Are chickens happy?

They seem content don't they?  Running around the yard, sticking together, happily clucking and pecking and playing.

Well, recently I changed their nesting boxes from wooden ones that were falling apart after only one year, to plastic ones.  It seemed like a great idea.  Plastic will last and I can clean it.  So I purchased two of them.  My chickens tend to lay in only one or two boxes anyway.  There's no reason to get more than two.  Then I threw in some straw.  The next day...no eggs.  The day after...no eggs.  It is winter, and we have had a couple of cold fronts, so I figured maybe they are on hiatus.  Then I got to thinking.  Even when I only had two chickens, one would lay once in a while.  Surely with six girls, someone should be laying.  But where are they?


So, I decided to take a stroll through the yard.  I looked everywhere the girls like to play.  Over the bank...no eggs.  In the bushes...no eggs.  I turned to walk back, then out of the corner of my eye, there they were.  In the garden.  A pile of 9 eggs blue and brown.

It occurred to me that they weren't satisfied with the new nesting boxes.  Not enough straw on the floor of it.  Last night I filled it with straw.  A nice cushy bed.  This morning what do I see?  Eggs!