The Apache made their homes in wickiups, also referred to as a "wigwam." These domed shelters were a single room dwelling that were used not only by the Apache but by other Native American tribes. The structures were formed with a frame of wooden arched poles and covered with various kinds of brush, including grass, bark, rushes, reeds or hides of cloth. As the Apache were nomadic, they simply burned them when they moved on, building another at their next camp.
Most Apache groups did not use traditional hide-covered teepee, though cone-shaped brush covered structures were sometimes used especially during girls' puberty rite ceremonies. Among the Eastern Chiricahua, however, the tepee was more common and was better made, though it never became the favored form. Covered with cloth or hides, the Eastern Chiricahua didn't drag the poles of the teepee when they moved. They put them on the front of the saddle, as many as they could carry.