Hobby Farm Animals. Chris McLaughlin

      Strips of wood or molding give the chickens traction on a ramp.

      Your Coop: Basic Furnishings

      Basic coop furnishings include roosts, nest boxes for laying hens, feeders, and watering stations. Roosts are the elevated poles or boards on which chickens prefer to sleep. Roosting helps them feel safer at night, making these perches a must if you want happy hens. Nesting boxes are a necessity—unless you like going on egg hunts or prefer your eggs precracked. You’ll also need more than one set of well-placed waterers and feeders.

      Roosts

      In the winter, roosted birds fluff their feathers and cover their toes; they tend to stay warmer that way. A roost can be as simple as an old wooden ladder propped against a chicken coop’s inner wall and tacked to the wall at the top. Place it at enough of an angle so that birds settled on one rung don’t poop on flockmates roosting on rungs below.

      If you build traditional stair-stepped roosts for your birds, set the bottom perch about 2 feet from the floor and set higher rungs an additional foot apart. Two-by-two boards with rounded edges make ideal roosts for full-size chickens, and 1-inch rounded boards or 1-inch dowel rods are fine for bantams. Tree branches of the same diameters make fine roost rails, too. Don’t use plastic or metal perches; chickens require textured perches that their feet can easily grip. Allow 10 inches of perch space for each heavy-breed chicken in the coop; provide 8 inches and 6 inches for light breeds and bantams, respectively.

      Wherever you place your roosts, make certain that sleeping chickens won’t be perched in cross-drafts. Check frequently and move the roosts if necessary.

      Nesting Boxes

      Unless you provide nesting boxes, free-range hens will sneak off to lay in nooks and crannies, and you may never find the eggs! Confined hens will plop eggs out wherever they can, which can result in poop-splotched, cracked eggs. Specially designed nesting boxes with slanted tops and perches in front work best, but any sturdy cubicle with a top, a bottom, three enclosed sides, and bedding inside will do nicely.

      Make sure the box is larger than the chicken. A 14-inch wooden cube with one open side makes an ideal nesting box for a full-size hen; a 12-inch cube accommodates bantams with ease. Leave the top off in steamy summer weather.

      If you use a regular box, attach a 3–4-inch lip across the bottom front to keep bedding and eggs from spilling out. Mount the unit 2 feet from the floor in the darkest corner of the coop. Provide one nesting box for every four or five hens.

      Feeders and Waterers

      Place at least two sets of commercially made feeders and waterers in every coop and locate each set as far from the others as you can to prevent guarding by high-ranking flock members. Instead of setting units on the floor, install them so the bottoms of the waterers and the top lips of the feeders are level with the smallest birds’ backs. They’ll stay cleaner that way, and your chickens will waste less food. Be sure to provide one standard hanging tube-style feeder per twenty-five chickens. If you prefer trough feeders, allow 4 inches of dining space per bird when deciding what size to purchase.

      Outdoor Runs: Sunshine and Fresh Air

      Another way to keep your chickens happy and healthy is to get them into sunshine and fresh air almost every day. To do that, you’ll probably need a chicken pen, or run, attached to your coop. You can allow your chickens to free-range (wander wherever they like), but “wherever they like” may be in your garden—or in your neighbor’s garden—or somewhere where predators can attack them. To save their skins—and your infinite vexation—consider providing a fenced-in area.

      Chicken runs are traditionally crafted of chicken wire (also called poultry netting), which is a flimsy, 1-inch mesh woven into a honeycomb pattern. If a dog or larger varmint wants to get at your chickens, this lightweight mesh is not going to be a deterrent. If you value your birds, don’t use chicken wire as a barrier. Workable alternatives include substantial posts with attached medium- to heavy-duty yard fencing or sturdy wire sheep panels (sometimes installed two panels high), or electroplastic poultry netting.

      If predators, including dogs, are an ongoing headache, a strong electric charger and two strands of electric wire fencing can provide effective but cheap insurance. String one strand on 10-inch extension insulators 4 inches from the ground, along the outside bottom of the run. Using the same type of insulator, stretch another strand parallel with the top of your existing fence. These wires will prevent hungry critters from scaling or tunneling under your chicken-run fence.

      Allow at least 10 square feet of fenced run for each heavy chicken in your flock, 8 square feet per light-breed chicken, and 4 square feet per bantam. In general, you can contain your chickens using a 4–6-foot fence, but most bantams and certain light full-size breeds can neatly sail over 6-foot barriers. Keep them in by installing netting over the enclosure.