Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.
Jeanne ~ We had chickens on Long Island, of all places. Our friends got bunnies for Easter, my parents got us chickens. We would collect our own breakfast egg in the morning.
Some thoughts about the chicken house (a coop). Make sure that there is a roof on the pen. It’s very easy for noctural animals (‘coons and foxes) to climb up the sides and ‘drop in’ the pen. Make sure that the pen is big enough for both of you to stand up in. Also, bury the bottom of the pen several inches. You may want to bend the fence, L shaped and bury the horizontal part of the L outside of the pen. This will make it more difficult for animals to tunnel under to get to the chickens. Make sure that the door leading into the pen has 2 separate ‘locking’ mechanisms. Coons are smart, they can open locks, but if 2 need to be engaged, more difficult. For the actual house, a small door for the chickens, and a larger entrance so you can get the eggs out.
Also, placement of the pen is key. Chicken poo is really stinky, but makes great fertilizer.
Good Luck with the chickens, can’t wait to read about them.