Here’s the sCoop!
By MacKenzie Geidt, Sunset editorial assistant
No chickens yet, but the coop has landed! We’re one step closer to welcoming our first flock to the Sunset homestead.
If I were a chicken, I’d be thrilled to shack up in this cozy coop and I’d find very little to complain about. Our customized coop hails from the masterful hands of James Stamp, founder of Wine Country Coops in St. Helena, California, which was featured in our July issue.
Our coop is 4- by 6-feet (very nearly the size of my studio apartment in San Francisco), and sports a charming red gabled roof of weatherproof corrugated metal.
Wire mesh flooring lets droppings fall to the ground, keeping the house clean and low-maintenance. 
We’ll be able to easily collect the eggs every day through a door to the nesting compartment, and a ramp will allow the chickens to scuttle out when they’re let out in the morning to roam. Weather-proof with excellent 
Readers: Do you have chickens? We want to see pictures of your feathered friends! Show off your prize-winners and email us with pictures. We’ll add them to our (forthcoming) Chicken Portrait Gallery. Send pictures (include names!) and your stories to: geidtm@sunset.com
Thanks for writing, LM! To get the latest from the coop, click on the “Team Chicken” link under “Categories,” to the right.
It has been a year now, update please- how are the chickens doing?
Seeing as I am a very un-handy female without any help, I can see the allure of a pre-made chicken coop. Especially one from Wine Country Coops. I also like the coops from Eglu (their site is Omlet.com).
But even if you build one yourself, the materials are coming in from somewhere outside the urban area, so the fact remains it still is no better or worse than buying a pre-made coop. At WCC, you are also supporting a family business, so that’s good.
Plus I think the chickens will love their new stylish home!
Hey Jordan -
You make a good point, but how could we resist when Wine Country Coops offered to donate one of their luxurious accommodations? We wanted only the best for Ruby, Alana, and friends! Ryan (our test garden coordinator) built a fabulous pen so our chicks will have plenty of room to wander during the day – and would have been happy to construct our coop, if we hadn’t been the lucky recipients of the cozy, red-roofed bungalow. So instead of a humble abode, the chicks will be laying in style. I just hope they like it as much as we do so we get lots of eggs!
I know this is maybe a silly question, but isn’t it a little against the spirit of the one-block diet to ship in a chicken coop from 70 miles away?
Check out all the chicken coop design ideas at my site, TheCityChicken.com!
Is that framed area to be a run for the chickens? What did you use to frame it and what sort of mesh for the sides/top?
CJ
PS. Will they get to free range around Sunset?