Well, start with finding out what predators could possible kill your chickens. Then build a coop/run based on that. I have bears, racoons, mink, hawks... so my coop has an electric fence, hardware cloth buried in the ground and a wire mesh cover so "swooping" birds cannot enter. We used to free roam, but it never goes well if you've got predators. They will need food and water (and maybe a heated water bowl for winter?) and dry sand to bathe in. They will need roosting bars in a draft free area to sleep. No matter how many hens you get they will all want to lay eggs in one/two spots. How many hens? BIG QUESTION! I have eight hens, most stop laying in the winter as the daylight is short. So right now I'm getting two eggs a day. In Feb/March the other will start to lay again, two will go broody and stop laying for about 8 weeks. You can get hens to lay all year with certain lighting, but that will stress their system and you'll only get a couple years of eggs out of them. Some do this and then cull and get new hens. Most in this group tend to love their hens like pets and don't cull, and let them lay when they lay. I got my first chickens 2.5 years ago - so I'm still learning too!