- Quaint cottage style dwelling just north of downtown. Large shared bedroom, living and dining room area. Courtyard access.
- 4 bdrm, 1.5 roosts, unlimited bth
- Up to 4 henents allowed. (Females only)
- Courteous and attentive landlords offering full catering, cleaning and turndown services.
- Green roof with rain barrel for the eco-conscious featherhead
- This is a must see for any serious scratcher!
When Beth Higgins, an architectural student, saw the poster outside the School of Architecture looking for people to compete in a chicken coop building contest, she knew it had to be creative to compete with architecture students. And she thought of a friend, Tim Heinle who is learning woodworking at MATC. Tim had grown up near his grandpa who raised chickens, and he had developed a fondness for them. Besides, he had a dream to one day own a restaurant that used local food he would grow. They seemed like the dream team to build a competitive chicken abode. And so they were. Their coop won first place!
But first, they spent the next three months scavenging for parts, designing and building their dream coop. They had to fit in building the coop with jobs and other responsibilities. ReStore (run by Habitat for Humanity) furnished many materials, primarily doors which they fashioned into walls, cutting out and hinging the panels in some of the doors to make mini-doors for feeding and to access the eggs. They found 2×4’s and 2×6’s for the frame and then used plywood on the floor to make it predator proof. Non-traditional shingles also came from ReStore. The shingles came in groups and had to be connected puzzle-like. Tim got some instructions from carpentry people at MATC. He had never done any roofing before, so it was one of the more challenging pieces of the overall building process. They emphasized that folks with ordinary tools could do this. They mostly used a hand saw, drill and circular saw. Hmm. Not my tools of choice
They fashioned gutters for rain run-off and even set up a tube that runs down to a bucket on the ground, so they can collect rainwater for the garden or the chickens.
There were a number of organizations acting as judges, to name a few: Outpost Natural Foods, Bliffert Hardware, Growing Power and Sweetwater Foundation. They were judged on their choice of materials, form, execution and quality, functionality, innovation-overall design and design intent narrative. As a result of their winning first place, they were awarded a lovely Oscar-like statue and two baby chicks. Before they learned the sex of their chickens, they had to board them on a farm as repairs to the cozy cottage they live in might force them to move soon. (How does one tell the sex of a chicken? Lift up the skirt?) If they have to move, it’ll be a shame because they have the ideal space for a chicken coop located in a side yard next to their back cottage with a nice wire enclosed pen for the chickens to wander in.
Although Tim made it clear that other yards will do nicely as well. Milwaukee regulations require coops be located 25 feet from the neighboring dwellings. What’s more, neighbors of adjoining lots have to sign off on the coop. (His neighbors have, and one even gave friendly advice during the building process.)
And no roosters! The hens (up to four of them) must be egg layers only. The City of Milwaukee has a page of instructions and tells you how to handle questions from reluctant neighbors. You can also contact Milwaukee Chicken Keepers, at milwaukeechickenkeepers@gmail.com
Tim emphasized that hens are not noisy and when it’s dark, they go to bed promptly! (Unlike some children I know.) And you can bribe the neighbors with eggs! Apparently Rhode Island Reds can produce up to 250+ eggs a year. And have been known to sit on your lap.
And another little known fact about chickens gleaned from a friend at a party: Chickens apparently have incredible head stability. You could strap a small webcam on their heads and the video would not wobble at all! (Good to know for those who want to use chickens as their webcam base!)
But is it cost effective? Tim says yes, even after deducting for things like saw dust and feed (in combination with table scraps) it’s still cheaper than buying eggs at the store. And there’s always roast chicken at the end if you’re not too squeamish to eat your own chickens.
