey328]

I never thought of using coir...seems like a great idea! I'm thinking about lining the walls of our nest box with something. Was a bit late collecting yesterday and there were 4 eggs in the box. One had a little break in the point. I think one of the girls was rolling them around and it whacked against one of the walls The welcome mat we use on the bottom works great and can be pulled out and hosed off when it gets full of poo, but I'm thinking we may need to soften the walls with something. We generally check for eggs every couple of hours, but we aren't always home so a little more protection seems like a good idea.

 

[aoxa]

I never thought of using coir...seems like a great idea!  I'm thinking about lining the walls of our nest box with something.  Was a bit late collecting yesterday and there were 4 eggs in the box.  One had a little break in the point.  I think one of the girls was rolling them around and it whacked against one of the walls  The welcome mat we use on the bottom works great and can be pulled out and hosed off when it gets full of poo, but I'm thinking we may need to soften the walls with something.  We generally check for eggs every couple of hours, but we aren't always home so a little more protection seems like a good idea.

A whole new meaning to padded cell!

Do your boxes get full of poo?

 

[mickey328]

Yeah they get poopy...we have a couple who insist on sleeping in them But I think they do most of their pooping when they're either sitting on the eggs, or getting ready to lay because the one nest they do use gets poopier than the one nobody lays in, LOL The nice thing about the plastic mat is that we can pull it out and hose it off really easily.

 

[aoxa]

Yeah they get poopy...we have a couple who insist on sleeping in them  But I think they do most of their pooping when they're either sitting on the eggs, or getting ready to lay because the one nest they do use gets poopier than the one nobody lays in, LOL   The nice thing about the plastic mat is that we can pull it out and hose it off really easily. 

They won't poop when they are close to laying an egg because they can't. They could directly after, but usually they won't.

My younger ones roost on the edges and occasionally poop in the boxes. Never my egg layers though.

1. Chickens, as well as other birds, have a common opening for reproduction, and for the evacuation of stools and urine. This opening is called the "vent". They do not have a bladder because their urine is not a fluid. It is a white paste, called urates, that you can observe surrounding the droppings. The intestine, ureters and oviduct come together into a common chamber called the cloaca. This is a rather dirty place, whereas the egg is always clean and almost sterile when laid.
2. The hen turns part of the cloaca and the last segment of the oviduct inside out, "like a glove." The described red membrane is then everted inside of these organs. The egg emerges far outside, at the end of the bulge. So it cannot contact the walls of the cloaca and get contaminated by stools or urine. Moreover, the intestine and inner part of the cloaca are kept shut by the emerging egg, and their contents cannot leave when the hen strains to deliver the egg. Therefore, eggs are always clean as they are laid. However, sometimes a hen, stomping around the nest with dirty feet, will get the egg dirty anyway.

 

[Jenny1]

Oh, that is another thing. I had cut the side of my plastic bin off, so they wont roost there- it is thin plastic and would hurt to stand on. Sounds kinda mean I guess, but they dont poop in it. But I only have 3 chickens, and only one is laying. So, really, I dont know anything.

 

[aoxa]

Oh, that is another thing. I had cut the side of my plastic bin off, so they wont roost there- it is thin plastic and would hurt to stand on. Sounds kinda mean I guess, but they dont poop in it. But I only have 3 chickens, and only one is laying. So, really, I dont know anything.

These are my nesting boxes for now. I plan to build something legit eventually. I do have a lot of future layers. Right now I may have 15 max that are laying. You can see the poop from a roosting chicken.