It’s that time of year. Birds are migrating as plants push greenery up through the ground. They let us know it’s the season of spring cleaning. Along with scrubbing and organizing the house, remember the coop. A spring makeover will make it function and look top notch.

At Winding Pathways, we mount a coop spruce up project before lawn mowing season arrives. Here’s what we do:

Litter: Last fall we cleaned litter out of the coop’s interior and put it in our compost bin.  Microorganisms toiled all winter converting it into compost. This spring we moved that rich new compost to our garden. Then we dig out the coop’s old layer of pine chips and chicken droppings and move it to the recently emptied composter. By fall it will transform into compost to fertilize our lawn or garden. Twice a year, just after digging out the old litter we spread four or five inches of new wood shavings on the coop’s floor. Fragrant pine chips make our coop smell like the north woods.

Dust: Chickens are dusty creatures. They constantly stir up the litter kicking dust into the air that settles on everything like gentle rain. We use a long-handled broom to banish abundant cobwebs. Then our trusty battery powered blower blasts dust off walls and chicken wire. We finish with a bucket of warm soapy water and a big sponge to dedust horizontal surfaces.

Scrub and Sanitize: Every spring we add soap or a little bleach to a bucket of warm water and thoroughly clean and sanitize feeders, waterers, and roosts. Paper towels and cleaning solution takes the grime off windows, letting more light into the coop.

Inspect and fix: Winter’s tough on paint and we always find some of it flaking off. Out comes the scrapers to remove the big flakes. Then we brush on a fresh coat to spiff up the coop’s exterior. If we discover any cracks or holes in the siding, we plug them using our trusty caulking gun.

Install mosquito screens: Winter is a tough season for chickens, but at least they don’t have to endure biting insects. With spring comes bugs. We double screen our coop’s windows. One screen layer is of heavy duty 2”X4” mesh wire that keeps hungry raccoons outside. It works great on these powerful mammals but doesn’t even slow down mosquitoes and gnats. So, we stretch a second screen of mosquito netting over the inside of the windows. That way we keep both furry and winged predators out of the coop.

Set up Rain Barrels: When the wind whistles and frost hangs heavy, we carry water from the house to the coop. That chore gets easier in the spring when we position two rain barrels under the coop’s gutter downspout. Rain keeps them full, storing clean water close to the chickens. The barrels save us many steps carrying heavy water filled buckets.

Plant the Run: It’s not a cleaning chore but each spring we seed our run with plants chickens love to eat, like brassicas, grass, and clover. When it warms up to tomato planting time, we broadcast buckwheat and rake the seeds into the run’s soil. Chickens won’t eat buckwheat, but they snack on insects attracted to the plant’s white flowers.

We enjoy our clean, tidy, well-maintained coop that also looks great to neighbors who can see into our yard and our occasional visitors. Spring’s the best time for a thorough spiff up.

There’s something deeply rewarding about raising your own food. When it comes to poultry, meat chickens (also called broilers) can provide a healthy, sustainable, and flavorful source of protein right from your backyard. But raising meat birds is a little different than keeping a small flock of egg layers. If you’re considering this step, here’s what you need to know to raise meat chickens successfully—from fluffy chicks to processing day.

Step 1: Choosing the Right Breed

Not all chickens are created equal when it comes to meat production.

• Cornish Cross: The most popular meat bird. They grow fast—reaching butcher weight (5–7 lbs) in 6–8 weeks. They’re efficient, but they also require careful management because their rapid growth can stress their bodies.
• Rudd Rangers / Freedom Rangers: A slower-growing alternative (10–12 weeks), often more active and hardy. Great for pasture-based systems with a bit more flavor in the meat.
• Dual-purpose breeds (like Plymouth Rocks or Orpingtons): They take longer to reach processing weight but can serve as both layers and meat birds.

Step 2: Setting Up a Brooder

The first few weeks are crucial. Young chicks need a warm, safe environment to thrive.

• Brooder box: A stock tank, large bin, or a DIY pen lined with bedding.
• Heat source: A heat lamp or radiant brooder plate. Start at 90–95°F and reduce by ~5°F per week until they’re feathered out.
• Bedding: Pine shavings (avoid cedar). Replace often to keep things dry.
• Feed and water: Use chick feeders and waterers to prevent spills and contamination.

