Nesting boxes are ready, are the chickens?

[brezbyme]

We got the nesting boxes installed in the coop. I put some straw in the boxes but I'm wondering if I should get fake eggs? My girls are 18 weeks old. I have Black Australorps, Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks and Easter Eggers. If I don't put something in the nests, will they just know to lay there?

 

[LCcreekside]

They almost always will lay in the boxes without any encouragement. There is no need for fake eggs. I occasionally have a lazy bird that just lays wherever she happens to be when she gets the urge instead of making the trip to the nest box.