I cheated with my chickens. I'm cheap & poor (buy too many roses
). I found a free doghouse off of CL and then found a guy, also off of CL, who makes big cages cheap. They're not pretty, but they're functional. So I just used the doghouse (lined with hay) as their coop & put the cage right against the doghouse door so that the chickens could get outside when I wasn't with them. If I was in the area, I'd let them roam around free (they decimated my honey suckle!!). This past late summer, I found 2 NICE bunny cages for free on CL, so I got them. One I'm bringing inside so that I can keep the baby chicks inside & warm 'cuz we get them in season WAAAAAAAAAAAY too early to go outside (mid/late Feb), and they'll be protected from the cats then. Hopefully. LOLLLL