Every time after cleaning the coop, the chickens love to rearrange the pine shavings and straw.  When I first started using this coop, the chickens were so efficient at scratching.  They would scratch all of the bedding out the front door into the run.  They accomplished this feat within an hour.  After replacing the bedding multiple times and being out smarted by a chicken, I decided to place a brick at the door.  This solved the problem.  The brick now acts as a boundary and keeps the majority of the bedding inside.

As winter approached, I decided to make the pine shaving bedding deeper for added warmth.  This created a lot more fun for the chickens and many more opportunities to do some chicken redecorating.  The chickens are fantastic at keeping their home.  They have preferences with how they like the bedding.  Some areas are kept deeper and others without bedding at all.  I had no problem with this except when it came to the nesting boxes.

My coop and nesting boxes are lined with commercial grade linoleum for easy cleaning.  The roosts are removable, making cleaning a cinch.  I just push all the litter into the center of the coop, and then empty it out.  It takes only 5 minutes.  However, because of this design, there is no barrier in place to keep the bedding in the nesting boxes when the chickens are redecorating.  Several times a week, I found myself adding new bedding to the nesting boxes.  Unfortunately for me, as quickly as I replenished the shavings and straw, the chickens quickly removed it; until this week.  I came up with a solution.

I decided to cut a 1″x2″ piece of non pressure treated wood to fit across the nesting boxes.  I did not adhere it into place.  I left it free floating.  I wanted to be able to remove it for easy coop cleaning.  It has been 3 days now; so far so good.  Despite some scratching to make themselves comfortable while laying, I think the eggs are happier to land in soft pine shaving beds.

Photo on the left shows the new divider running across the nesting boxes.