Chickens refuse to lay in boxes

[HippieWolf]

I have 7 hens and 4 nesting boxes but they all refuse to lay in the boxes. This is their first year laying and they were laying in the boxes up till about a month ago. They do free range but up till a month ago they were laying in the boxes. I'm currently only getting an egg a day which i mark and put into the box. I already have a golf ball in each box as my "egg" and after reading on here i added more shavings to the boxes but they are still laying in the run. So if any has any advice on why they arn't laying in the boxes or why I'm only getting 1 egg out of 7 hens i would appreciate it.

 

[chikkenfriend]

Ours weren't too happy to do it until we figured out that they like privacy. Now they all lay in boxes.



Nest boxes behind curtains. I know, we're weird. It worked though...

 

[HippieWolf]

That's an interesting fix. Most of our chickens sleep on the roost outside the coop not sure if this makes a difference but the inside of our coop stays pretty dark.