I had a simalur issue they was laying around the yard when I let them out and I read about putting a golf ball in each laying box. It worked now all six chickens are laying in the box for a while now even after I removed the golf balls.
The tubes are not the standard PVC, there are made from drain pipe for irrigation(much cheaper), not sure the PVC glue will work on it, is why I didn't use PVC glut there, I did use PVC glue where the 45 and 90 deg. elbows connected.
We have some Spare Flagstone Laying around I may do this with, we have a fully Fenced back yard so I am not overly concerned about this but it could add some character as a side benefit, LOL. thank you for the suggestions.
We are in Utah so Yes we see our share of snow, all of the Upgrade tweek you have mention'd are in the plans, Especially the Linoleum, and been looking for a rubber strip for the hinge, as far as the feeders go , just barely found a moister issue at the bottom where the tube meets the elbow...