What to put in chicken nesting boxes

Put in a nest pad or a few inches of clean pine shavings — something soft, dry, deep enough to form a hollow, and quick to replace. An excelsior pad holds its shape and makes changing it a five-second job; loose shavings are cheaper and let a hen build the hollow herself. Either works. What matters more than the choice is that the material is dry, that there is enough of it to cushion an egg, and that you replace it before it becomes the dirtiest part of the coop.

A nest box is a different problem from a coop floor. The floor has to absorb a night's droppings; the nest has to protect an egg from a six-pound bird settling onto it, and stay clean enough that the egg comes out of it clean. Those are different jobs, which is why a material that is right on the floor is not automatically right in the box.

What the lining is actually for

1. Cushioning the egg. An egg laid onto a hard surface cracks, and a cracked egg in a nest box teaches a hen to eat eggs — which is extremely difficult to unteach.
2. Keeping the egg clean. Most of what makes an egg dirty is the nest, not the hen.
3. Making a hen want to use the box. A hen chooses the most private, most comfortable, darkest spot available. If your boxes are bare and there is a nice corner behind the feed bin, she will use the corner.
4. Being removable. Nest material is the fastest-soiling bedding in the coop. If changing it is awkward you will do it less often than you should.

The materials, compared

How much, and how often

• Three to four inches of loose material, or one pad plus a handful of shavings on top. A hen needs to be able to form a hollow that an egg will not roll out of.
• Check daily when you collect eggs. You are already there, and a soiled nest is obvious.
• Change the material in a box whenever it is soiled, rather than on a schedule. One broken egg means that box gets done now.
• Full change every two to four weeks even if nothing looks wrong, because nest material is where mites concentrate.
• Keep it dry. Damp nest material is the beginning of both dirty eggs and a mite problem.

What to keep out

Four things people put in nest boxes that cause problems:

• Straw, if you have ever had mites. Extension's guidance on external parasites is worth reading on where these parasites live between feeds, and the answer is cracks, crevices and nesting material. Hollow stems are ideal cover. Chicken mites treatment covers the response if you already have them.
• Anything scented or oily. Fragrance oils irritate bird airways, and the nest box is directly under a sitting hen's face.
• Hay. It is a feed, not a bedding, and it molds.
• Too little material. The commonest version of getting this wrong is not the wrong material but half an inch of it.

Herbs, honestly

Dried aromatic herbs in a nest box smell pleasant, and that is the whole claim this site will make for them. There is no reliable evidence that nest herbs do anything medicinal — not for mites, not for laying. If you enjoy the smell when you collect eggs, they are a small pleasant purchase. If you are buying them as parasite control, buy a coop treatment instead and spend the money where the parasites live.

What is worth buying

Two excelsior pad options at the standard 13 x 13 inch size, the washable pads that pay back over a year, and the herbs described for what they actually are.

#1 · The standard nest pad

$24.99·Precision Pet Chicken at Amazon

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Precision Pet Chicken Nesting Pads, 13x13in, 10-Pack

Precision Pet by Petmate

9.5/10★★★★★Assessed on specs and owner reports

Ten 13 x 13 inch excelsior nest pads. Published dimensions matter here — 13 x 13 is the size most nest boxes are built around, so these drop straight in.

Published specifications

Dimensions	13 x 13 in
Pack	10 pads
Material	Excelsior (wood wool)
Finish	Beige

Specifications per Manufacturer figures as published on the Amazon product listing, as published at the date above.

Why we picked it

• 13 x 13 in is the de facto standard nest box size, so these fit without trimming
• Excelsior springs back under a hen instead of compacting flat like shavings
• Ten pads is a year of changes for three boxes
• Composts with the rest of the litter

Good to know — More expensive per nest than a handful of shavings

Our rubric

Fit for purpose

9.8

Mess and waste

9.3

Quality

9.3

Value

9.3

#2 · US-grown aspen pads in a larger pack

$36.98·MagJo Aspen Nesting Pads at Amazon

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MagJo Aspen Nesting Pads, 13x13in, 12-Pack

MagJo

9.5/10★★★★★Assessed on specs and owner reports

Twelve 13 x 13 inch aspen excelsior liners. Aspen is lower in aromatic oils than pine, which matters in a confined nest box right under a hen's face.

