[Neil Doncaster]

hello there ,can anybody tell me how i can stop my hens from removing the straw from the nest boxes and laying there eggs on the bare nest box floor ,which is leading to a lot of cracked eggs.I put the straw back every time but the next day its out again.This game is now becoming a pain in the backside.many thanks to anybody that can help.

[alancane]

Have you tried using something other than Straw? Personally, I use easibed in the nestbox and the coop which is like shredding wood and my girls have never taken it out. It's easier to keep clean as well. It's a little like wood shavings, which you could also try as an alternative.

[grumpydad]

straw can harbour spores in the hollow stems, most people use something else, we use hemcore or aubiose, but easibed is quite good, not as absorbant, but easy to rot down as well.

[Casey76]

First of all, make the lip on the nest box higher   You can cover the entrance to the nest box with strips of hessian or similar to make a curtain so that on the inside it is darker.

I also have a layer of aubiose in the bottom of the nest box with straw on top

[AL Hathaway]

what i find works well i use easybed and straw for the bedding as they only lay eggs no sleeping in the nest boxes our nest box are 10x12 and it has a board across the bottom of the opening a kicker pad i call it it stops them clearing out the nest box but it does not always stop the silly girls putting it on their back taking a few bit's out but most of it stays in the box

[jakes-old-man]

im so glad i read this!!!!
where bouts in donny you from neil. Im in Balby, just startin out with the chickens, can i be really cheeky and ask you where you got your birds from??

[Neil Doncaster]

I got my birds from a breeder in leeds I got her details from this website I thinkthey were under the poultry pages

[Neil Doncaster]

Yes I have just checked go to poultry pages then click poultry egg and suppliers then look under south yorkshireit should be in the right hand column. By the way we live at Hatfield

[happychickens]

I started off with straw and my girls disliked it also, started using shavings, not the small dusty kind the larger kind which I get from one of my local farming outlets bedmax I think its called - I have had no problems since changing over to that and when the odd one goes broody its amusing to watch them pick up bits and fling then over their backs to get the nest "just so".   

[ANHBUC]

I had the same problem with shavings being scooted out.  Hubby changed the piece of wood which was supposed to keep the nesting material in place. The new one works a treat it is about 3" high.  It also makes the nest boxes a bit more private for the hens to feel secure when laying.

[ManicMum]

A decent (2-3 inch) lip on the nest boxes and try bedding like wood shavings or the hemp-based Aubiose or Hemcore.  Your girls will still rearrange it to their taste (mine take turns checking out the "housekeeping" when I am poo picking!!) but they won't scrattle it all out.