Raising Chickens for Eggs at Home

Raising chickens for eggs can be a rewarding experience, but it’s not without its challenges.

I grew up on a small farm and was familiar with the process of caring for chickens, but building a predator-proof coop and run was a bigger task than I had anticipated, so I started by converting a potting shed into a coop.

A rectangular run was built extending from one of the potting shed windows, using metal brackets and hardware cloth to keep predators out.

My first homestead came with a potting shed that was much bigger than I needed for my actual garden, so I figured half of the shed could be converted into a simple coop without losing a lot of necessary space.

I also knew that my New England property had coyotes, foxes, birds of prey, and other predators that would love munching on hens and decided to make a fully enclosed run to keep my chickens safe.

Having had chickens before, I wasn’t exactly new to the process.

But I quickly realized once I began building the coop and rearing those first baby chicks that the process was bigger than I’d bargained for.

Organic feed did not seem to make a difference in the flavor of the eggs compared to grocery store eggs, but I was happy to have a steady supply of eggs.

It was not a profitable enterprise.

During the years I kept my coop, the structure held up well, and I never had an issue with predators, but the tarp roof succumbed to the first snows of the season, and I ended up removing it, replacing it with a more durable material would have been a better choice, similar to using downspout extensions to direct water flow.

I used the deep bedding method to keep the chickens warm during the cold winter nights, which seemed to work out well, and after about 4 years, I moved and gave my hens to a local friend who had her own flock of chickens, and they continued to thrive.

Looking back, keeping chickens was not profitable, largely due to “chicken math,” which often inspires new homesteaders to adopt more chickens than necessary, and if I had limited myself to a smaller flock, I could have built a simpler structure or purchased a pre-built coop that would have met my needs, and made some DIY fixes to save money.

Aside from the size of my flock, the tarp roof on my run did not last, and would have held up much better if I had constructed it with corrugated plastic or metal sheeting, and I also experienced rodent issues in the run, which I fixed by building rodent-proof chicken feeders from PVC, a valuable learning experience.

Experts state that a well-designed coop and run can make all the difference in the health and productivity of your flock, and in my case, the experience of raising chickens was invaluable, and I would recommend it to anyone considering keeping a home coop, as it provides a unique opportunity to learn and grow, including those from my home.