Published specifications

Dimensions	13 x 13 in
Pack	12 pads
Material	USA-grown aspen excelsior

Specifications per Manufacturer figures as published on the Amazon product listing, as published at the date above.

Why we picked it

• Aspen has fewer aromatic oils than pine — gentler in an enclosed nest box
• Standard 13 x 13 in fit
• Twelve pads gives a longer run between orders

Good to know — Premium price for a consumable

Our rubric

Fit for purpose

9.8

Mess and waste

9.3

Quality

9.8

Value

8.9

#3 · Reusable pads you rinse instead of replace

$22.99·Washable Artificial, 6-Pack at Amazon

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Washable Artificial Grass Nesting Pads, 6-Pack

DenForste

9.5/10★★★★★Assessed on specs and owner reports

Six washable artificial-grass nest pads. The economics flip after a year or so: a pad you hose off and put back costs nothing after the first purchase.

Published specifications

Pack	6 pads
Material	Washable artificial grass
Reusable	Yes
Dimensions	Not published by manufacturer

Specifications per Manufacturer figures as published on the Amazon product listing, as published at the date above.

Why we picked it

• Washable, so the running cost after purchase is close to zero
• Artificial turf cushions eggs well and does not compact
• Nothing for mites to live in, unlike loose organic bedding

Good to know — Dimensions are not published, so fit is a gamble on a non-standard box

Our rubric

Fit for purpose

9.3

Mess and waste

9.8

Quality

8.9

Value

9.8

#4 · A nest box that smells better, honestly described

$24.99·Eaton Pet and Pasture at Amazon

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Eaton Pet and Pasture Premium Nesting Herbs

Eaton Pet and Pasture

8.8/10★★★★◐Assessed on specs and owner reports

A dried aromatic herb blend for nest boxes. It is a freshener, not a treatment: nice for the person collecting eggs, and there is no reliable evidence it does anything medicinal.

Published specifications

Type	Dried aromatic herb blend
Use	Nesting boxes and coop
Weight	Not published by manufacturer

Specifications per Manufacturer figures as published on the Amazon product listing, as published at the date above.

Why we picked it

• Genuinely makes a nest box pleasanter to reach into
• Dried herbs are harmless to hens
• A small handful per box goes a long way

Good to know — Marketed with health claims that are not supported by published evidence — treat it as a freshener

Our rubric

Fit for purpose

8.4

Mess and waste

9.3

Quality

8.9

Value

8.4

If hens are sleeping in the boxes

A hen that sleeps in a nest box fills it with droppings overnight, which no bedding choice can fix. Two causes and two fixes: the roost is not high enough above the boxes, or the boxes are more comfortable than the roost. Raise the roost so it is clearly the highest perch in the coop, and block the boxes at dusk for a week to break the habit. Penn State Extension's housing guidance gives six inches of perch space per standard bird with roosts 18 to 24 inches above the floor, which is the figure to check your coop against.

If eggs are dirty or broken

1. Dirty eggs usually mean too little nest material, or hens sleeping in the box. Deepen the material, raise the roost.
2. Broken eggs usually mean a hard nest floor or crowding. Add a pad under the loose material, and check you have enough boxes — Penn State Extension suggests two nests for the first four hens, then one more per four hens after that. How many nesting boxes works it through.
3. Eggs eaten nearly always starts with one broken egg. Fix the cushioning and the crowding together, and consider roll-out boxes, which remove the egg from the nest the moment it is laid.
4. Soft or thin shells are not a nest problem at all — that is calcium. Grit and oyster shell.

What we would use

A 13 x 13 inch excelsior pad in the base of each box, a couple of handfuls of pine shavings on top of it, and a dummy egg until the pullets have the idea. Pads lift out whole when a box needs doing, the shavings let the hen arrange her own hollow, and nothing in that combination gives mites anywhere good to hide. For the box itself, nest box size and nest box material cover the construction side.