Oh hang on, no-one mentioned 'bird flu'... virus is quite deadly to humans too.

lol

We have 3 hens, 2 dogs and one cat.

My cat and hens were never problems. Dogs won't attack big hens but one of my dog killed a chick about size of big pigeon.

Foxes are around but they don't come in our yard. There are so many wild rabbits around our area. they don't need to make effort to jump over 6ft fence.

We feed them scratch mix with pellet, kitchen scraps, weed. We feed warms when we find them.

Mice became problem when our last cat's gone when we had rabbits in backyard. But since we got new cat 5 years ago, mice disappeared. Plus when in rare occasion, a mouse turn up in chicken pen, our hens catch it and eat it. Actually our two big sussex hens fight over it.

Roughly what sort of cage do you have i.e. wooden?

I currently have 2 coops. One is made from metal and the other is wood. The metal one is screwed together and covered in chook wire with a little enclosure at the back so the chooks can be dry if they want to. It's about 4metres by 2 metres, by 2 metres.

The other is a tiny A framed wooden coop which the midgets live in. I'm in the process of building 3 much larger enclosures to split the pedigrees up in.

How many chooks & what/how much do you feed them?

I'm the ccccrraaaazy chook lady . I currently have 22 with about 70 eggs in the incubator (and 1 duck).

I searched chook houses on ebay, do you suggest a good one?

The ones on ebay are pretty skanky and will only last a year or so. If you're handy or have anyone who is handy you can get an old swing and use the frame to cover in with wire and you'll have a nice coop that will hold at least 5 (or more if you free range them during the day).

Klarry what is needed to fox proof a chook house? We were thinking wire underneath and perhaps sleepers too? Are snakes & rats a problem?

If you have a property the best way to fox proof it is to buy Alpacas. Otherwise, you can put wire on the base or dig wire into the ground around the coop (as foxes won't dig that far). Snakes would be a problem if they're in the area, but cats are apparently good for snakes.

Any information would be good 🙂

Don't buy ISA's .. they're viscious.

Hilines are a cross breed that lay really nicely and huge eggs too .. Australorps are almost as good with egg laying. Dorkings apparently taste nice (not testing that theory). Aracaunas lay a blueish / green egg.

My favourites are silkies .. they're small, placid, they don't crow and they're really pretty .. they lay tiny eggs that are almost all yolk and they do make good eating although I tend to put them in the incubator and use the larger eggs to cook with.

and last of all .. best eggs for baking are duck eggs

Well vintage I thought of that too.. plenty of hawks around here

It's a good thing to put mesh on the top of the coop too as the foxes can climb. If you have them in a run you can use that bird netting you see on trees.

My pen is a big 6 poster pen it has corregate sides with cyclone wire the rest of the way plus a wired roof i have planted a feww dwarf citrus trees in there they love it lol, it has a brick floor which i dust with a layer of lime & then they have a natural floor covering of dry leaves, they have a feeder but i have to say that mine dont really get fed in the pen i find with a brick floor you can wash it down with hot water & vinegar to give it a good feed, they have an enclosed area that I can drop a door down if needed & a shell pool xo

Thanks everyone.

We feed them scratch mix with pellet, kitchen scraps, weed.

?

Never thought about what breed. Thing is we already have them :_| a present on fathers day :_| They are currently in my laundry in a rabbit hutch :_| Can't keep doing that. Do I give them away or try to stick it out with them?

I have wanted chooks before but when I looked into it decided against it

You might as well try now..........
My daughter bought a small coop on ebay, added a run to it and covered it in chicken wire, then painted it.

Stick with them..

It is a fantastic experience for the kids..

Mine were amazed when they went to get the eggs and one was warm and soft..

Life and death of a chook is just one of life's experiences.

If they can't handle that then what can they handle...

We did have dogs that broke in and killed one batch of chooks, we got a cage from the council and ended up trapping the dogs responsible. They were upset that it happened but I promise you it did not scar them for life.