McChooky
Free Ranging
My original flock of 4 had a community nest box but when I added 8 pullets I added 4 more nest boxes in the run .All 4 of the older hens use one nest box. My (1) year old pullets use the other 3 and my new pullets use all 4.I've only found 2 eggs on the floor so far.Comment to your note that your “hens lay eggs everywhere”. They much rather lay eggs in a nest box and 6 to 8 will share a common nest. You just need to keep it clean & dry with a good fescue AstroTurf nest pad that you can get from HomeDepot. Also you need to prevent the gals from sleeping in the nest boxes by blocking the entrance in the late afternoon before it starts getting dark then unblock them first this in the morning They’ll have all of your eggs laid nicely in piles in the nest boxes by noon or just after. We have several hundref hens about the time they are old enough to lay with about 50 nests. We’ll find a few eggs here & there but the majority are in the boxes.