The happy pen!

This will be the good news chicken post.
We have one pen that is a very happy pen. It has a big square open area, and 6 built-in nest boxes, and a roost in front of the nest boxes, and a covered upstairs area. The current residents are:

• Angel - an all-white brown egg layer that was in the big pen before. She has lost a lot of her feathers on her back and shoulders (the roosters rode her a lot) and she was very bitchy over there. She is much happier here, but she has only laid 2 eggs in a week.
• Wild Thing - this is the chicken that adopted us. Just came around and wanted in. She was very hungry and has laid an egg almost every day since she arrived. We thought maybe she'd be happier in the big pen when we got more chickens of her type - small and black with some brown around the head. So we put her in the big pen. She escaped (we don't know how) and went over to the cage she was in first in (that she is in now). So we put her back. Again, we know nothing. I guess she was boss chicken there, so she's happy.
• 5 Americanas - we call them all 'Mary' - they lay light blue-green eggs. They love it in this pen. They were a little picked on in the big pen. They are laying almost an egg a day.
• 3 Grand chickens - these are the spawn of Racer, our Rhode Island Red, and our other chickens. One is definitely a rooster; he is white with gray trim, and he crows and jumps the Marys. The other big one is gray and brown and is probably also a roo, but I wouldn't swear by it, as I haven't seen him crow, or jump any hens, nor have I seen him lay an egg. The third one looks like a hen, she is brown and smaller, BUT, again, I haven't seen an egg yet, so I wouldn't stake my life on it.

Anyway, these 10 chickens eat a lot, get along, run around, argue a little, and lay lots of eggs. A happy community!

This is the front view of the Marys' pen. You can see the ramp going up to the second floor, and part of the roost.

These are their nest boxes. And their roost. The Marys, Wild Thing and Angel sleep on the roost. The Grand chickens sleep in the tree next to the roost.

This is the side view. The entire upstairs is shielded from wind. Those are the nest boxes sticking out. I can access them from the top (a door opens up) to get the eggs.