Pro tip: Watch your chicks. If they huddle together, they’re cold. If they scatter far from the heat, they’re too hot.

Step 3: Feeding for Growth

Meat birds have different dietary needs than egg layers.

• Starter feed: High-protein chick starter (20–24% protein) for the first 3 weeks.
• Grower feed: Switch to 18–20% protein feed after 3 weeks until processing.
• Free choice water: Always keep water available—meat birds grow fast and dehydrate easily.
• Controlled feeding: Especially for Cornish Cross, consider limiting feed to 12 hours on/12 hours off after the first week to avoid health problems.

Step 4: Housing and Pasture

By 3–4 weeks, your birds are ready to move out of the brooder.

• Chicken tractors: Mobile pens that allow access to fresh grass daily while keeping predators out. Perfect for small-scale homesteads.
• Stationary coops with runs: Work well too, but require more cleanup.
• Space: Give at least 2 square feet per bird in confinement, more if they’re on pasture.

Pastured meat birds benefit from the exercise, sunshine, and bugs, and you’ll notice the flavor difference in the finished product.

Step 5: Managing Health and Growth

 Watch weight gain: Fast-growing breeds can develop leg problems or heart issues. Controlled feeding and access to pasture help.

• Keep it clean: Rotate tractors or refresh bedding often to avoid ammonia buildup.
• Predator protection: Secure housing is essential—meat birds are slower and less alert than layers.

Step 6: Butchering Day

Processing your birds is the most serious (and rewarding) part of the journey.

• Age: Cornish Cross at 6–8 weeks, Rangers at 10–12
• Processing options: Do it yourself (with proper tools and setup) or use a licensed poultry processor.
• Humane handling: Always handle birds calmly and process quickly to minimize stress.
• Resting the meat: Chill processed chickens in ice water, then let them rest in the fridge for 24–48 hours before freezing or cooking. This tenderizes the meat.

Step 7: Storing and Enjoying the Harvest

• Freezing: Vacuum-sealing is best, but freezer bags work if air is pressed out.
• Portioning: Whole birds are simple, but you can also cut into parts before freezing.
• Shelf life: Properly stored, frozen chicken lasts up to a year.

Raising meat chickens requires daily care, attention, and a willingness to handle the butchering process—but the rewards are huge. You’ll gain a deeper appreciation for where your food comes from, enjoy healthier and tastier chicken, and maybe even save money in the long run.

It’s not just about filling your freezer—it’s about taking responsibility for your food chain and building a deeper connection with your homestead.

Meat Chicken Timeline: Week by Week

Week 1–2: Brooder Basics

• Keep chicks at 90–95°F with heat lamp/plate
• High-protein chick starter (20–24%)
• Clean bedding daily, plenty of fresh water

Week 3: Growing Up

• Lower brooder temp to 80–85°F
• Switch to 18–20% grower feed
• Birds begin feathering out and can start short outdoor visits (weather permitting)

Week 4–5: Moving Out

• Transition to chicken tractor or coop + run
• 2+ square feet per bird minimum, more if on pasture
• Begin rotating pens for fresh grass & bug access

Week 6–7: Finishing Stage (Cornish Cross)

• Birds reach 5–7 lbs
• Manage feed intake (12 on / 12 off for Cornish)
• Monitor for leg or heart strain
• Prep butchering supplies or schedule processor

Week 8: Butchering (Cornish Cross)

• Butcher age for Cornish Cross (6–8 weeks)
• Chill in ice bath, rest 24–48 hrs in fridge before freezing

Week 9–12: Finishing Stage (Rangers / Slower Breeds)

• More active, slightly leaner meat
• Continue pasture rotation
• Butcher at 10–12 weeks for ideal size and flavor

After Processing

• Vacuum seal or freezer bag whole or parted-out birds
• Store up to 1 year in freezer
• Enjoy homegrown meals that connect you to your food

Chickens are amazingly healthy animals. Given good care they’re hardly fazed by winter’s chill or summer’s sweltering heat. In the five decades we’ve kept chickens our flocks have always been healthy.

In the past few years millions of commercial chickens were killed to slow the spread of avian influenza, or bird flu. It’s a deadly disease but hardly the only malady that can sicken or kill our faithful coop friends.

