So I’ve always thought that Little House on The Prairie actually had something to it. I have wanted to live a life in that manner for a long time. What I mean by that is, a simple life. One less plugged in, less busy, destressed, and maybe less medications.
After public school told us they did not have time to teach our daughter to read, our adventures in homeschooling began. As it happened I wanted to teach the kids where food actually comes fom.
So we started with chickens. The picture at the top of this post is the whole setup now, but we started out with just building the coop which cost $400 in material but is still cheaper than a store bought one. The front half of the coop the chain link fence is a dog kennel we bought for $220 on sale. The other 180 was material to make the coop. We had trouble with chicken hawks so another $60 was spent to cover the kennel. Then we bought the chain link fence for the back of the coop for $50. We have wire that runs across the top of the back part, but we let the weeds grow up high to camouflage the chickens better and so far this has worked well.
Before anyone comments about free range, I simply cannot do that. There’s a highway on one side and woods on the other, so far we have lost 5 chickens to coyotes, skunks and chicken hawks.
In a continued effort to teach our kids where real food comes from, we have a large garden and can green beans, make pickles, and try to put enough away for the winter. The tricky part has been to figure out a planting/harvest ratio.
Coons Outdoors 
I’m going to have to build a chicken coop sometime soon..the tip about the weeds is useful thanks! Btw, that’s awful that your public school said they don’t have time to teach your kids to read – no wonder you home school!