I'm wondering if they even know that the nest box is there and/or what it's for. The coop is a small cube in size and shape. Maybe 4 feet on each side and about 4.5 feet high. Their roost board is along one wall, with the nest box built as a bump-out on the opposite wall. There's a board running along one side wall as a bridge/walkway from the roost board to the lip of the nest box. In theory, they can simply walk over to the nest box from the roost board, but I've never seen either of them do it. They were both hatched in the last week of February and I got them on July 10th, supposedly at just about 22 weeks old. One's a Black Marans; the other a white splash Ameraucana. So now they are just about 30 or 31 weeks old. The Marans has big red wattles and comb, and I THINK she started practicing what sounded to me like an "egg song" yesterday, so I really do think she'll start laying very, very soon. But she's never walked into the nest box. It's about two feet off the ground. The roost board is about three inches higher than the floor of the nest box. There's only one chicken ramp in the coop. It goes from the floor to the nest box. I used to have an additional ramp from the floor to the roost board, but they almost never used it. Instead they walk up the nest-box ramp until they're just about a foot and a half from the ground and then they hop/jump from there to their roost board. I've never seen them continue on up the ramp to the nest box.
Do you think they'll go into the nest box when they start laying? A few times, I opened the drop-down door at the back of the nest box and lifted each pullet into the box from there. They squawked, clearly very annoyed, and walked right to the front of the box and down the ramp and out of the coop. Lots of fresh soft pine shavings in the nest box with a pink plastic egg and a frosted glass egg sitting in there. (I know it's anybody's guess what will happen. I'm just sharing my concerns.)
Do you think they'll go into the nest box when they start laying? A few times, I opened the drop-down door at the back of the nest box and lifted each pullet into the box from there. They squawked, clearly very annoyed, and walked right to the front of the box and down the ramp and out of the coop. Lots of fresh soft pine shavings in the nest box with a pink plastic egg and a frosted glass egg sitting in there. (I know it's anybody's guess what will happen. I'm just sharing my concerns.)
