In ''Chickens'', poultry breeder Suzie Baldwin offers a practical guide to everything both the beginner and more experienced hen owner needs to know, from whether to buy chicks or hens, what varieties to chose, how to tell if you're buying a healthy chicken and how to ensure it stays that way to how many chickens you should keep, and what kind of coop is best. She also answers all the questions commonly posed by first-time owners, from whether you need to have a cockerel, whether chickens ever fly away and how quickly they will start laying to how to prevent them being attacked by foxes and what to do when they become unwell.