Chickens are about the simplest most common homesteading animal out there and are easy to keep once you meet some of their basic needs. 
Coop: Chickens need a coop to sleep in at night and to be able to lay their eggs in. In your coop, you’ll want to provide your chickens with nesting boxes to lay eggs and roosting poles to go to sleep at night. A general rule of thumb is about one nesting box per 4-5 chickens. I’d recommend building your own coop as it can be done more cheaply, and you’ll end up with a larger coop in the end. Coops from the store are often expensive and too small.
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Straw: You’ll need straw or hay to put in your nesting boxes and to lay out on your coop floor. This makes cleaning so much easier after the chickens have soiled it each night. Depending on how many chickens you have, I generally switch out the bedding every 1-2 weeks. When it’s fresh, the chickens also love to scratch in it to find any little seeds or treats.
Food/ Feeder: Chicken feed from the feed store can be really cheap, but if you have chickens for eggs, you’ll want to provide them something better. Even organic feed is overcooked crap that’s been sprayed with vitamins. I’ve provided the recipe I use in another blog here, but what I do is individually buy the whole grain ingredients in bulk, mix them in appropriate quantities, and feed that to the birds. Good in, good out!
Water: Water is crucial for regular egg production. Going without water for a day or so can screw up their egg production for days. Either invest in an automatic watering system or figure out how often your chickens go through their water and keep it filled up and clean. Winter and freezing can be tougher without a heater, make sure your chickens get water at least twice daily.
Grit: Large, small, old, young, all chickens need grit in order to properly digest their food. The only exception would be if your birds’ free range and find pebbles naturally on the ground, or if you have young chicks that are on a chick crumble. Make sure to provide grit at all times from proper digestion. 
Oyster Shell: Once hens start to lay eggs, they will need free choice oyster shell to ensure that they have enough calcium to make hard shelled eggs. Even if your chickens are on layer feed, still provide it just in case they need extra. If they do not have the calcium they need, they may have eggs with soft shells or even eat their own eggs in order to obtain the calcium they need. Roosters do not need oyster shell, but it won’t hurt them either if they get a hold of it.
Protection: Everything will want to eat your chickens, so you’ll need to make sure they’re protected from both sky and ground predators. Bury your fence line deep, or have 2-3 feet of fencing laid outward from the coop. For the sky predators, wire the top of their enclosure to keep them safe. For free ranging birds, I try to make sure that the dogs are outside often enough that they can scare off anything that may be around to mess with the chickens. Sometimes roosters are helpful as well in protecting their girls.
Enrichment (optional): If you’re chickens don’t free range and have to stay in an enclosed run, you’ll want to provide them with some sort of entertainment. Bored chickens will start to pick on each other and tear each other’s feathers out to the point of creating bald spots. Happy chickens are better than sad/bored chickens. Below are some ideas . . .
-Toss a pile of grass clippings, weeds, or table scraps in there for them to sort through.
-Cut a few holes in plastic bottles and put treats inside for them to try and roll them out.
-Hanging veggies like lettuce and such up for them to pick at and eat. 
-Create a jungle jim of sorts for them to jump on and have fun.
-Provide a sand or dirt box for them to take dust baths.
-Grow a flat of wheat grass and put wire over the top so the chickens can eat it as it grows without killing it.
-Flinging some scratch out into their pen so they have to find all of the delicious treats.
And there you have it!
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