re: Wife Wants Chickens

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You need an automatic waterer. You will give up without one.

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I put a couple of buckets like you'd feed horses with under my down spouts and they like that more than city water. But you need decent rain once a week or so to keep it up. I know when I started chickens, I thought they needed special waterers and feeders. But for the most part, they will drink wherever there is water and eat whatever you throw at them. If they're in an enclosed coop though, I'd get a 5g waterer.

Make sure you get a decent secure coop that has plenty of room where they can roost at night. Splurge for the automatic door. It makes things much easier as long as there isn't a power interruption. I lost half my chickens to 2 stray dogs that one day just happened on my girls. Now I keep them in about an acre area with electric netting that they can go in and out of, but dogs and foxes wouldn't have the courage to since I've got a 50mile charger on .5 miles of fence. Most of the time they stay in it, but some go out every day to probably escape the rooster.