re: Tell me about raising chickens

We have 4 chickens in a small coop next to our shed. We let them out in the afternoon and make sure they return to the coop around sunset, most of the times they head to the coop on their own when it starts getting dark. I use pine shavings in the coop and laying boxes to keep the smell down, it is also supposed to be a natural insect repellent. Layer's feed, water and all our fruit/veggie scraps are fed to the chickens. I keep a couple of live traps set along the wood line of our yard, catfood is the best bait and there is no relocation of coons or possums that are caught. We get 3-4 eggs a day which is plenty for us.