Please can and help set up our chicken family.

[Roundbales]

We are hoping to buy some chickens in 3-4 weeks time. A large fenced off area is already done, it's one concrete and we were thinking of putting bark down. Would this be ok? The hens would also be able to roam our garden when we are home too.

We need to buy a coop and thinking of this one

We would like three hens, are we able to buy 1 of each breed? Or is it better to stick with 1 breed? At first we wanted 2 hens and a cockerel but after reading online people are saying we would need more hens to keep the cockerel happy. Has anyone had a small number of hens and a happy cockerel?

Last question what breed would you recommend with primary aged children?

Ive got two broom handles and usually find two roost on one and one on the other but they are very close together. I would need to check but I think they shouldn't be more than 30cm from the ground as they can damage their feet/legs jumping on and off continuously. Id be interested to see what the others say about that.

Personally I would cover the run. Ive seen one of my ladies get to about 6 foot (and got her wing clipped for her troubles!) but also you don't want soggy, cold hens in winter and it helps to keep the run sweeter. Just my opinion though.