How to Predator-Proof Your Chicken Coop with the Chicken Coop Company | Backyard Flock Safety Tips
In this episode of the Poultry Nerds Podcast, we’re joined by Danny from the Chicken Coop Company to talk all things predator prevention for backyard chickens. Whether you're battling raccoons, foxes, coyotes, or the real danger—your neighbor’s dog—this episode breaks down practical, real-world solutions to protect your flock.
We discuss coop design features that work, the best materials to use (like hardware cloth vs. chicken wire), how predators behave (from raccoons to hawks), and why infrastructure matters more than people realize. You’ll also hear some wild stories—from dogs trained not to chase chickens, to building coops strong enough to deter even the craftiest critters.
🔨 Coop building tips
🛡️ Anti-dig barriers and predator aprons
🦊 How foxes, raccoons, and hawks break in
📦 Shipping coops that assemble like IKEA
🐔 What not to do if you want to keep chickens safe
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Jennifer: 0:23
Welcome poultry nerd. We are here today to talk about predator proofing your coops, and we are here with Danny from the chicken Coop Company to help us talk through some predators that, that we need to all be aware that are out there that you may not even know about. Welcome, Danny.
Danny: 0:45
How you doing?
Jennifer: 0:46
We're good and Carey's here even though he is being quiet,
Carey: 0:50
I'm just sitting over here like the chicken coop company. People say, they come up with a company name and it's what does that company do?
Jennifer: 1:01
Yep.
Carey: 1:02
It's the name of your company is Chicken Coop Company. That, that's probably what you do and do it really well.
Jennifer: 1:11
I guess this is over. I thought he sold
Carey: 1:12
coffee.
Danny: 1:14
Oh yeah. I thought actually I'm, I thought we were talking about rabbits today.
Jennifer: 1:19
So tell us about you and your wife is Netta, right?
Danny: 1:23
Yeah. And you
Jennifer: 1:24
guys are in's Minnesota. Minnesota.
Danny: 1:27
Yes, we have our fair share of predators here and cold weather, but love it here.
Jennifer: 1:35
Aw, I'm sorry. I don't wanna go up there where it all snowy and cold and stuff.
Danny: 1:39
It's nice. It's the best weather you could ask for six months out of the year. The rest
Carey: 1:43
of it?
Danny: 1:43
Yeah, just leave it.
Carey: 1:46
Jennifer, they don't have the humidity that we have.
Jennifer: 1:50
I have a grumpy husband in the cold, so I'll take the humidity.
Danny: 1:56
We fit in well here.'cause most people in the winter here are grumpy it seems.
Jennifer: 2:00
Oh, okay. I can't, I don't blame'em. So tell us how this whole thing started. If I had to guess I'd say your wife got some chickens and chicken math ensued.
Danny: 2:13
Nailed it. I'm not gonna lie. Literally this morning, just this morning, she said,'cause we have, we just moved three chicks into the coop outside.'cause you have to wait for certain temps and right now it's 81 and sunny and beautiful and they're ready to come out of the house. Literally, we moved the chicks. Yesterday, today she said. So next year I think I'm gonna do four, because if you have 11, you might as well have 15.
Jennifer: 2:38
So do you just have a variety of chickens or do you specialize does she specialize? Yeah. We've got a,
Danny: 2:43
we've got a whole mess. Yeah, we've got a whole mess of'em. And it's great. They're a lot of fun. But yeah, that's essentially how it started out. She got her first. How much was, I think it was five and then we were, before he knew it, we were up to eight. And yeah that's where the whole love for chickens happened. And what I realized is that she loves them more than she loves her dog. And so we are now in the chicken. We're now in the chicken business, which is so much fun.
Jennifer: 3:14
And you didn't even know there was a whole subculture of chicken business at all, did you?
