Chicken not laying in nesting boxes

[birds_and_bees]

Hello fellow chicken enthusiasts,

I am hoping you can offer some help with our current situation. Our first of 4 Buff Orpingtons just started laying, and she is refusing to lay in the rollaway nesting box. I taped up the curtains so that she could see in, and we put several 3D printed eggs in it as well so she can see those. When I pick her up and put her in, she resists going in and then hops right back out, and she seems generally disinterested in it, even when she seems to be looking for a comfortable place to lay. I blocked off the area of the henhouse where she laid the first day, and now she's laying all over the floor, so I'm not sure how to block it further. From my deep dives on the Internet, some possible fixes I've considered include putting something on the left side of the box to shade it and make it a little darker, making a ramp of some sort to ensure she can walk in, and/or changing the nesting material (right now it's just the plastic padding that came with the rollaway box). Is there anything I am missing as far as encouraging her to lay there? I'm really anxious about her laying in the coop, as our last batch of chickens started eating their eggs when they had access to them. Ignore the broken cinderblock, that was a scrappy attempt to make a step for her to walk in, hahahaha. Thank you in advance for any further tips you can offer!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Just one box? Sometimes you need to offer multiple options. How high off the ground is it? Sometimes the nests need to be in a darker part of the coop, and sometimes pullets take a while to start using a nest box.

Hens don't usually start eating eggs unless they are suffering from a protein deficiency, so make sure the feed a higher protein ration if you are feeding extras or treats.

 

[C Siena]

I agree with @oldhenlikesdogs in giving options, more than one nest box. You don't need one for each layer but more than 1, even for 4 layers.

I'm not sure if you have more than 4 pullets, but another box is needed and plan on when you add more chickens.

I always leave golf balls in most of the boxes.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I know that many are happy with plastic nesting pads, but I have shredded hemp in our two boxes. The hens love it, and I often see them tucking the hemp around them as if they were building a nest in the wild. (The first one to do this started nearly two weeks before the first egg, playing house I suppose.)

The hemp also stays very clean! I’m about to replace it with a new batch after 5 weeks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Our first of 4 Buff Orpingtons just started laying

Thank you, that is critical information. To save me a lot of typing could you please read my post in this thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...not-in-the-nesting-box.1670509/#post-28702662