BASE HEATER
Fount base heater
$22
Thermostatic, so it only runs when it needs to.
DIRECT
AISLE 05
Chickens, ducks & the coop · 34 things
Yard
Birds
Six hens was the plan. It is never six hens. Water, feed, grit and the coop hardware nobody sells you until the raccoon has already worked out the latch — that's this aisle, in that order, because that's the order it matters.
How to read this aisle
OURSWe make it. Ships from us.
DIRECTOur store, maker ships it.
Water first
Ranked by who has to clean it
If you buy one thing on this page
Galvanized
double-wall fount
$28
DIRECT · AFFILIATE
The cheap one is fine. Really. Five gallons, no pump, no nipples to clog, no reservoir you can't get a brush into — and in January you set the whole thing on a $22 base heater and stop breaking ice with a hammer.
What it beat
A $90 automatic waterer that grew algae we couldn't reach.
Who it's wrong for
Ducks. Ducks will destroy this in a week. Get the rubber tub.
RUBBER TUB
Rubber duck tub, 8 gal
$17
Flip it, stomp the ice out, refill. Indestructible.
DIRECT
NIPPLE KIT
Bucket nipple kit
$13
Turns a five-gallon bucket into clean water. Freezes solid, though.
DIRECT
Fount scrub brush
$8
Angled head reaches the trough ring. That ring is the whole job.
OURS · ETSY
Coop hardware
The raccoon has hands. Plan accordingly.
The pick
Two-step barrel
bolt with spring clip
$9
buy four
A hook-and-eye is a raccoon puzzle he solves in one night. Two motions is the rule: slide, then release the clip. Nine dollars a door is the cheapest thing on this page and the only one that ever mattered at three in the morning.
The rest of the hardware
Hardware cloth, ½ inch
Chicken wire keeps chickens in. This keeps everything else out.
DIRECT
$46
AUTO DOOR
Automatic coop door
The one splurge we'll defend. It closes at dusk whether or not you're home.
DIRECT
$139
NEST BOX
Roll-away nest box
Egg rolls out of reach before anybody thinks about eating it.
OURS
$58
ROOST BAR
Flat roost bar, 4 ft
Flat, not round — a hen covers her own toes with her body in the cold.
OURS
$24
Six more, including the vent hardware nobody thinks about.
See all 10 →
Before you order chicks
Build the coop you'll want in year three, not the one for six chicks.
Everybody starts with six. Then the feed store has bantams in March, then a neighbor rehomes four, and now the coop that fit is a coop that stinks. Four square feet inside per bird, ten in the run, and one nest box for every four hens — build to that and you never do this twice.
Feed & feeders
Buy the feed local. Buy the feeder here.TREADLE FEEDER
Treadle feeder, 20 lb
$79
Pays for itself in the feed the rats and sparrows don't get. Takes two weeks to train them.
DIRECT
HANGING FEEDER
Hanging tube feeder
$24
Hang it at back height and half your scratching-it-out problem disappears.
DIRECT
Stamped steel feed scoop
$19
One piece, no seam to rust out. Handle bent to hang on a nail, which is where it belongs.
OURS · ETSY
Grit, dust & winter
Cheap, boring, does the workInsoluble grit, 5 lb
If they don't free-range, they need it. It's their teeth.
$11
Oyster shell, free-choice
Separate bowl, never mixed in. The layers take what they need.
$14
Dust-bath mineral mixOURS
Sand, wood ash and a little sulfur. Cheapest mite control there is.
$16
Pine shavings, compressed
Never cedar. The oils are hard on a bird's lungs, and it isn't close.
$9
Ours —
the sunrise panel
Emily draws each aisle its own panel. This one came out like stained glass — the whole flock under a laundry line at first light, rooster front and center because he'd have it no other way.
Sunrise tea towel, pair
$24
Flour-sack cotton, printed one side. Gets softer than it has any right to.
OURS · ETSY
Egg-carton stamp
$18
Your name and the date, in one press. For the dozen you hand across a fence.
OURS · ETSY
Framed panel print
$46
12×12 on cotton rag, plain oak frame. The color is the whole reason.
OURS · ETSY
Enamel barn mug
$22
Speckled enamel over steel. It will chip. That's when it starts looking right.
OURS · ETSY