Chicken Coop Dreams

An urban chicken coop paradise is one phrase that came to mind when I fist saw this! The neighborhood cat is the least of these chickens worries. If I even had a playhouse as cute as this when I was young I would of never came in for dinner! My “Aunt-In-Law” Molly really outdid herself when designing and building this chicken coop for her new hobby. Who says city folk can’t be farmers too?

Construction and Design

Built and designed completely by her and her family, they modeled the coop after their own home and it even has matching cedar shake siding! When Molly and her husband Ron began to think about the design they knew they wanted it to be nice to look at since it is five steps out their back window! They also didn't want to blow the bank since the chickens themselves can be an expensive hobby. So they turned to Craig’s List and scrapped in the family wood shop for all kinds of materials. In the end they managed to use ALL repurposed wood and materials to build this coop. It is ventilated and has concrete block around the entire bottom so no predators can dig under to get in. The coop itself is insulated and closes up every night. Molly said her hens know that when she comes out at dusk they all walk up the ramp to their beds to roost for the night. How sweet! Below is a picture of their little door that opens and closes with a pulley system from the outside!

In the pictures above you can see the coop has an egg collecting side, with boxes that slide out for easy egg access and cleaning! She trained them to lay in these boxes by placing a fake ceramic egg in each box, this encourages the hens to lay here and not elsewhere in the coop.

Because these chickens live in the cities, she does keep them inside their coop/run for the most part. They have a chicken run where they can stretch their legs and range free but still be safe. Some times she lets them in her garden to eat bugs but they have proven to be a bit naughty and dig! The chickens are fed only Organic GMO free grain and feed but also get table scraps from the kitchen when available!

Since the day she picked the chicks up, Molly has poured her heart and soul into these chickens. What is special for her family is that her grandkids get to watch and learn from her too! When they bought the chicks they each got to pick and name a chicken as long as they promised to help care for it. Now they have learned the precious rewards of hard work, chores and caring for something less than themselves. They have learned that their efforts reap a harvest of scrambled eggs in the morning and a pretty fun story to tell at school! Since when do kids get so excited about something like chickens?? I love it!

Selecting Breeds

She has 7 hens which are a mix of Rhode Island Reds, Plymouth Rock, Golden Comet and Tetra Brown. She choose these breeds based on large egg laying amounts per year, their beautiful color and the amount of cold tolerance the breed can handle. Not all chickens can handle the cold winters here in Minnesota. Lastly, she choose these breeds because they are friendly! Her grandkids can handle them without worrying about them pecking or scratching them. The Golden Comet and the Plymouth Rock are the most friendly and these hens come up to them every time! Since they were little chicks they handled them a lot to desensitize them and familiarize them to people.

Her chickens have just begun to lay one egg a day and this will increase significantly in the next weeks and months! I can’t think of a more healthy and rewarding hobby. Max and I are excited to start our own flock of hens (and possibly ducks too!) on our new homestead soon! Molly’s coop has surely inspired us to think outside of the box before building, consider functionality of a good chicken coop and how to keep your chickens safe from predators (which we will have many)! She has fully proven that backyard chickens can be attainable by anyone who will take the time to do some research and put in the work to care for and raise this farm favorite animal. I hope her chicken coop can be an inspiration to those of you who are interested in backyard chickens too! If you loved her coop please leave her a comment below, I know she would appreciate it greatly!

Thank You Molly for allowing me to feature a bit of excitement and beauty in your life right now!

-Amy