They won't lay in their nest.

[kameron]

I am new to the chicken world. I have two RIR hen's and they both are laying eggs but I can't get them to do it in their nest. They lay in the back corner of their coop where they sleep. I've made sure the roost is higher then the nest and I even put a golf ball and a couple eggs in the nest to entice them to lay in it. What other tricks or ideas can I try to get them to use their nest?

To the left is their coop with the roost and to the right is the nest.

Here is their nest. Does it need a better perch?

 

[momma of a chicken lover]

My chickens like a dark, snug nesting box. I cannot tell from the photo, is there room in there to make two levels of nesting boxes in the current one? Another thought is maybe a cloth covering the top two thirds of the opening? These are purely my thoughts/suggestions...

 

[kameron]

Thanks for the reply. I never thought about making two levels. Where the do lay in the coop it's pretty dark so maybe that is why. I will try to do another level and cover some if the opening to see how that works out.

 

[momma of a chicken lover]

Just curious, are they laying in their nesting box yet?

 

[kameron]

I took the straw out of the coop and they started laying in the nest box instead. Only problem is they now like to sleep in their nest box. Hopefully putting them on their roost every night will train them soon.

 

[momma of a chicken lover]

Good luck getting them to sleep away from the nest! Too much poo happens during sleep for them to make that an option. Persistence and patience.