Chicken Coop Terms:

Coop- The place where your hens eat, sleep, and poop. A lot.

Roost- A horizontal bar that chickens perch on, like a tree branch, 2×4, or dowel

Nesting Box- The private place your hens go to lay their eggs. Give them a whole bunch, but they’ll all fight over the best one, and there’s no telling which one the chosen best one will be.

Feeder- The place to dump the chicken feed so the chickens can eat it without spreading it all over the floor like a bunch of dummies.

Fount- The thing that dispenses your chickens water

Litter- Not cat litter silly! The absorbent organic matter that you choose to put on the floor of the chicken coop to soak up the poops

Bedding- Same as litter

Chicken Wire- Wire fencing that’s usually used to enclose the chicken run. Keeps chickens in, but doesn’t do a good job of keeping predators out

Hardware Cloth- High quality wire mesh fencing with small holes. Keeps out all sorts of predators and pests.

Ventilation– Air circulation in the chicken coop. Absolutely essential to get the bad smells, dust, and ammonia out, and let glorious fresh air in

Drafts– Different than ventilation, drafts are constantly blowing air from windows and doors that can chill your chickens in cold weather

Shavings– Little chips of wood, a by-product of the lumber industry that they so graciously sell to us for our chickens to poop on

Straw– Dried stalks of grain, another thing for your chickens to poop on

Run– The outdoor enclosure for your chickens to frolic in

Free-Range– Opening the door to the chicken coop and letting your flock out into the big world of your yard to run, scratch, jump, fly, spread their wings, catch bugs, destroy your garden, and poop all over your patio. A great time for everyone.

Livestock Guardian– An animal you hire to protect your flock. You give them a place to live and food for their belly, they scare off big nasty predators, or alert your flock of threats. Usually dogs, geese, or guinea hens

Chicken Garden- A lovely addition to your backyard, a garden grown specially for your hens,but they will probably much prefer your garden to scratch up instead.