When I were a lad, we always had chickens, as did my grandparents.
The housing was totally traditional: a portable (by two people) wooden chicken house. Last one was made from old pallets,discarded because broken - like my old compost bin (recycled when it got too rotten). A few (three, I think - it was a long time ago) laying boxes on the sides with hinged roofs, angled down to shed rain, hooks & eyes to hold them down - to stop foxes & cats. Bar along the side, immediately above the laying boxes, which both kept rain off the hinges, & provided a handy grip for lifting the house. Each side of the roof hinged up for access to the interior for cleaning. Tarpaper covered roof & laying box roofs. House door was a bit of wood that slid vertically in grooves, held up by string looped round a nail. They could be shooed inside & the door shut at night, for their own protection. The house didn't have a floor, but plenty of perches inside, & was moved fairly often - sometimes with the chickens inside - a bit of indignant clucking ensued. To stop the chickens from roaming everywhere when there was nobody to keep an eye on them, there was a separate wire run which could be loosely attached.
I've seen almost identical houses in photos from before my granddad was born. Well, if it works, don't fix it.
Chickens which are enclosed, but moved whenever they've de-vegetated the area inside the run, seem quite happy. They get a bit grumpy if left on bare ground, but perk up as soon as they're moved onto a fresh patch, especially if it's nicely overgrown with assorted weeds. Love it! Recently vacated patches are well fertilised - simply dig over and plant, then stand back so as not to be struck in the face by the plants shooting up.
I spent much of my childhood collecting eggs, feeding chickens (they love kitchen scraps), & replacing the straw in laying boxes (compostable, when used). As I remember, I quite enjoyed it, & with that experience, I realise that small numbers of chickens are easy to care for.
I must admit, my grandfathers idea of what to do with a sick or old chicken was to turn it into dogfood. A vets bill was a lot more than a new chicken. My mother turned the ill & old into food for a neighbours ferrets. She got hers ex-battery - industrial chicken farmers top 'em young, with years of laying left in 'em albeit at a reduced rate. Their spacious new home & varied diet seemed to give them a new lease of life. They were a bit wary of the outdoors at first, & had to be started off in the less scary wire run, with the house to retreat into, but soon decided they liked it.
