If you don't want fertilised eggs then eat the rooster. He wont hurt anything if you leave him with them except for being a typical man and driving his women crazy. hehehe! 12x12 should be fine. Don't panic about laying boxes the hens will lay on the ground if theres noplace else and sometimes do even if there is.

seriously...

3 hens, one rooster < 4 hens

I ended up picking up the chickens Friday, rooster and all. I was really glad I did, as they were in this tiny little pen, up against a fence, more tarped over than I thought they should be, and I don't think they got much human interaction. They ran when I threw some crumbles out. They really didn't know what vegetables were. I put a large cardboard box in with them with some dried grass.

Saturday morning we awoke to the soft melody of the rooster at 0615. Went for about 5 minutes, then again for about 5 minutes at 0635. Then not again till just after 0800. I can live with that.

Mid morning we decided to move the whole pen to a better location, so I loaded the birds into the box. They'd been in there about 30 minutes or so, and I went to check on them, and there was an egg! Very exciting, as they had not laid any before I brought them home. We've had one egg a day since, from two different hens I believe, due to the size discrepancy, and today we got two!

We built them a house over the weekend, but we are letting the paint vent a little longer (we slapped some paint on to make it more weather durable). We'll put that in tomorrow or Thursday.

We're having fun so far. Even my husband admits the rooster's not that bad. :) They are loving the wild grasses growing in the pen, and are getting used to the fruits and veggies I'm tossing in. They are getting much more comfortable with us humans. The neighbor's cows that have been wandering through seem rather fond of them, too!

I will post some pictures soon, and maybe someone can tell me what kind they are...???

Shannon