Danny: 3:22
Oh my goodness. Not to the extent that it is not a chance. It's out of control. And what's really fun, just to give it some perspective, like we live in an area where you would think chickens are still taboo, right? Oh, you have chickens in your backyard, really? But the funny thing is we, when we moved them,'cause we moved houses a couple years ago and when we moved them to this neighborhood and there was a question about it should we move the chickens here? Should we not? But the neighbors like it. We were scared to do it a little bit. And being in the business was like, Uhuh, we're gonna practice what we preach. I don't care what the neighbors think, we're gonna bring them over. And sure enough, I'm not joking, I'm not joking. Right behind us, the fir the family, as soon as we moved them over, they always said, I've been looking, I've been thinking about chickens. I think it'd be great. I'm gonna get'em. And we're like, do it. So then the neighbor behind us bought chickens. And right now I'm looking out my window and I see a house across the street. They have chickens. My house next door, just last weekend, brought their chickens outside for the first time and it's like taking over like wildfire. But there's a lot of, and I think that's partly what we're gonna talk about today, but there's, things people need to think about when they're first getting chickens. But it's just so exciting that I'm so glad that everybody's jumping in.
Jennifer: 4:38
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Danny: 4:39
Like when people ask
Carey: 4:40
me, they're like, Hey, I'm thinking about getting some chickens. What advice do you have? And I always tell'em, figure out how many you want. Then prepare to house triple that amount when you're building, getting whatever you're doing with a coop. And just be ready. And they're like, triple. We only want a few chickens to have some eggs and stuff. And I'm like, I understand that. There's a thing called chicken math and we joke about it because it's sadly real and we can't help but laugh. But, you'll say I just want three checks. I really want one, but I need three or four. So they keep each other company. Yep. You've got 50,
Jennifer: 5:32
well, or you could do like me, and you get five, and then you have 25, and then you need more acreage. But then you need dogs to protect it. The dogs need goats. Then as long as we've got goats, we might as well have cows. The fence is already there. And we'll, dang. Now we just need a pig to go along with it and we're set. So that's where we are. So chicken math expands,
Carey: 5:58
once, once chicken math hits the algebra. You're full on farming?
Jennifer: 6:08
Alright, so both Carrie and I are in the south. So what is the number one predator where you are, that you are concerned about?
Danny: 6:17
That's a tough question. I can't speak for all Minnesotans. Because if you're in the north, you're gonna have a different mix. Now we hear coyotes. I'm here just south of Minneapolis a little bit and we hear coyotes all the time. We have fox. Fox are crafty, but they're pretty predictable on when they come by. Which is fine. So I'm not too concerned about the fox, at least in our neighborhood.'cause he's here, he lives here. We just talked to the neighbors about him yesterday actually. I've never actually had a hawk take a chicken. We have hawks and bald eagles, but I've never actually had one take it. But I'm not gonna say they're not a threat. They absolutely are. I'm gonna be honest and I'm gonna say a neighbor's backyard dog is probably one of my biggest predators. Or just risks, if you will. You can protect against everything, but it's almost like everything else in life around insurance and risk tolerance for it. If you can build Fort Knox for these chickens. And do whatever you can to protect them. Or you can do the very bare minimum and you're willing to take that risk. And I think a fun conversation we could have is, what's a happy medium? Or what's right, for where you are. You ask me, what's right for me, where I'm at. I don't really have to worry about snakes, I don't really have those up here. I don't have to worry about some of the issues and some of the challenges you all deal with down in the south. Alligators. Not a chance, right? I don't know what that looks like in the south. That's a real thing. But yeah, I'd actually say protecting against neighborhood dogs is probably the number one thing that I have to do while thinking about the rest.
Jennifer: 7:57
I saw a really horrible post just yesterday on Facebook. And the neighbor's pit bull took out all of their chickens, their ducks, their goats, their kid, the goat kids. Everything they came home and it was just, yeah. So she actually put out that post and said, you've got to know what is around you in order to keep your animals safe. And it's a hard lesson sometimes for people.
