Backyard Chicken Starter Kit

Four to six for a family — they lay an egg almost daily in their prime (spring and summer), less in winter and as they age. Get them as point-of-lay pullets (about 16-20 weeks) so you skip the chick-rearing stage the first year. Check your local ordinances on flock size and roosters.

Hardware cloth (welded wire, 1/2 inch), not chicken wire — raccoons reach through chicken wire and dogs tear it. Bury the apron of wire a foot out from the coop to stop diggers, and lock the pop door every night. A motion light helps. Assume everything wants your chickens, because it does.

Grit (small stones) grinds their food since chickens have no teeth; oyster shell provides calcium for strong eggshells. Offer both free-choice in separate hoppers — the hen eats what she needs. Layer feed has some calcium, but the oyster shell tops it up, especially for heavy layers.

A clean coop (fresh bedding weekly, full clean monthly) does not smell. Hens cluck softly; only roosters crow loudly (and most cities ban them). Six hens are quieter than a dog and far more productive than a cat. Manage the bedding and the smell is a non-issue.