Chicken Coop As Artist’s Canvas

If you’re a fan of the long-running British television series ‘Dr Who’ you know he’s a time traveler whose mode of transit is a TARDIS. The combination time machine and space craft appears as a telephone box from the outside but once the door opens a huge space is revealed.

I’ve featured more than two dozen coops in my cool coop series. This one is a bit of surprise in that vein. From the outside it looks like a modest flatpack shed that has been converted into a home for a small flock of chickens. But like the TARDIS it’s deceiving. Once that door open you’re invited into a riot of colour and creativity.

I give this couple kudos for seizing the opportunity not just to make a coop that is functional but also beautiful. Whether you see chickens as livestock or pets their home can be aesthetically pleasing and a place that you want to spend time hanging out with your flock.

I also have a series called ‘When Art Meets Chickens’: profiles of artists, crafters and writers that incorporate chickens into their work. This project doesn’t feature images of poultry but rather is a literal piece of art that comes together in a coop.

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My husband Scott and I live on a family farm near Strathmore, Alberta, Canada.   I’m an online elementary teacher for Prairie Adventist Christian e-School, a mom to two beautiful sons and a wife to another school teacher. 

What’s your experience with chickens?

I’m a new ‘Chicken Mamma’. My brother, who lives across the road, got chickens a few years ago and it made me want to start as well.  I also see the state of the world and think we need to start providing as much of our own food as possible. The shortages of things during Covid, and even now, are little reminders that life can change quickly and we need to learn to take care of ourselves instead of relying on outside sources.  I’m not a prepper, but I like to have the knowledge and means to provide food for my family.  

We are vegetarians and eggs are a big source of protein for us.  My youngest son also has celiac disease and we use a lot of eggs to hold his food together.  

I lost my oldest son in a car accident and building this coop was a distraction from never ending pain and something my husband and I just enjoyed doing together. 

All reasons why I decided to join the chicken craze.

We have twelve birds:  3 Red Sussex, 3 Barred Red Rock cross, 3 Plymouth Rock, 3 Lavender Orpington and Prairie bluebell. They should start laying within the month.

Is this your first building project?

No, we built our own country home thirteen years ago, so the chicken coop seemed pretty doable. Our next little building project is going be a fun outhouse for the farm, but my husband says “No flowers in that one!”

How did you come up with the plans?  

I had been part of several Facebook chicken groups for a while and saw many people building coops out of anything and everything you could think of!  I’m not a builder but I saved up for a shed package from Rona, in hopes it wouldn’t be too much work for my husband to put together. In hindsight, we wish we would have built from scratch, but we are still happy with the final product. We adjusted the shed plans and made it our own.

Who did the work?

My husband Scott did the building and I did the painting. So, mostly him.

How long did it take?

We had the shed done last summer in a couple months as we were in a hurry to get the birds, but the neighbour we were getting them from lost them all to a fox and so we stalled out finishing it. This spring ‘chicken fever’ hit again and we began finishing the inside using our extra time to make it fun.  In total it took a year until it was finished, but no more than 3 months of actually working on it.

 Budget

Naively, I bought the shed on sale for $1900 and figured we’d maybe have to add another $500, but those shed packages don’t come with floors or shingles, so by the end it was over $5000 with all the paint and extras.

Dimensions

Coop: 9’x12’ We didn’t build a run because we want them to free range in our trees. So far so good.

Features

I had seen a lot of neat little coops but I really wanted something I could just walk into, stand up easily in, and clean out with ease.  Chickens stink!  I really wanted a clean coop to cut down on smell and I wanted to make it extra fun so I enjoyed being in it and wanted to keep it nice. Had I just dragged an old dilapidated shed onto the property I wouldn’t have wanted to keep it as nice. All the sweet chicken lovers on those Facebook groups sharing their beautiful coops and passion for their birds inspired me!  My coop highlight is my floral ceiling. I saw a Pinterest post where someone painted a deck floor and I thought, “Ohh, that would be SO FUN as a coop ceiling and bring the birds joy even in the middle of the harsh Canadian winters!”  And I kid you not, I see them looking up at it!  I tell myself they LOVE IT.

• Two windows that open and close and wide doors, 2/3 of the space is for the girls and 1/3 to store food and other chicken supplies. My husband added a little counter top and I have my chicken collectables in there too.  

• My favourite part of the coop, after the ceiling, is the hanging “Chick Inn” sign, hand drawn by my sweet Aussie neighbour Angie and then painted by my hubby’s steady hand.  I love it; it adds so much charm swaying in the wind out there.

Plans for the future

I’d like to maintain twelve chickens and if we have issues with predators we’ll build a run next summer, but our hope is to not have too.

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