Ceramic Nest Eggs

Give your hens a familiar egg in the nest box, and they're more likely to lay there. These ceramic eggs look and feel like the real thing, with the same color, size and weight, so a hen sees a nest that already has an egg in it. Two to a pack gives you a head start on a clean, inviting nest box.

They also help discourage chickens from pecking or eating eggs. Egg eating can spread quickly through a flock, and a nest with ceramic eggs in it is a good place to start. Keep them in the box when you set up a new nesting space or refresh an old one, and collect real eggs often so the hens have less reason to peck.

Highlights

• Encourages hens to lay in the nest box
• Looks, feels and weighs like a real egg
• Helps discourage pecking and egg eating
• Ceramic construction
• Two per pack, enough to start a pair of boxes

Why nest eggs help a flock

A hen looks for a nest that already has an egg in it. An empty box can send her to lay on the floor, under the roost or in a corner, where eggs get dirty and easy to miss. Ceramic eggs in the box give her the cue, so eggs go where you can collect them.

Once a flock starts pecking eggs, the habit can spread quickly from one hen to the next. Ceramic nest eggs help discourage that, and a box with a few in it keeps the nest looking used and welcoming. For a new flock, starting with eggs in the boxes sets the routine early.

Who it suits: backyard keepers setting up a first coop, flocks with a few new layers, and anyone refreshing an old nest box that hens have stopped using.

At a glance

How to use it

Set the eggs in the boxes, then leave them for the hens to find.

1. Place one or two ceramic eggs in each nest box, where the hen can see them from the entrance.
2. Collect the real eggs often, so the boxes stay clean and inviting.
3. Wipe the ceramic eggs clean when you clean the boxes.

Good to know

• Ceramic can chip if dropped. Check the eggs when you clean the boxes, and replace any with a crack.
• Pair them with the solid-top egg carton from the same aisle for storing eggs once you collect them.
• Hens often settle into a box that already has eggs in it, so set up the boxes before the laying season begins.

About Little Giant

Miller Manufacturing Company, the family business behind Little Giant, started in 1941 and makes more than 1,000 farm, ranch and pet products, and most of its people work at its two Minnesota manufacturing plants.

Stock a spare pack before the next laying season starts, so no box sits empty.