If they stop laying i'll look at getting a very small rooster, as you suggest.
I've laid a perimeter wire mesh out 500mm on the surface to stop foxes and dogs digging under the fence. I also have another 50m of 300mm wide wire mesh to clip to the top of the 1.8m fence so that it hangs down and out as a deterent to anything trying to climb over it.
At night I shut them in and nothing less than a grizzly bear could get at them then.
If all that fails the last resort is another $24 each for replacements which sounds easy now but will get harder as the years pass.
The local IGA has all their scraps spoken for by their staff's chooks so I grab handfulls of grass and lob over the top as I pass. It's also a good distraction to keep them away from the gate so I can get in.
I put a spring on the gate so it's fail safe when anyone goes in.
They can hear the bantam on the next property who's about 200m away. Hopefully that will keep their hormones flowing enough to keep the eggs going. They do look over when he crows. I've been giving them eggs because theirs are off the lay.
