Hi Chicken Lovers of the World! I am new to this world of (very adorable) chicks. My husband went to the store for plywood (hence my username) and came home with 6 cute chicken little's and the makings for a coop I do love him! It makes sense, we are a big family and go through a big pack of eggs every week. My hubby & I have discussed it before but this was still a fairly large surprise! We've got the starter area with heat lamp and all that jazz & the coop covered, I've been browsing this great website here and have found some ingenious ideas for watering and feeding systems but that's all the easy stuff. I need advice on simply how to raise chickens......... Are they OK in the winter? Do they need an completely enclosed area in their coops or is just a roof and an open front okay? how often should you clean their coops? I've heard they don't produce eggs with chicks unless there's a male, is that true? So on & so forth, any advice and help is appreciated!!!!