Backyard coops
Backyard coops are smaller coops often surrounded by a fence (sometimes made with chicken wire) to allow the chickens an area to roam, peck, and hunt insects, while contained. Sometimes this type of "yarding" is mobile, and takes the form of chicken tractors.
the popular Eglu brand of backyard chicken coopMany people, especially in rural areas, keep a small flock of chickens to provide themselves with eggs and meat, as sustenance livestock, rather than wholly commercial benefit. A growing number of people keep chickens in urban environments as well. This has led to an increase in chicken coops such as the Eglu, which are designed for urban environments with less space, and less of a utilitarian style.
In urban settings, there is often separate legislation which regulates backyard farming of livestock. For instance, in Oakland, California one can not even own a rooster, and hens must remain twenty feet from dwellings, schools and churches.