Carey: 8:28
A lot of people don't think about it. They think about raccoons and foxes stuff like that more commonly. But the neighbor's dog will keep those away. And you, in the back of your mind, it's, just the neighbor's dog. But that neighbor's dog, who don't like chicken? And if. They're probably more of a threat than a raccoon or anything like that. We have coyotes, but they stay on the other side of the fence. Luckily, in eight years, they've never crossed. And now I have a dog that's bigger than most coyotes, it's not an issue anymore. I don't even have raccoon issue anymore that I have my Anatolian. That's great. I've seen that son of a gun just take off and I look at his GPS collar and I'm like, that sucker can really run. They can. And then they leave stuff on the front porch. That's the downside. But, it didn't eat, it didn't eat my chickens. That's right.
Danny: 9:32
So
Carey: 9:33
what do you suggest? I
Danny: 9:34
have a funny story actually. So my, one of my best buddies, he has chicken math, hit him and his wife real hard. I don't even know what they have, but man, they went, they did that whole, I'm moving to three acres. We're getting the thing, and they bought a dog that they've always wanted and it took'em years to decide on which dog, and it ended up being a bird dog. And they sent it to a hunting school, but they told the school to teach it to not chase birds. And so they literally took a bird dog and trained it to not chase chickens. And it worked. And the guy said the trainer, he said, we're gonna break your dog probably like it's not gonna ever hunt again. And they were like, okay, that's good. And now they have a great big bird dog that loves their chickens. It's pretty, pretty incredible. Now, I don't say, I think people need to go through that'cause it's probably expensive, I would imagine.
Jennifer: 10:32
Yeah.
Danny: 10:32
Hunting schools are not cheap, but that is one way to train your dog.
Carey: 10:38
Getting a dog that's been bred for generations and generations
10:44
to.
Carey: 10:45
I am just gonna say hats off to the school. Okay. Because they, they basically broke that dog's genetics and
Jennifer: 10:58
Okay. We are not condoning that behavior. We think you should steer away from bird chasing dogs, if you can. So in that sense, yeah. What do you, or get a little, you as a coop designer, think about how to prevent the dogs from breaking in. What would be some suggestions?
Danny: 11:18
I would say number one it's knowing your surroundings just like any other predator, knowing which dogs may or may not be a threat. So for example it's the threats that give chickens a hard life. They have to be cooped, they love to roam. I was in Hawaii a long time ago, and on one of the islands, Kauai, remember them saying, the predator at the top of the food chain is the chicken here. Chickens are roaming ever. There's nothing that can hurt you. There's no predators there that can ever cause you harm. And they literally said the top of the food chain is the chicken. Wow. On the animal side.
11:51
That's nice. So those
Danny: 11:52
chickens have it. Those chickens have it. Great. And any chicken here probably is, would be envious because they just free range. There's no threats to'em. We have to ruin our chicken's. Freedom. Put'em in cages, put'em in runs, put'em in coops because of the threats. So I would, to answer your question, I would just say. Know your surroundings, know when they can be out and when they should be in. And then when it comes to what they are in, just know that it's strong enough and you've taken their precautionary measures based on the dog that's around. For example, I have a little French bulldog. He doesn't bite him, he can't, but he just runs into him. He just bull those him, right? And so you don't have to worry about him hurting him. He just loves to just run around with him. He's not going to get into my coop by ramming into it and pushing through the door, right? And so if you have a coop with very flimsy wire or a couple pallets stacked together, and you have a German Shepherd who lives next door, like it's. You might as well have a bear. And not, it's not gonna stop it. So have a coop that deters it quickly so it loses interest. That's what I always say. If they're looking, they're not always looking for a quick snack. They're just looking to have fun dogs. I had a dog busting a or I heard a story about a dog busting in a coop, and he just, within 10 seconds destroyed the entire flock. And it's, he wasn't there to eat'em, he just. Was chasing him down and killing him because Kerry, to your point, bred for generations to kill birds. So that's what he was doing. And a lot of dogs, I would just say, they just wanna play.