Knowing that diseases lurk we constantly work to protect our hens from illness. A key strategy is buying healthy chicks from Hoover’s Hatchery. Then we carefully manage moisture, space, sanitation, isolation, safety and nutrition.

Damp’s Danger

Chickens must drink water daily, but moisture can be their worst enemy. Soggy coop litter and a muddy run are perfect environments for bacteria and viruses to thrive and decimate a flock. Here’s how ways we reduce dampness in our coop:

• Keep the roof in good repair with windows positioned beneath overhangs to banish rain from the interior.
• Keep waterers level and in good repair so they don’t leak. They are set on solid bases to make it hard for chickens to topple them over.

If our coop’s litter gets wet, we immediately shovel out the soggy pine shavings and add them to our outdoor compost bin. A bag of spare dry shavings is always on hand to replace damp ones. When we detect the slightest ammonia odor in the coop we replace all the litter.

Our large run is on sandy soil that doesn’t puddle up or get muddy. Should that ever happened we’d keep the chickens inside until the soil dried.

Space

During the pandemic social distancing was the mantra to keep people healthy. The same goes for chickens. Crowding invites disease. Standard wisdom is to provide each heavy breed hen four square feet of coop space and three square feet for light breeds.  That’s an absolute minimum. It’s tempting to crowd many birds into a coop but spaciousness also helps reduce such problematic chicken behavior as aggressive picking and egg eating. Give ‘em plenty of space.

Isolation

We practice biosecurity. Hoover’s Catalog lists smart practices that we follow. Small backyard flocks enjoy the benefit of isolation. If they don’t contact infected birds they won’t catch the disease. Here’s how we keep our flock isolated from outside diseases.

• Rarely introduce a new chicken to our flock.
• Limit our chicken’s interaction with wildlife. It’s hard to keep sparrows out of a run but we keep holes plugged up so they can’t get into the coop. We mercilessly suppress mice.
• Wild turkeys often roam our yard but a sturdy fence keeps our chickens inside their run and the turkeys out.
• We never blend our flock with domestic turkeys or waterfowl, which may carry diseases that can kill chickens.

Nutrition

Complete, quality commercial feed provides all the nutrition chickens need for healthy and productive lives, but it’s fun to spice up their daily routine with treats. They scramble for lettuce scraps, leftover rice, and plenty of other kitchen scraps. Moldy feed or treats go into the compost bin instead of the coop. Among the most nutritious chicken delights are the insects and worms she finds in the run.

Safety

Preventing disease is only part of the strategy of keeping a flock healthy. Safety is important. We reduce the odds of injuries by eliminating sharp objects and  jagged ends of fences. Locking hens inside a stout coop at sundown virtually eliminates losing them to hungry raccoons.

Vets and First Aid

Special chicken first aid kits are sold online but most contain the same items we keep in our human first aid kit-bandages, tweezers, and gauze pads. They might be useful for minor injuries, but a visit to a vet is likely a smart move to treat a major illness or injury.

Most veterinarians are skilled in solving almost any health problem a dog or cat might have, but often they lack experience with birds. Although well cared for chickens rarely get sick or injured, having a relationship with a vet with bird care skills can be a chicken lifesaver. Ask around to find a bird skilled vet before the need arises.

When given good care chickens are amazingly healthy and resilient.

We didn’t let our kids enter the house with muddy feet. Playing in the snow and mud puddles is a fun and educational kid activity. We encouraged it, but muddy boots came off in the garage before stocking-footed youngsters came inside for hot chocolate and a cookie.

The same rule applies to our chickens. Mud is wet. It makes a coop mess, and moisture fosters disease. We like our flock to spend time outside so here are things we do to let the chickens enjoy the outdoors while keeping mud and water out of the coop’s interior.

Sometimes We Keep Them Inside

The easiest way to keep chickens from tracking mud and water into the coop is to just keep the pop hole door closed on rainy days. The birds have to stay inside until the run dries out. It works, but chickens love their outdoor time so we prefer alternatives.

Sand

We’re lucky. Our house and chicken run are perched high on an ancient sand dune. It makes gardening challenging because even a heavy rain quickly percolates down into sand that dries quickly. Our former house and chicken run were on heavy clay soil.  Puddles formed after even a light rain. Muddy chicken feet would track water and dirt into the coop.

