When free ranging, chickens may roam the entire yard in their quest for food, but at night they all know to go back to their pen to sleep at night. If you plan on free ranging, this cuts back on the size of the pen necessary for your birds. If you plan on building a hen house and letting your hens roam a fenced yard, you also won't need to spend a lot to make sleeping accommidations for your ladies.

Hen House

A hen house can be a small enclosure where the chickens can go at night for protection from the wind and rain, or a large, walk-in building where you can stand inside while collecting eggs. Regardless of its size, it should be tall enough for the chickens to sit on perches while sleeping (they would rather be gripping a branch than bunching up on the ground).

Each standard sized chicken will need two square feet of space for comfortable sleeping. Bantams can get away with one square foot per bird. Make sure the roosts are at least a few feet below roof-level, since chickens will be flying or hopping up to get onto their perch and don't want to bump their head each night.

Perches can be made from dead branches cut from trees, wood, or short pieces of PVC. I stay away from metal perches since I can't imagine any hen wanting to jump up on one in the dead of winter and heat it up enough to sleep there (just think of how cold your bed would be if you had to warm up metal instead of a fluffy mattress). The dead branches are the cheapest to acquire and replace over time.

If you want your hens to be laying inside the hen house, set up a separate area for them to nestle down and lay their eggs. It can be as simple as having one or two nestboxes on the side farthest from the door, then resting the perches on the other side.

Inside the house it's a good idea to have a dusting of ash and diatamacious earth scattered on the ground for parasite control (one cup diatamacious earth to three cups of ash). You can even set up a dust bath area using a plain bucket with the mixture in the bottom.

Plain wood ash is also great to keep under the perches, having been used for ages as a means of odor control. Liberally scatter it beneath the sleeping area and scoop it out every so often to add to the compost heap.

Fencing

Standard chicken wire works the best for chickens, and is inexpensive. While it is flimsy and may not keep out larger, more determined predators, the holes are too small for weasels to sneak through or for raccoons to reach fully into. If you want to reinforce the chicken wire then use 2x4" cattle wire as the backing, but unless you have a problem with bears it shouldn't be an issue.

If you are making an enclosed run for the chickens to scratch around in during the day, you have a few options available to you. The first is to make a long, narrow run that is only a few feet high with a wire roof that can be opened in a few places for access into the pen (in case you need to reach a sick chicken in a far corner). The second is to make a 5-6' tall pen with a roof, allowing you the ability to walk inside while still keeping the chickens safe from aerial predators (and the occasional feral cat that may cause problems during the day). The final solution is a 5-6' fence without a roof. This is cheaper, but if out in an open area may run the risk of hawks divebombing your birds. A run without a roof also requires a more sturdy hen house so any nighttime predators can't climb over the fence and snatch up a sleeping lady.

If you are fencing in an area for your chickens, make sure you allow a minimum of four square feet per standard bird and two square feet per bantam. The more you can provide the happier your birds will be - if you try to cram too many birds into a small space you will stress them out, resulting in less eggs, more diseases, and stressed attacks.

Feeding

Fortunately feed companies have already done the hard work when dealing with chicken nutrition. There are different types of feed available for different uses and ages, each clearly labeled and usually easier to work with than trying to mix your own.

Starter: If you are starting out with baby chicks, this is the feed they need for the first eight weeks of life. If you are only feeding chicks and not mixing in other birds, such as turkey poults or ducklings, then get the medicated feed. The medicated feed is usually the same price and will help give the babies a headstart on resisting diseases later on in life. Usually when you purchase chick starter it is assumed that you want the medicated.

Grower: Once your babies have grown out of their fuzzy phase and moved into the gangly, awkward months of trying to grow into their body you are ready for grower. Grower feed isn't medicated and has been formulated to promote fast growth, fast feathering, and eary egg laying. Grower is fed up until your babies are 20-30 weeks of age (depending on the breed type). When your girls are ready to lay, swap them over to the next level feed: layer.

Layer: When your hens are laying age, they are ready for layer pellets. Bantams can eat the pellets, but may do better on a crumble feed if carried by your store. While some people insist that hens do better on the crumble, we have found that there is less waste with pellets. When the feed is knocked out of the feeder onto the ground, the pellets can still be cleaned up without getting trod into the dirt. Layer feed has a higher calcium and lower protein than grower, focusing more on egg production than growth.

Meat/Broilers: If you are raising chickens for meat, instead of going through the different food levels, get a broiler feed from start to finish. Broiler feeds are packed in protein and the nutrients required for fast growth, allowing for more weight to be put on in a shorter amount of time. Broiler feeds are required for Cornish Rock (also called Cornish Cross) chickens due to their already-rapid growth. For the last one to two weeks you can add craked corn to add an extra layer of fat.

Scratch Grain: Scratch grain is a great supplement to a chicken's diet, especially those that are not free ranged, but cannot be used as the only source of feed without reducing egg production. Scratch grain can be offered in a separate feeder or scattered directly onto the ground. If it is provided for non-free range birds, make sure you also have grit in the pen. While standard pellets and crumble are pre-ground and therefore don't require grit (although having some in the pen is always a good idea), seeds will need the small stones in the gizzard to grind it up.

If you free range your chickens you still need to provide them with a steady supply of layer pellets for optimal health. The bonus to free ranging is that less feed will be eaten (the hens always seem to prefer the real thing over the processed stuff). Regardless of how you feed your adults, make sure to provide oyster shell. It's inexpensive and lasts a long time while providing additional calcium for egg development. When oyster shell is provided you will also find that free range hens tend to eat even less of the pellets since they are getting their additional calcium needs from the crushed shells.