My great-grandmother Howard passed down instructions on raising chickens. Here are her instructions:
All livestock requires seven-day-per-week, 365- or 366-day-a-year care. Owner is tied to home base or has substitute help always available. Livestock requires shelter. Not all mothers/fathers are willing to share living quarters with ducks/geese/roosters/white rats and/or guinea pigs or other critters. Most babies require warmth (a mother’s body, and incubator, heat lamp or other device to provide the appropriate temperature.) They also need frequent feeding. Water always available.
My great-grandmother Howard had a henhouse for adult chickens and chicken coops suitable for one hen and a setting of eggs (about 10 or 12.) Each coop was about three feet square. The sides were two feet tall in front (maybe a little more) and the back wall shorter so the rain/snow would run off. The roof (or floor) should be removable so the floor can be easily cleaned. (Use droppings to enrich garden soil.) Straw or other litter helps keep floor clean, dry, and easy to change.
Choose a “broody” hen as the prospective mother. Procure a setting of fertile eggs. Do not use eggs from a grocery store. They are not fertile. If other hens can reach the nest, eggs must be marked in some way. A few pencil scribbles will do.
So your hen does not wander away, it is wise to tie her to the coop. Use a cord long enough to get outside to her feed and water. Keep the area clean so she doesn’t get tangled in anything. Turn the eggs over every day. Your hen may try to peck you. Better cover arms and wear gloves until you learn her disposition.
When eggs start to hatch, do not try to help by picking off bits of shell. Trust mother nature to do her thing. There’s another option: buy day-old chicks from a hatchery. Assuming the chicks grow to maturity, one very good option is to “dress” the roosters and serve them for dinner.
Hens need a shed with a roost. In the shed, a platform, about waist high, provides a place to catch the droppings. A few inches (about six inches) above the platform install boards (1x2s) for the hens to roost on. Build a row of nests along one wall. One nest should do for three or four hens. Put them about as high as the roost. Fill with straw. Some people put a “nest egg” in to help the hens find the nests. Our hens were always smart and so I did not use a “nest egg.” Eggs should be gathered once or twice each day.
Before launching into the chicken business, one should check city ordinances as to what is permitted. Roosters are known to be early risers. They love to let everyone know it is morning (perhaps 4 a.m.). The lazy rooster may sleep in until 5, so don’t set your clock by Alexander the Great.
Roosters do a good deal of “flopping.” That is something one does not wish to experience more than once. If you think it will happen to you, try to dress appropriately. Wear a suit of armor. Trust me; I have had experience.
Neighbors within a mile should be consulted about their love of roosters. Many have been known to complain violently about raucous crowing.
Have fun.