Hens not using nesting boxes

[abbygibson1212]

I have 3 hens who just started laying a couple of weeks ago and the coop they were in did not have any nesting boxes, so they started laying on the ground, now I have a coop that I put them in last week, and it has 3 boxes on it but they are still laying on the ground. I tried putting golf balls in the boxes and then I had an egg that froze and cracked, but since it's still below 20 degrees here it's still frozen, so I've been putting the frozen egg in a box, but the hens just knock anything that I use to encourage laying, out of the box and on to the floor, and then lay beside it. Any suggestions on what to do?

 

[aart]

Is there a good sized lip, like 3-4", on the front of the box?

 

[abbygibson1212]

No, the lip is pretty small, I bought it from Orschelns so I figured it would be built right, but maybe I need to add a lip on to it. @aart