AH! The fun of just starting out!!! Does your area of Utah get a lot of snow or wind? Or just rain?
Since someone else has answered the chick brooder part (which was the first thing I thought of), I'll talk about coop ideas.
I have a very different opinion than most here or that have answered (so far). For us, a shed with a cement pad attached would be used for storage and not a chicken coop. I don't like cleaning up cement with chickens on it and I've always felt chickens (especially heavier birds) don't do well on cement pads - MY EXPERIENCES only since 2011 - when I finally got started with birds and wished I'd gotten them many, many years ago! Others I know have great success with whole coops and chicken yards built on the cement and they like it. With no free range, my coop and my run would be totally on bare ground (no wood/cement floor in the coop) - using the DLM (deep litter methods). Simple, easy and fast to clean - no poop boards - and really no cleaning out except for the nesting boxes (sometimes)! With a 1/2 acre yard, you have a lot of room to set up a movable run or several tractor areas as well as gardening. Using the compost from the DLM would be awesome for any gardening - even if just for front yard landscaping around your house.
Since we lack some building skills and even after 30 years of home leasing/renting in various states (military) and we needed affordable (ie: cheap) - we opted for going with a hoop coop that CAN be roofed with solid materials (though so far, we've ended up using tarps - going on 4th year of a hoop coop with a tarp, newest hoop coop is 2-1/2 yrs old. All have been put on flat bed trailer or truck beds and moved to new locations - twice). They can be built nice enough to look "pretty" in any neighbor hood. Or they can just be "tossed up". Different hoop coop type styles and sizes - there are many hoop coop set ups here on BYC.
What's wrong with a "dog run"? In many of the states that we've been through, you see chain link fences (i am assuming that's what you actually meant?) in every neighborhood. You would just want to put hardware cloth at the bottom to keep your smaller chicks in the fenced area and predators out. Using new and heavy duty chain link dog pens would be "prettier" to look at and stronger to hold against predators. Used dog pens might be more affordable to start with but can be an eyesore depending on their condition/shape. The take apart pens are also movable - if you want/need to move it to a different area in your yard and transportable if you move to a new home.
OK, I'm done for now... Besides, I gave you more to think about again, LOL. Going to save this thread - love to see your new chicks. Several are breeds I haven't had but have admired! We currently have all hatchery stock - Australorp, Delaware, EE's, New Hampshire, Speckled Sussex, Russian Orloff, White Leghorns. Bantams - 2 blk japanese, 2 blue jap/silkie mixes; 1 mix from my original stock of 15 given to me Dec 2011, 3 mix/Ameracauna. This year - plan on doing our first meat birds (yes, for our freezer & our dogs) and our first orders of heritage cockerels (in-expensive) to compare to the CornishX "meaties" AND a couple of breeds of quality, breeding stock birds. REALLY want some Ameracauna (BBS & B/Wheaton) and ??? Good dual purpose types, that can/will brood/hatch their own chicks, that we just haven't decided on yet.
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Thanks for the info on the interior & exterior paints. The Lowes' paint reps in three different stores and 2 different Home Depot's DID NOT KNOW that here in NC and I found it quite the surprise when I went in asking ?s and I seemed to know more than ANY of the paint area employees.... I don't really know much about paint, but I do know how to use Google. I hate painting, btw.
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Brooders - I just had this to say. I LOVE cardboard! It makes a brooder easier to clean, for me. The soiled cardboard can be picked up with any shavings/bedding on it and used in a multitude of ways. If your HOA regs allow - you can burn it in a small bonfire pit (even in neighbor hoods, we found that we could do a small fire pit with 5 chairs around it behind our home - fun and enjoyable and easy to contain on cool fall/winter/spring nights - or if you are a bon fire lover like we are - throughout the summer as well. If not - worm bins, compost bins, lasagna layered garden beds, mulch around young fruit trees or garden beds. I collect a lot of cardboard from where I work (cat/dog - spay/neuter clinic) and utilize all of it! I've used cardboard as the bottom of the brooder box and as walls to block wind/snow & rain - when outdoors. Yes, it does and will disintegrate - easily attainable to replace - look at previous sentence as to what we do with "bad" pieces (we don't have our worm bins set up yet). We've even used it for flooring in the rabbit cages - easy to replace when soiled and NICE to block male rabbit pee from the walls or other cages. Great liner inside a nesting box - for both rabbits & chickens, LOL.
Since someone else has answered the chick brooder part (which was the first thing I thought of), I'll talk about coop ideas.