Jennifer: 13:26
Yeah.
Danny: 13:26
That's it. That's right.
Jennifer: 13:27
And chicken wise, just know the
Danny: 13:29
risk that's around you.
Jennifer: 13:31
Chicken wire. What's your opinion on chicken wire?
Danny: 13:36
I would say there's good, better, best or really bad. Let's start where there might be. Good medium. Okay. Chicken wire, bottom of the barrel. When it comes to protection, in my opinion so many things have broken through it, especially if it's not vinyl coated, it's gonna rust. And when you get one little. Joint that's rusty. Now you have, instead of a one by one inch square, you know you have a two by two inch square and that just cascades. And I heard this horrible story. Oh my goodness. Our friends, so just west of town is a small town called Buffalo. And she told this horrible story of a raccoon can stick their grubby little fingers in their hands through one by one inch chicken wire and pull and eat an entire chicken. Through that hole.
Carey: 14:24
Wow. So
Danny: 14:25
They'll slowly work the whole chicken through that hole. I couldn't believe it. Yep. But they just got a hold of it and then started pulling and started nibbling. So one by one I would say is, the worst you should do. It can keep things out, but not everything. And then if it's not vinyl coated one, it's gonna be super janky and it's gonna you can't pull it tight. It's gonna rust. And then I would. Say one of the best is a hardware cloth that's half inch by half inch. That's just, that's what we use. It limits what can reach in there. It limits what can do. And then it's not just thin wire, it's thicker metal galvanized metal that just, it lasts a lot longer. And it gives you a much better protection. And then you can staple it in, nail it, in, board it in a lot better manner because it's a sheet if you'll,
Jennifer: 15:10
I agree a hundred percent with that statement.
Carey: 15:13
You do. So I'm a fan of hardware claws. I like it and I've had people that, everybody post those pictures. It's what got my chicken? And like you just myster magically know. But they, a lot of people will buy dog kennels. Because
15:34
They,
Carey: 15:34
they have thick wire, heavy gauge wire. Yeah. They're big. They're tall and they're like, oh, my chickens are safe. But that's not by itself because like what you were talking about, chickens are dumb for one, and if they see a predator outside that they're gonna wanna see it, they're gonna wanna figure it out. And they're gonna stick their head out the hole. As soon as they do that,
16:04
it's
Carey: 16:04
gone. And then they'll pull the rest of it through until they're not hungry anymore. Yep.
Jennifer: 16:11
So you mentioned foxes. So I don't have, there are foxes in Tennessee, but I don't have'em on my property. So you said they were sneaky. So what, tell us what you think about foxes for somebody who won't be familiar with them. Like how do they get in?
Danny: 16:29
I would say there's probably two stories to that question. There's the country folk and then there's the city folk. Okay. Because as you both know, a lot of city folk are getting chickens. And I'm one of'em. And in the suburbs, our fox are probably different than, the ones where I grew up in northern Minnesota, in the middle of nowhere. They're domesticated almost, where they'll just stand there and watch you as you come out the back door and they won't even spook or walk away. They're just brave and they get really comfortable around the coop. And that's a little bit scary because then when you run out, they don't even run away. They're gonna run if your dog gets out. But I would say, when I say they're crafty, I would just say they're just, they're really brave around here.
Jennifer: 17:16
I have to interrupt you because this, I just got a mental I image of your little french bulldog ram to a fox.
Danny: 17:25
We would try,
Jennifer: 17:28
that would be fun, a little helmet and send up there for him.
Carey: 17:34
When, think about that.
17:35
But
Carey: 17:36
When they're domesticated like that, to me, that changes the fox from being. Like what Jennifer and I would think of a fox to put it more in the neighbor's dog category
Jennifer: 18:18
or cat,'cause
Carey: 18:19
when they're just there and they're harmless, unless they're hungry, you don't really think about it. So your guard's down.