The solution was easy. For our small run we bought a dozen bags of sand at a home store. It’s called either traction or play sand. Spreading a couple of inches of it on top of the heavy soil eliminated puddles unless we had prolonged rain.

Sand has a second benefit. Hens need to swallow grit that settles in their gizzards and helps them grind food. They’ll pluck grit from the sand.

Adding bags of sand to the run creates chicken curiosity and keeps the soil surface dry.

Vegetation

Hens and green plants go together like hand and glove. A thick grassy mat that carpets a run’s ground keeps feet mud free and does more. Tender grass shoots are an epicurean delight to hungry chickens. Color within leaves transforms egg yolks from pale yellow to bold orange.

Greenery in the run provides chicken vegetables. Bugs lured to the plants are snapped up by hungry chickens, adding protein. A vegetated run can provide so much flock food that they eat commercial feed sparingly in the summer. That reduces cost.

Getting a thick growth of plants to persist in a run is tricky. If many chickens share a small run, it’s almost impossible to get anything to grow. Even the tiniest green sprout will be gobbled up by a hungry hen. We’ve found a few ways to keep our run green.

Space is first. The bigger the run the better. Our 15 chickens enjoy a fenced in run of about 3,150 square feet. Even with all that space the birds keep it well grazed.

Planting is our second strategy. Every spring we seed the run to a mixture of plants of two general types:  Those plants that chickens love to eat like grass, radish, and clover and plants they refuse to eat, especially buckwheat. Buckwheat loves summer’s heat and produces white blossoms that attract insects from far and wide. The chickens refuse to eat the plant but snatch up the bugs attracted to it. We also tolerate weeds that welcome themselves to the run but chickens won’t eat.

There’s a problem with seeding a run. If they get a chance chickens gobble up the seeds. We have two runs, so we plant one and only let the chickens into the second one until we get good plant growth in the other. Then we reverse it by letting the hens graze in the green run and plant the one they had been in. Most people don’t have two runs but stretching a fence of chicken wire to split the run in two works. Let the hens enjoy one side while the other is greening. It’s rotation grazing.

Buying Seed

Finding grass seed in garden and hardware stores is easy. We stick with inexpensive annual ryegrass. Farm stores that sell baby chicks usually also sell seeds for hunters to plant that attract deer. Often these mixes contain clover, radishes, turnips, and oats.

They work well in chicken runs.

Several large seed companies also sell bulk seeds at decent prices. They make it easy to purchase just the right quantity and varieties of different seeds. Our favorites are Albert Lea Seeds at alseed.com and Ernst Seed at ernstseed.com.

Managing a flock’s outside run keeps the dirt dry. No mud. That lets the chickens enjoy being outside most days without tracking a mess into the coop.

After more than 80 years of raising chickens, we know exactly what was wrong with every coop on the market.

Since 1944, Hoover’s Hatchery has been a leader in the backyard poultry industry. This multi-generational family business now offers more than 200 breeds, and millions of backyards across America receive our chicks each year. We’re experts in what chicks need, and we know well the problems chicken keepers run into when trying to give their backyard poultry the best care.

The biggest issue? Chicken coop maintenance.

We felt responsible for helping solve this problem. As a longtime partner to backyard chicken keepers, it’s our responsibility to help them succeed. We want to do everything we can to keep people in it after they take the leap.

The Problem Every Chicken Keeper Knows

Chicken keepers know the feeling well. You’ve chosen your breed, you have your chicks in the brooder, and you’re thinking about where they’ll live when they can get out on their own. So you Google “best chicken coop,” and you’re greeted with a wide variety of attractive options. The problem? The vast majority of those options are made of wood. Wood requires regular maintenance to stay in good shape, and even with that maintenance, the likelihood of rot damage or mite infestation remains high.

If you’ve owned a wooden coop, you already know the cycle. Year one: beautiful. Year two: you may notice the paint is peeling a bit and the rain causes some swelling. By year three, you’re fighting rot in the corners and red mites in the cracks and seams.

