What's inside your Nesting box?

[eggciting eggs]

I've had chickens for a little while now and I've always had hay in my nesting boxes (because I have horses I can just use hay not straw). But I was wondering what everybody else uses or if there was a better option? Any opinions on this?

 

[Patinas]

I use pine shavings, excelsior or a combo of the two. They seem to prefer the excelsior. I was buying the nesting pads that have excelsior glued to parchment paper and they liked those a lot but it's cheaper just to buy bulk excelsior off amazon and lay a piece of parchment paper to line the nestbox and then put some excelsior on top. They like to fuss around with the excelsior and make a cozy nest with it vs. the pine shavings.

 

[Mylied]

I use whatever I have on hand. Hay, pine straw, wheat straw, sand, wood chips, some crumbly bedding I got in a henny and roo box. I'm not sure any one is better than the other.

 

[BantyChooks]

I used hay in the past; I like pine shavings now. The hens can't kick the whole clump out at the same time, and it looks cleaner.

 

[RonP]

I use shredded bills, credit card statements, bank statements, and any other personal or junk mail. I seem to have an endless supply...

 

[jthornton]

I use a carpet runner... my eggs roll out the back for easy clean collection.

JT

 

[MillersFarm]

Not eggs, that's for sure My Chickens prefer hay/straw since they like to make nests out of it. With shavings they just kick it out of the boxes.

 

[Joeschooks]

I use straw. The girls love it. They do tend to push it all to the sides to make a nest shape though. It doesn’t seem to matter how much straw I put in, the bottom of the nest box is always exposed! The eggs never crack though so it’s not really an issue.

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

I use artificial turf mats. Easy to clean, no mess, cool in the Summer, warm in Winter.
Then again, the weather is hardly ever super cold here in sunny So. Cal.

 

[Hokum Coco]

wondering what everybody else uses or if there was a better option?

I have 68 trips around the sun for decades I have been raising chickens
For years I have been lining my nest boxes with the folded empty nylon mesh feed bags.

Chickens poop in nest boxes get used to it.

When a bag gets soiled pop out the soiled and pop in another. Poop just peels off in below freezing temperatures and just flakes off when left out in the sun to bake and dry. It is the best method I have stumbled upon in my 67 trips around the sun.

Oh! Remove the excess string from the open end of the bag it can get tangled in your birds legs and wings.
Easy Peasy Japaneasy.