Short answer first: plan on about 1 square foot of vent opening for every hen, placed high on the coop walls, above the roosts, and leave it open all year. Chickens shrug off dry cold that would send most of…
Short answer first: raising backyard chickens costs roughly $800 to $1,200 in the first year for a typical flock of 6 hens set up sensibly, and then about $30 to $45 a month after that. In the worked example our…
Short answer first: put your chicken coop on high, dry ground that catches the morning sun and gets afternoon shade, close enough to your house that winter chores stay easy, but far enough away that summer smells never reach the…
Short answer first: for most households, the right answer is 4 to 6 hens — and whatever number you land on, never start with fewer than 3. Chickens are flock animals. One hen on her own is a miserable hen,…
Short answer first: give every standard laying hen 10 inches of roost space — 8 inches for bantams and 12 inches for large breeds like Orpingtons and Brahmas. And size the bar for a summer night, not a winter one.…
Short answer first: plan on one nesting box for every 4 hens, and always round up to a minimum of 2 boxes, even for the smallest flock. Two boxes for 4, 6 or 8 hens. Three for 10 or 12.…
Here is the short version of everything in this guide: start with 4 to 6 hens, give them 4 square feet each in the coop and 10 in the run, protect them like every raccoon in the county already knows…
Short answer first: a standard laying hen needs at least 4 square feet inside the coop and 10 square feet in the run, about 10 inches of roost bar to sleep on, and a share of one nesting box for…