And then there’s the issue of keeping the coop clean. We love our chickens, but there’s no denying that they can create a mess like any animal. This is what really makes having the wrong coop a disincentive to maintaining a backyard flock. Not the feeding. Not keeping the predators out. The maintenance. It’s a project that never ends, and it creates burnout.

Why Hoover’s?

Why is a hatchery launching a coop? To help chicken keepers avoid burnout. We want to keep this lifestyle growing for generations to come. The rewards of having a backyard flock are greater than the drawbacks, but if we can minimize those drawbacks, more families will stick with their flocks.

How Our Coop is Better

The Hoover’s Lean-To Easy Clean Coop is the result of years of experience raising chickens. It’s made from heavy-duty, 100% recycled plastic. This material lasts for years – even decades – and won’t rot, won’t need painting, and isn’t conducive to mites. But the material isn’t the point. The point is what it gains you.

It cleans in five minutes

This is arguably the greatest feature of the design. The inside of the coop is smooth and non-porous. The trays are removable. There is no textured surface for droppings to stick to or parasites to hide in. All a chicken keeper has to do is lift and remove the back panel, rake out the bedding, hose down the inside… and that’s it. Ease of cleaning is the single biggest upgrade from traditional wooden coops.

It’s built to outlast every wooden coop you’ve ever owned

Our heavy-duty, high quality recycled plastic doesn’t rot. It doesn’t absorb moisture. It doesn’t crack in the cold. While a wooden coop typically needs replacing every 3-5 years, this coop is engineered to last decades.

Your birds are safe

The construction is sturdy and predator resistant. We also offer a six-foot metal 0mesh run that seamlessly attaches to the coop, allowing predator protection from the air (hawks), and ground (raccoons, foxes).  This run features a side skirt to battle burrowing predators, as well.

It looks like it belongs in your backyard

This was important to us. When ease of cleaning and predator protection are the highest priorities, it could be easy to overlook aesthetics. Not for our coop. The Hoover’s coop is meant to look as great in a suburban backyard as it does on a larger farm or homestead property. It is widely available in a natural sage green finish, and we developed an exclusive white woodgrain-style finish for Tractor Supply Co. that gives you the aesthetic of a traditional wooden coop without the headaches.

The Real Reason Behind This Coop

We’re proud of the features and specifications of our new coop, but those are the benefits. What we’re most excited about is what this coop could mean to you:

We want you to spend less time maintaining your coop and more time enjoying your flock.

Backyard chicken keeping is supposed to be enjoyable. Collecting eggs, watching the birds forage or explore, and showing your kids where their food comes from are all integral parts of the backyard poultry experience. We don’t want to be ruined by never-ending maintenance and headache. Doesn’t it sound better to take five minutes to clean and gain a whole weekend with your flock?

Where to Find the Hoover’s Coop

The Hoover’s Lean-To Easy Clean Coop is now available at select retailers nationwide.

• Sage Green finish now available in store at Murdoch’s, Country Store, and for shipping through Tractor Supply Co.
• Exclusive Woodgrain Finish now available at select Tractor Supply Co. locations nationwide.

You can learn more about where to get the Hoover’s coop on our product page here https://hoovershatchery.com/coops

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your coop, or if you’re just getting started and are determined to avoid the poultry pitfalls, we’d love for you to take a look. If you have questions, our team is here. We’re the backyard poultry experts, and we want you to have the best chicken keeping experience possible.

No one knows how many chicken breeds exist, but there are hundreds. Maybe thousands. Hoover’s Hatchery catalog lists at least 100 breeds and every year they add a few more. There are heritage breeds, modern hybrids, specialty egg layers, broilers, and a few unique ones that don’t quite fit into any category.

With so many choices how does a family choose the best breed, or mix of breeds, to buy?  It’s confusing. Choosing can be challenging, but we make it fun.

