The one-per-four rule, and why more is not better
Hens do not lay around the clock; a laying hen uses a box for well under an hour, so boxes turn over through the morning like parking spaces. One box for every four or five hens gives the flock comfortable capacity — three boxes serve a dozen hens — and providing far more does not spread the laying out, because hens are copycats: they prefer a box another hen has used, ideally with an egg already in it, and will queue and complain outside a favourite box while two identical neighbours sit empty. That favouritism is normal, not a shortage. Only go above the ratio if your flock is large enough that the morning rush genuinely clashes, or if several hens are broody at once and camping in boxes for weeks.
Size and placement hens actually choose
A box around a foot wide, a foot deep and a foot high suits most hens, with a lip at the front to hold bedding and eggs in. Hens pick boxes that feel enclosed and dim, so place them in the quietest, darkest corner of the coop, raised a little off the floor but clearly lower than the roosts — boxes that double as the highest sleeping spot get slept and fouled in. A small landing perch or step in front helps hens get in and out without launching themselves onto eggs already laid. If you are converting something — a crate, a covered cat litter tray, a sectioned-off shelf — hens care about the cave-like feel, not the materials, so long as it is cleanable and free of sharp edges.
Bedding and keeping eggs clean
Line boxes with a generous pad of straw, shavings or hay, shaped into a shallow hollow, and refresh it the moment it gets thin, damp or soiled — a hen will not lay willingly in a dirty box, and eggs laid in a dirty box come out dirty. Clean bedding is also the discouragement for egg-eating: an egg that breaks in a thin-bedded box teaches hens what is inside, so keep the cushion deep. A fake nest egg or one marked real egg left in each box advertises the approved laying place to young hens just starting, and strongly discourages the habit of laying in a hidden corner of the run, where eggs vanish and go rotten undiscovered.
When hens lay on the floor anyway
A hen laying in a corner or under the coop is usually telling you something about the boxes: they are too bright, too high, too few at peak hour, fouled, or she is being bullied away from them by a higher-ranking hen. Fix the cause — darken the boxes with a curtain strip, lower them, clean them, add the fake eggs — and lift her onto a box when you find her settling elsewhere. A young hen in her first weeks of lay gets some grace; most sort themselves out once laying becomes routine. Persistent floor eggs from one older hen alongside a drop in the flock's laying is worth a closer look at her health.
Eggs left sitting invite breakage, egg-eating and mucky shells, so collection belongs on the daily list rather than whenever you remember — in KinsLe, Care Teams carries the egg collection and quick box check as a named daily job, so it still happens on the days you are away and the boxes never go a week unlooked at.