Jennifer: 18:26
Yeah. So foxes, how do they get in? Do they climb and try to go in the hop? Do they try to open like a raccoon or dig? What do they do?
Danny: 18:37
If it depends on what you've done to protect your coop. I'll give a good example using chicken wire. Okay? So with chicken wire, you're gonna have seams, and this is gonna sound like I'm, I don't wanna give them too much credit, but you also have to think about, who you're up against and. They will pull what I've heard seen and what I've heard is that they pull and we've had a, we've had experience with foxes. They'll try to rip your. Chicken wire in your coop apart with just by pulling at it. And we can talk about protective barriers against digs, but they'll just find the weak link. They'll just find it. And with chicken wire, if it's just held together with other wire or zip ties you're gonna have seams because those things that those rolls are only three feet. Wide, sometimes less. And they'll find the seam and then they'll bust through it. And they can, what we've seen is that they'll drag chickens right out through a hole, that's six inches that they've just, they broke open through that chicken wire. Digging, just finding the weakness in your coop.
Jennifer: 19:39
Gotcha. Makes sense. All right what about your neighborhood cat? Do you have those problems in your neighborhood?
Danny: 19:48
We do have cats around, but never had an issue with them. With a full grown bird. We've seen'em stock'em.
19:55
Prowling
Danny: 19:56
through the gardener prowling through the yard, but they've never done anything with them. Have you ever had an experience with cats hurting your chickens?
Jennifer: 20:04
No, but I have LGDs here and I have two barn cats that are probably over 20 pounds. So we don't really have a predator problem here. So even though I live in the country in the middle of nowhere. I'm still ignorant to a lot of these problems that people have, because in a good couple LGDs will fix a lot of those problems. But yeah, I have aerial, I have hawks, I, and we have yeah, I would say hawks is probably our biggest thing here.
Danny: 20:41
How have you, how, what's your experience with, I wanna say
Carey: 20:43
a haw. I wanna say a hawk tried to take off one of your orpingtons.
Jennifer: 20:48
They probably, lemme know how
Carey: 20:49
that works out.
Jennifer: 20:52
So if you haven't seen my Orpingtons, they're very large. So what were you gonna ask me?
Danny: 20:59
I'm just curious if you've had a problem. I didn't wanna give foxes too much credit. I also wanna give chickens too much credit.'cause there are definitely some dumb ones out there. We, I don't know if you've ever had any less intelligent ones. They stand out pretty quickly.
21:11
But
Danny: 21:12
we've had some dumb ones, but even the dumb ones we've seen we'll have our chickens out in the yard and then we'll see'em all hiding under the AEs of the low level trees. And we're like, what are they all doing under there? And sure enough, there's a hawk sitting on the neighbor's balcony just sitting there. And we've found that they're pretty clever when it comes to getting or knowing when hawks are around and getting under protection. I. Something that's something maybe for people to think about if they're just getting chickens for the first time and they're in a sub development and all they have is their fence and not a single tree over two years old. That would definitely pose a risk if you don't have anything for the chickens to hide under, because intuitively I think they know when there's something up there. That's dangerous. Our experience has been they've taken cover when they see something or they can sense it. We have yet to lose one to a hawk personally, and I haven't heard many stories from our customers.
Jennifer: 22:06
So I've got hawk stories here, but just while you were talking, one of my orpingtons walked by the window and it's sunny and everything. They don't have a care in the world here because they're just much bigger than a hawk is gonna be and they just won't mess with'em. But if you have normal sized chickens, listen to your roosters. If you can have them, they'll tell the hens that there's something going on. And a lot of times you'll see'em cock their head and one eye's looking straight up. And they'll tell, and you'll, they'll tell the other ones and they'll run for cover.
