In late March I bought 5 chicks from Denson's in Corvallis. Building the coop took about two months of casual work and $400 of purchased materials. The eggs will payback the cost of the coop in about 3 years, but the chicken shit will help my compost pile break down bags of sawdust from woodworking projects. Feeding chickens chickens pill bugs and worms is embarrassingly entertaining.
These chicks are entertaining to feed, but they stink and need secure space provided by a chicken coop and run. Their coop should provide shelter from wind/rain, easy to refill food/water, a place to roost/lay, artificial light to promote winter egg laying, and most importantly an easy method to clean chicken shit from the coop and run.