I have a very different opinion than most here or that have answered (so far). For us, a shed with a cement pad attached would be used for storage and not a chicken coop. I don't like cleaning up cement with chickens on it and I've always felt chickens (especially heavier birds) don't do well on cement pads - MY EXPERIENCES only since 2011 - when I finally got started with birds and wished I'd gotten them many, many years ago! Others I know have great success with whole coops and chicken yards built on the cement and they like it. With no free range, my coop and my run would be totally on bare ground (no wood/cement floor in the coop) - using the DLM (deep litter methods). Simple, easy and fast to clean - no poop boards - and really no cleaning out except for the nesting boxes (sometimes)! With a 1/2 acre yard, you have a lot of room to set up a movable run or several tractor areas as well as gardening. Using the compost from the DLM would be awesome for any gardening - even if just for front yard landscaping around your house.
Since we lack some building skills and even after 30 years of home leasing/renting in various states (military) and we needed affordable (ie: cheap) - we opted for going with a hoop coop that CAN be roofed with solid materials (though so far, we've ended up using tarps - going on 4th year of a hoop coop with a tarp, newest hoop coop is 2-1/2 yrs old. All have been put on flat bed trailer or truck beds and moved to new locations - twice). They can be built nice enough to look "pretty" in any neighbor hood. Or they can just be "tossed up". Different hoop coop type styles and sizes - there are many hoop coop set ups here on BYC.
What's wrong with a "dog run"? In many of the states that we've been through, you see chain link fences (i am assuming that's what you actually meant?) in every neighborhood. You would just want to put hardware cloth at the bottom to keep your smaller chicks in the fenced area and predators out. Using new and heavy duty chain link dog pens would be "prettier" to look at and stronger to hold against predators. Used dog pens might be more affordable to start with but can be an eyesore depending on their condition/shape. The take apart pens are also movable - if you want/need to move it to a different area in your yard and transportable if you move to a new home.
OK, I'm done for now... Besides, I gave you more to think about again, LOL. Going to save this thread - love to see your new chicks. Several are breeds I haven't had but have admired! We currently have all hatchery stock - Australorp, Delaware, EE's, New Hampshire, Speckled Sussex, Russian Orloff, White Leghorns. Bantams - 2 blk japanese, 2 blue jap/silkie mixes; 1 mix from my original stock of 15 given to me Dec 2011, 3 mix/Ameracauna. This year - plan on doing our first meat birds (yes, for our freezer & our dogs) and our first orders of heritage cockerels (in-expensive) to compare to the CornishX "meaties" AND a couple of breeds of quality, breeding stock birds. REALLY want some Ameracauna (BBS & B/Wheaton) and ??? Good dual purpose types, that can/will brood/hatch their own chicks, that we just haven't decided on yet.
**********
Thanks for the info on the interior & exterior paints. The Lowes' paint reps in three different stores and 2 different Home Depot's DID NOT KNOW that here in NC and I found it quite the surprise when I went in asking ?s and I seemed to know more than ANY of the paint area employees.... I don't really know much about paint, but I do know how to use Google. I hate painting, btw.
**********
Brooders - I just had this to say. I LOVE cardboard! It makes a brooder easier to clean, for me. The soiled cardboard can be picked up with any shavings/bedding on it and used in a multitude of ways. If your HOA regs allow - you can burn it in a small bonfire pit (even in neighbor hoods, we found that we could do a small fire pit with 5 chairs around it behind our home - fun and enjoyable and easy to contain on cool fall/winter/spring nights - or if you are a bon fire lover like we are - throughout the summer as well. If not - worm bins, compost bins, lasagna layered garden beds, mulch around young fruit trees or garden beds. I collect a lot of cardboard from where I work (cat/dog - spay/neuter clinic) and utilize all of it! I've used cardboard as the bottom of the brooder box and as walls to block wind/snow & rain - when outdoors. Yes, it does and will disintegrate - easily attainable to replace - look at previous sentence as to what we do with "bad" pieces (we don't have our worm bins set up yet). We've even used it for flooring in the rabbit cages - easy to replace when soiled and NICE to block male rabbit pee from the walls or other cages. Great liner inside a nesting box - for both rabbits & chickens, LOL.
I used to live in a mid size city with at least 3 Lowe's and only ONE paint rep in ONE store had a clue about VOC's in paint. I am NOT exaggerating...bizarre. Supposedly Home Depot sells some paints too that are low/no VOC but good luck with that. I had even less luck with their paint reps. 
