A good coop that can be closed up for the night and kept warm in the winter will ease the stress of the birds.  A brooder light will increase production of eggs as their biorhythm is governed by the length of the day, not by temperature. 

During the worst of winter, we could feed fifteen chickens with layer crumbles and fancy scratch grains for about $6 per week.  In return, we could get up to ten eggs per day in their first two years.

Rhode Island Red

Buff Orpington

Black Sex-Link

Buff Orpingtons are said to be very gentle around humans an make good brood mothers.

Four old hens taking a break from their duties of catching bugs and raking the yard.

A bright red comb is usually a sign of good diet and health.

This was our Cochin named “Lucky.”  She was thrown in with a dozen chicks and wouldn’t have survived without lots of special attention from my daughter.

This gal is clearly the top of the “peck order” in our flock.

Young chicks are fun to watch.  They have great instincts about finding food but are otherwise dumb as bricks.  This doesn’t mean they don’t have distinctive personalities because they do.  Chickens will keep your yard free of ticks and other pests, even killing mice or snakes on occasion.

They can be pretty curious.  These have run over to inspect the camera and are probably hoping for a treat.  Notice that they look directly at you by turning their heads to the side. 

This small coop is made from an large packing crate.  It can be closed up tight to keep out predators at night, or fully opened to air in the day.

Since home-grown eggs aren’t machine sorted, we often see odd sizes and occasionally an odd shape.

This monster is in an extra large carton and is at least half again bigger than the rest.

One day old chicks.  These guys will spend a lot of their time living in an old watering trough for warmth and safety.