Carey: 22:42
So mine will make this noise. That's like I. Almost like what you hear, a pterodactyl type sound. It's like a grinding wine type. And when I first started hearing it. A few years ago, I was like, what the crap are they doing? And it happened one time when I was outside and I see them looking around and they're making that noise and the roosters are going nuts. And I'm like, trying to figure it out. And I finally, I looked up and I saw a hawk had landed in a tree and it's like he was scoping out what was for dinner and yeah, they're in that case. Chickens are smart, but they're also dumb.
Jennifer: 23:32
So let's talk about raccoons now. They're pretty smart. They can open latches and stuff, right? Carrie hates raccoons. He had so much trouble with raccoons. So do you have any ideas on how to prevent raccoons from opening latches and getting in coops?
Danny: 23:51
I, what do I need to know as far as raccoons doing Unlock s Getting in? Yeah. How do you keep'em from over? You know what, I, we haven't from a, we, they just dig, they're diggers here Really? So they'll just dig under we, yeah. I haven't had any of'em undo a latch. I haven't heard many of that stories. So we use, I don't know what kind of latches you use. I'd love to hear what you're using, but just, like a barrel latch, with the lever. You lift up and then slide it over. And then something that we use for our nesting boxes are carabiner latches. So it's just a latch and then you lock with a carabiner. Now I would love to see a raccoon take a carabiner off'cause I can barely do that. Oh my gosh.
Jennifer: 24:33
We have a raccoon across the street at my son's house, and he opens up the trash cans and digs around inside of it. So we have to keep a cinder block on top of the trash can over there. So they're pretty smart. They're,
Danny: 24:50
They're very motivated too. I,
Jennifer: 24:52
I really hate those carabiners. And I honestly didn't know what they were called until Carrie told me. I just always called them snap clips. I didn't know. So
Carey: 25:05
yeah, she was talking about snap clips one day. I was like, what is that?
Jennifer: 25:10
Didn't know what they were called. So you just make up names. That's how we, that's how we make new words. We just make up names until they become a thing. Oh, so what about digging then? Like how do you prevent the digging in?
Danny: 25:26
I, so good question. I wanna be like, I have my opinion in my preferences, but there are so many opinions and preferences and things that I don't know. So as I tell you what I think, like I'm definitely, I don't know the most, I'm not what I say is not gospel truth. All the time. But it works for me and what we've seen, and we have, over 10,000 customers that have, have experience with our coops. And so we, we provide services and different, solutions to problems like this. And so I would say for us our policy when it comes to diggers is try to make it hard for'em. And if they're looking for a quick meal. Don't give'em motivation, don't let'em work at it for 10, 15 minutes before they hit the end barrier. Or hit problems.'cause then they're motivated and now they're hungry. It's if they're looking for a quick meal and they're walking past the coop and they try digging and they find something right and they can't get in, and they're deterred right away, it's go move on to the rabbit. There's a bunny in the bush right next door. Just go take the bunny instead. So what we do to keep diggers out is, the process of digging 12 inches down below your coop to then extend your chicken wire, whatever it is you're using down, we just lay it right on the surface or on the perimeter. So we attach it to the bottom perimeter of the run and the coop, and then lay it on the surface and then you stake it. So just have stakes that hold it down to the ground and we load it up. We're talking 40 U stakes all around the coop just to keep it secure. One, it keeps your coop tack down if it's a smaller one. And two, it's your grass or your clippings or whatever it is that you're on. Just eventually grow right over it and you don't even see it anymore. And it becomes even stronger as time goes on because it now it has the weight of. Whatever material, earth, grass, dirt and that's proven to be really effective. We actually had a customer leave a review today and it said, predator kit, that's what we call it, is an absolute must because it just, it gives you that protection. And we only go and you can tell me if you think this is enough, but, or if you'd recommend more. But we go 18 inches out from the coop, so 18 inches out, if they start digging, they're gonna hit it and hopefully hit this metal, vinyl coated hardware cloth and be like, nah I'm out. I'm not messing around with that.
