Please just use the nesting box!

[Cluckmyway]

Hello everyone, thanks for taking the time to read this question and any help would be greatly appreciated.

So I got two hens two weeks ago. I added a rooster a week ago. Everyone is getting along wonderfully. The girls are laying an egg per three days. Yay! It would be perfect if they would use the nesting boxes. So far, I've lost two eggs to the hens laying eggs on an shelf and it rolling off.

I'm using two plastic milk crates as nesting boxes. I've cut out an entrance and filled the nesting boxes with dried moss. I've placed fake eggs to coax them and the boxes are kept clean and dry. I've placed high grass around the boxes so that it'll be a bit more private. I've been moving the boxes around every few days to see if it was simply in the wrong spot. I started out on the ground and then put it up high and now it's in the middle.

 

[cavemanrich]

I slightly suspect that your milk crates may be too low interior height. A chicken needs to stand up comfortably when laying egg.
One option you have, is to lay milk crate with opening facing up. Fill with nesting material, and fashion an indentation to mimic a nest. Make sure that milk crate is filled with nesting material to within 4 inches of top rim. (or use a shallower box) Your chickens would not be comfortable going into a deep cavity. Place in a quiet corner of coop, and see what happens. You only need one.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[aart]

Block the shelf and stop moving the nests(they don't like change).

Some pics of your coop showing nests, roosts, and that shelf would help here.

Oh, and... Welcome to BYC! @Cluckmyway
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