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The Secret to Keeping your Chicken Coop Nesting Boxes Clean

No more messy nesting boxes in your chicken coop - or dirty eggs -  with these few easy tips for keeping them clean.

Eggs from your backyard chickens stay fresher if they aren't washed before storing them, but no one wants dirt- or poop-covered eggs on their counter, or worse in the refrigerator. So how can you ensure that you always collect clean eggs?

Well, the easiest way is to keep the bedding in the nesting boxes refreshed and replaced as needed. Clean nesting boxes = clean eggs.

The Secret to Keeping your Chicken Coop Nesting Boxes Clean

Each morning I fluff the aspen nesting pads (I LOVE them!) in the nesting boxes and check for poop. I remove any dirty  bedding I find. Which is rare. As a general rule, your nesting boxes should stay pretty clean.

No Sleeping in Nesting Boxes

Chickens generally will only poop in the nesting boxes if they are sleeping in them at night. Often young pullets who have just been introduced to the big girls coop will try to sleep in the boxes instead of on the roosts with the older hens.

To prevent this, take any little ones out of the boxes and place them onto the roosts after dusk. And be sure your roosts are positioned higher than your boxes to encourage your chickens to roost.

If this still doesn't prevent them sleeping in the boxes, then block the boxes just before dusk.

All the chickens will be done laying, so the boxes can remain blocked until you let the chickens out again the following morning. 

I have tried putting an upturned egg basket or a cardboard box in each nesting box, I've tried blocking the boxes by wedging a piece of cardboard across the front, but determined chickens have always managed to push their way in and wedge themselves into the box.

So after a bit of trial and error, I have found this 'hack' is the easiest, most inexpensive, and effective way to block nesting boxes from hens wanting to sleep (or be broody) in them.

Block those Boxes!

What you Need |


Scrap of chicken wire or welded wire fencing
Four nails with large flat heads
Hammer


What you Do |

  • Nail a single nail to each of the four corners of your row of boxes. 
  •  Attach your piece of wire fencing to the four nails and then trim it to fit. 
  •  Bend any rough edges in to avoid injuries. 
  • That's it. 
  •  Remove the wire each morning and put it up again each day in the later afternoon just before the chickens turn in for the night. 
  •  Now you can easily put up and remove the wire as needed without any trouble.


Broody Blocker

You can also fashion a block for just one box if you have a broody hen hatching eggs in that box. Just cut a piece of wire to fit the single box and nail one nail into each corner.

The day the eggs are due to hatch, block the box so the chicks won't accidentally topple out before you can move them and mother hen to a safer, ground-level, spot.

This is also a great way to deter broodies you are trying to break. This box blocker will foil the efforts of a persistent broody hen.  

So here's how simple it is to create a block for your nesting boxes.







Voila! Nesting boxes are temporarily blocked and will keep out the most persistent chickens.

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