Every year we buy six or seven chicks to replace older hens entering retirement. We need a steady supply of eggs but emotions come into play. We end up with a mix of productive birds that are colorful and fun. We choose them because we like a breed’s color, personality, temperament and even their ancestry. Over the years we’ve enjoyed many breeds and try a few new ones each year. Often, we’ll buy a chick or two more than we really need because sometimes an unfortunate one dies. We don’t want our mature flock to be short. So, here is a typical spring order we might place for seven chicks:

• A New Hampshire Red because they are rugged good layers…..and because Marion’s from New Hampshire.
• A Jersey Giant because these king-sized birds are good layers…..and Rich is from New Jersey.
• An exceptionally good layer like an ISA Brown, Australorp, Rhode Island Red or a Hoover’s hybrid like an Amberlink or Black Sex Link. Laying workhorses.
• A Brahma because they are huge, calm, and gorgeous. We love them.
• A Buff Orpington or Buff Cochin because of their elegance. A buff always seems to become the golden centerpiece of our flock.
• A breed new to us like a Sussex or a Buckeye.
• An oddball. A purely fun chicken. We like them because they’re distinctive. It might be a dark egg laying Maran or a silly looking bird like a Salmon Faverolles.

When making our purchase plans we eliminate two types of chicks. We don’t order broilers because we don’t want to butcher our precious birds and white egg laying breeds tend to be noisier and more nervous than our placid brown egg layers. But, in some past years we’ve added a California White chick to our mix. They’re industrious white egg layers and are a little calmer than Leghorns.

Tips for Buying Chicks from a Farm Store

One of the best places to buy Hoover’s chicks is from a farm store, although that name may be misleading. Hoover’s sends chicks to hundreds of farm stores. Don’t let the name fool you. Many farm stores are in suburbia and cities far from farms. It’s likely there’s a farm store near where everyone lives.

Here are a few reasons why buying from a farm store is a perfect way to start a flock:

• Experienced sales people help customers buy chicks of appropriate breeds.
• Many cities only allow families to keep four or six hens. Hatcheries that ship chicks directly to customers usually have a minimum order size of 15 chicks. In contrast, farm stores will sell just a few peeping babies.
• Customers see the chicks in the store’s brooders and can pick the ones they want.
• Stores sell feed, feeders, grit, and other items that make raising chickens successful. They are a one stop shop.

It helps to have some breed knowledge before going to the farm store for a chick purchase. Most farm stores keep different breeds in separate brooders marked with the breed. Sometimes they mix a few breeds in the same brooder…….and the sales person may not be able to tell them apart. There’s a solution. Hoover’s website includes photos of chicks of many breeds, making it easy to find a breed’s photo on your cell phone and match it with chicks in the store’s brooder. 

When winter’s snow swirls outside we love viewing seed websites and ordering vegetable seeds we’ll plant in the spring. The Hoover’s Hatchery website is just as much fun. It helps us plan what breeds we’ll buy that year.

Our hens love their nests. They tuck themselves into a nest’s quiet confines and semidarkness to enjoy privacy until the magic moment arrives and an egg emerges.
Her new egg is a matter of pride.

Daily eggs are more than the fixins’ of a delicious breakfast. They can be a tool to help children practice basic arithmetic and learn the fundamentals of scientific research.
Find a very young child and try the exercise toward the bottom of this message.

Nests are, perhaps, the most important pieces of furniture in a backyard coop. Experts recommend placing at least one nest for every four laying hens. Our flock has 14 layers, so we keep four nests in the coop.

Nests can be bought at farm stores or online but we’ve always made ours from scrap wood salvaged from old pallets and crates. Five-gallon plastic buckets can also be made to work. The exact nest size isn’t important, but it should be big enough for a hen to fit inside yet snug enough to afford privacy as she lays her egg.

Our nests are built into the coop’s wall, so we can open a hinged door and collect eggs without entering the coop.  It’s convenient. We’ve also made two “roll out” nests.

The bottom is slightly sloped so eggs roll out of the nest into a collection area. Take a look at the photo.

Here are some ways to make nests useful and comfortable:

• Place them where both hens and people can easily access them. We placed ours about human hip high and made a little ladder helping our girls easily climb inside.
• Place soft hay or wood chips on the nest’s floor to cushion eggs. For our roll out nests we line the bottom with indoor/outdoor carpet. This prevents eggs hitting a hard wall and cracking.
• Place a curtain to cover the top half of the nest’s entrance to add privacy and darkness inside. We stapled a dishrag to the top of each nest for privacy but some people use decorative cloth to add a touch of color and class to the coop.

Chickens sometimes do weird things. We chuckle when two, or even three, hens are crammed in one nest when nearby ones are vacant. Why do they do this?  Who knows, but each hen seems to have a favorite nest.