moon how many chickens do you have? im thinking about getting them, ive chosen the hen house i want. i just need to get on and sort it all out.
I have 14 hens --- because they are all pets more so than for eggs, they all have names, they are all different breeds too.
I have Pekin Bantam, Silky X, Isa Browns, Isa Brown X, Sizzles, Frizzles and a Sussex.
HENS:
Cosette -- pure Pekin Bantam
Bergundy -- pure Isa Brown
Trouble -- pure Isa Brown
Flower -- Silky X
Sarah -- Sizzle (that is a Frizzled Silky, they have all the visible aspects of a Silky, including the little fluffy Afro, but they have the frizzled feathers)
Hobbit -- Pekin Bantam X Frizzled Bantam (offspring of Cosette and Jareth), carrier of the Frizzle gene
Snowy -- inbred, offspring of Hobbit and Jareth, visible Frizzle
Cara -- Sizzle X Frizzle, visible frizzle (offspring of Sarah and Jareth)
Silver -- Silky X x Frizzle, visible Silky (offspring of Flower and Jareth)
Dawn -- Silky X x Frizzle, visible Silky (offspring of Flower and Jareth)
Evie -- pure Isa Brown
Big Red -- pure Isa Brown
Soosie -- pure Sussex
Molly -- Isa Brown X something unknown??
Roosters
Jareth -- Frizzled Pekin Bantam
Sante -- show quality Chinese Silky
Goldenboy -- Pekin Bantam X Frizzled Pekin (offspring of Jareth and Honey (who died), carrier of the Frizzle gene
Yarraman -- Pekin Bantam X Frizzled Pekin (offspring of Jareth and Honey, brother to Goldenboy), carrier of the Frizzle gene
With chickens, if you want layers, Isa Browns or Rhode Island Reds or Leghorns are really fabulous for egg production. Sussex grow to be pretty big, but lay nice big fat eggs. Silkies and Bantams I've noticed have a tendency to go broody quite a lot, mine spend half the time sitting on nests instead of laying, because once they go broody, they tend to stop egg production until they stop nesting.
A lot of people don't know about Frizzles, they are totally gorgeous little things, they look really fluffy, Silkies are gorgeous and fluffy and people adore them, but I love Frizzles ten times more, they have feathers that curl over backwards... I'll attach a pic of my Jareth (I reckon he's the best looking rooster EVER, but I'm biased, LOL)
So this hen house you were thinking of... whats it like? I mean, my chickens basically have a building which is 8 feet by 8 feet, with an open front, perches inside, with nesting boxes... and behind the henhouse is what is actually a rabbit cage/hutch, thats raised off the ground. One side stays open, and there is another closed "house" section that also has nesting material inside, underneath of that is more nesting boxes, and on top of the hutch is some tin that sticks out about 3 feet so no rain can get inside.
They have their own yard which is approximately 30 feet long and 20 feet wide, it has big shady palm trees and colorbond fencing. One section at the back dips down about 3 feet and has this weird planty weed growing there, which provides a nice hiding place for the chickens when they feel scared as its too mixed up and tangled for bigger creatures to get in there with them, and one whole corner about five feet by five feet is really soft, dusty dirt in the shade, where they like to have dust baths. In another corner is another soft dusty section thats always in the sun, so they can have dust baths there too.
Once a week I rake it out and get a shovel into the ground to turn it over a bit so it helps them dig up worms and bugs and things. And every Sunday I clean the old nesting material out of the nest boxes that has poop on it and give them fresh stuff. All the poo goes into a big compost bin, along with old bits of vegetable that the chickens didn't eat.
They get fresh water every 2nd day and they get fed grain mix (a brand called Red Hen) every afternoon and in the morning, their meal is veges and fruit (our local Fruit and Veg dealer saves us big boxes of scraps that they're throwing away, so its pretty random, but always plenty of cabbage leaves and lettuce leaves which provides the chickens with their necesary greens). They absolutely adore sweet things, or things with seeds, like pumpkins, rockmelons, watermelons.
And Flower absolutely adores pineapple. They all have their favourite little tidbit that they like...
Hmmm, I think I OVER answered your question, LOL. Is it obvious I love my chickens???
I've noticed while having them that they all have their own unique little personalities and quirks, likes and dislikes. They each have their little group of friends and enemies.
Like, Cosette is Alpha Hen, the Matriarch. Jareth is Alpha Rooster. But Cosette holds all the power. If Jareth eyes off another hen and wants to mate with her, Cosette beats the crap out of the other hen AND Jareth!!! She doesn't like her man cheating!
Molly's best friend is Cosette, whenever Cosette goes clucky, Molly goes clucky with her and they share the same nest together and raise each others kids and share the eggs. Usually the eggs they're sitting on are random and belong to whichever random chicken, so the offspring may not necessarily be out of whoever sat on the eggs, but Molly and Cosette together sat on the eggs of Yarraman, Goldenboy, Silver and Dawn (there were 2 others, but they didn't survive as little chicks, they were taken by bush rats as tiny chicks).
Trouble is so named Trouble because she is a flipping trouble maker, and a real beatch.... and she's best friends with Bergundy, who is a real sweety.
Goldenboy is in love with Hobbit, he thinks she's a bit of alright, they are frequently found canoodling in the rabbit hutch together, snuggled together in the dark.
When you clean out the nest boxes and put fresh stuff in? Jareth the Alpha Male has to go inside each and every box and whilst in there, makes funny little clucking sounds, almost as though he's assessing the condition of the nest box before his women are allowed inside. If its not right, he fixes it.
When the hens get fed, Jareth won't eat until the hens have eaten and if he finds a piece of food, he clucks to them, in this very specific way to indicate that he's found food and he calls the hens to come and eat it (very gentlemanly of him).
I lead a very boring life when I'm at home, so I've spent a lot of time watching and observing and sussing out my chickens strange little foibles and habits and things. They're actually quite entertaining in their own weird way....
I'll go away and hide now I've proven I'm a total dork!
The wedding was super sweet, just a small affair at the bride's parents' home. My DH's best man, Nick, was the one that got hitched. One of his friends got arrested for SODOMY the night before! It was quite the topic of conversation. Although it isn't as crazy as it sounds - he was just having sex in a park 
But in Salt Lake that qualifies as sodomy. So we just had the best time with sodomy jokes all weekend - it was a hoot. He had a great sense of humor so it was all good.
So now I am crazy and will buy quite a few dollar store one's tomorrow and see if it's my eyes and heart, hoping and wishing for lines. I really don't think anything is really there but I can't help but to tilt and turn to try and "make" a line, ya know? I feel like drawing a line on the test to make myself feel better for a minute! 
and walking around my classroom 500 times this morning while my students took there big state test today. 
And they all say different things (try not to stress, blah blah blah)mine didn't luckily, otherwise I wouldv'e jumped over the table and clobbered him to bits! 
