Chickens are survivors but they are not exactly hardy. One death, often caused by dampness will affect the other chickens to die also. Aside from ventilation, the chicken coop must be insulated to keep the chickens handle cold climates. Food and Waste Management Chicken leave dropping everywhere. When not well managed, the droppings emit gasses that are not good for the health of the chicken but could also bother people. Try throwing them spaghetti and see how they will chase each other over it. A place to hang around Anyplace. As long as it is a regular place that they could roost, lay eggs and be safe from the elements and their natural enemies, the list of which is longer. Chickens you see are very sociable creatures. The roof of the chicken nest boxes are sloped for the purpose that chickens do not roost on the roof. A roof not angled steeply will invite chickens to roost there and when that happens expect where the eggs will be. Inside the nest box, keep at least two inches of straw but if you could have wood shavings (pine is preferable) that is even better. This often complicates the sour crop, as long strands of grass are harder to digest. To prevent the onset of sour crop, check the chickens once in a while as the crops are likely to be empty every morning before they feed. Observe also the kind of grass that the chicken feeds on when they have a sour crop so you can chop the grass into smaller sizes and feed this to the chicken to treat the sour crop or when a similar problem occurs in the future. Chickens will be happy to be strutting around free range-like but sooner, without a place to roost, you'll end up losing some. In the country, they attract a lot, in the city they attract rats let alone cats. The hen house then is a good area to shelter and raise them. There are fanciful chicken pen designs that are available everywhere if you do not want to go through the trouble of building them. Provide the perimeter where the chickens are kept with perches with varying circumferences. Chicken will eat just about anything and so they respond will with vitamin supplementation. Provide food that is rich in Vitamin A. Carrot for one is a very good source that the chicken likes. Greens are also good sources of the vitamins and so are pumpkins and potatoes.