Jennifer: 27:41
I see that a lot on social media. I don't have aprons. I had I've used something different, but to me that seems like it should work. I shouldn't, I. I wouldn't see a reason why it wouldn't work and worst case scenario, you could turn some cinder blocks up and just plant your herbs around the, make it pretty on top of that apron if you were still concerned. But I wouldn't, don't see a reason why I wouldn't work. I think that's highly recommended way to do it.
Danny: 28:10
Yep. Yeah. Or cinder blocks around it, just. Again, just make it hard right off the bat. Just get'em. Make their lives difficult. No easy meals here.
Jennifer: 28:21
And so we both preach a lot about just sitting and observing, and you can learn a lot about your situation by doing that. And that's gonna go for these predators too. Sit down and look at how they're doing it, and then come up with a solution to divert them. So in my case, we have a lot of coyotes because I have a lot of farmland around me. But the man that lives next door is older. He actually doesn't even live there. He just has it and he has cattle over there, and he doesn't have donkeys or dogs or anything over there with them. And he is adamant that you cannot shoot the coyotes on his property. So the coyotes take his babies down, and to be honest, as long as the meal is easier over there, they have no reason to come over here and mess with my LGDs because it's just easier over there. So as long as there's something easier elsewhere. That's all you are really after. You don't wanna be the slowest one running away from something. It's the same concept. You just make it easier elsewhere.
Danny: 29:33
Yeah. So what do you, so what do you think about, so a person's getting chickens for the first time. And they're anxious and the spring hatch is happening. Everybody knows there's no chicks available. There's no chicks you got if the tractor, tractor Supply or whoever has chicks or can't find'em online till July. And so they find chicks and we gotta get'em right now. Let's get'em. Is it better to be prepared and have a good structure and home forum, or should people just jump right in? What do you think, Carrie?
Carey: 30:05
So for. If you want chicks and you find chicks, grab'em because you can brood chicks in a plastic storage container with a heat plate and put'em some water and some feed, and you got two or three weeks to really prepare them in place. But I think that if once it's time to put that bird outside. If you don't have a place to put them that is strong enough to keep your predator locked inside, then you're doing your birds a disservice. And by what that, what I mean by that is like. If your big predators are raccoons, dogs, coyotes, if you was to put that animal inside, what you're gonna put your chickens in, if it can't get out, then it probably can't get in. So your chickens will be safe in there. But people that like they buy chickens and they don't create a safe environment to put them in. I really wish they wouldn't even get chickens and the people that get chickens, because eggs are expensive. I'm gonna save some money. I'm gonna save money on eggs. If you got a family of 50, then maybe, but I would still say you're not taking care of your chickens. Because. Infrastructure is almost as expensive or more so than a good foundation trio of a really high quality bird.
Jennifer: 32:02
You struck a nerve with that one. You do need to spend money on infrastructure. Otherwise you're just feeding the wildlife and you might as well just go buy some KFC and throw it out the back door and save yourself trouble.
Carey: 32:19
It's like for me in feed, people will say 25, 28, whatever dollars, whatever they're looking at is, that is so expensive. I'm like we're a premium company. We provide the nutrition that the birds need and they gripe about it. And there's been situations where I've seen that and they go away. And then another person's I can't believe they just said that. And I said, what do you mean? And. Just last week, that man bought a pair of chickens for$1,800. Oh my. And I'm like, whoa, wait a minute. You spend$900 a piece, wow. On a chicken, but you want to feed it a 10 or$12 bag of feet. You got your priorities in order, you know your priorities are messed up. And I feel the same way about infrastructure because it is you think about it, would you have a family and go to nowhere or would you take your family home? And, at least we as people can fight off stuff predators. My chickens don't have boxing gloves. So they need a chance.
Jennifer: 33:47
They just have pterodactyl sounds, huh?
Carey: 33:50
Yeah, that's it.
Jennifer: 33:52
So tell us about your coop and how it would help keep a chicken safe. How did you design it?
Danny: 33:59
My coop.
