A strong and high fence should be built around the vicinity to prevent potential predators from harassing your domestic fowls. The hen house should be warm and bright, has enough ventilation, but no draft. Placing a dirt pen is also essential for the chickens for their dust baths. A roost is also required since hens love to sleep off the ground, and nesting boxes (you can use any pliable box) to store the eggs as they come. Keeping Chicken Building A Backyard Chicken Coop Every design in building a backyard chicken coop will involve three issues, how it will affect hygiene, chicken productivity, and cleanliness. Ample Spaces In designing a chicken coop the normal method for chicken raisers is to allow 3 to 4 square feet of space per chicken. They are fun to have around, are a good food source, and are low maintenance. If you have an ample backyard the idea of keeping chicken may have occurred to you but needed a little more information before getting started. Of Hens and Roosters You do not need a rooster. Keeping a rooster is a matter of choice but not actually a necessity. In high urban areas, raising more than a few chicken would consequently raise eyebrows. In fact, you could be placing yourself in harm's way. Raising chicken in urban areas are more of pet raising. Commercial? Just don't. When you are in a rural location with ample backyard space, keeping chicken is a capital idea. It could also spread to your other pets, to your house and breed on your beddings. Red mites feed on blood and causes death in chicken when not treated swiftly. The mites are transmitted to the chickens by wild birds and by rodents. Red mites are blackish red in color and will hide from light. When there is evidence of red mites in the area, a chicken bath in Malathion could cure the chicken but all hiding places of the red mites must be disinfected if not burned. Before getting started, it is frugal to choose carefully the breed you're going to raise and take into consideration the cost of feeding and rapidity of growth. If you are putting emphasis on the size of the meat, you can go for the Sussex and Plymouth breeds. You can always opt for the hybrids if you want to go in-between.