Jennifer: 34:01
Yep.
Danny: 34:02
There's a couple factors. It's the hardware cloth that we already talked about that's an absolute must. It needs to be weighty too. Like it can't be just easily lifted off the ground. So we put that predator kit around and stake it down. That protects.'cause we sell coops all over the country, including northwest. We have bears, right? It's really hard to keep a bear away from a block of chicken. Again, it's just keep'em, make it not easy for'em. But we'll do primarily the harbor cloth will make it a little bit sturdy and heavy, so it's not just easily lifted off the ground. And then from an access point, limit your access points. We have an access door in the back of the coop that we have locks on and then you gotta go through the run. So I'll give you an example. We have a sliding door.'cause when you think about predators, and their little grippers, I don't know, most people have runs but out in the country. So Jennifer, do you have runs or do you just have a house and then you let'em outta the house and they free range?
Jennifer: 35:03
I have runs.
Danny: 35:05
Okay, so just having, it's essentially dual entry, right? So you have a door on your run and then you have a door on your coop. So just eliminating the nighttime predators by having'em in the coop at night and then an auto door or something that automatically closes and locks behind them. Now a predator has to get through the run and through the coop in order to get to'em. So just a couple different layers of security, if you want to call it that.
Jennifer: 35:30
All and then, so your coops, do they come in a kit or are they ready to plop on the ground? How do they come?
Danny: 35:38
Yeah, that's the best part. We actually ship it to you. Oh my goodness. We've, I dunno. Have either of you ever moved a coop down the road before on a trailer? No,
Jennifer: 35:48
no, not me. Oh, we
Danny: 35:49
did, and we one time had this a dog kennel carry that you were talking about, but with hardware cloud wrapped around it. And it was a great one. We actually inherited it from some, this was our first coop that we ever got. You should have seen us driving down the road with that thing on a trailer.'cause it's 12 feet long and it's nine feet up in the air. We lost the roof on the coop, it flew off. Moving coop is, it's no joke. So to answer your question we do, we actually, we ship the coop in boxes to your door. So imagine like as easy as putting together a piece of IKEA furniture. You're gonna do it wrong the first time, but the second time around it goes together smoothly. Just if you're instructionally inclined or not. But you put it together wherever you want it set up, and you're ready to rock
Carey: 36:35
nice if you're instructional, instructionally inclined. That is like the nicest, most politically correct way to say. If you read the instructions, you'll go together.
Jennifer: 36:50
If your wife is standing there telling you're doing it wrong.
Carey: 36:53
Yeah.
Jennifer: 36:55
And she's holding the instructions.
Carey: 36:57
Hey, you might wanna listen.
Jennifer: 37:01
So your cook, my
Danny: 37:03
we're actually oops, sorry. Do they come in
Jennifer: 37:06
multiple sizes? Like for somebody who just wants five chickens versus 15 chickens?
Danny: 37:13
Yep. There's small, medium, large, and not large enough. We can we're launching a Carrie, you're right. It's like you start with three chickens, then you have six, then it's then you have 25. And so feedback's always, Hey, can you make a bigger coop? Hey, can you make a bigger coop? It's I don't sell houses, I can't sell a coop big enough, I feel, but we're we're launching a new coop that's 15 chickens now. Really excited about that. But I was putting together, my prototype and I even made my own instructions and I had a, a guy who was helping me with filming and things, do it with me. And I said, what are you doing? And he hadn't even looked at any of the words in the instruction. He's just oh, I only look at the pictures. And Carrie, to your point on the instructional client, it's, I'm the same way. I'll read the words other people, they won't even notice'em. Then now people are inclined to watch videos. So we're trying, we're gonna do some new videos with instructional, but Jennifer it's fun. We have four chicken, six chicken, and 10 chicken sizes. All are too small'cause coops are never big enough. And but they work just fine for your backyard flock. We're we primarily, we serve everybody, but we found our biggest demographic are people in the suburbs. Surprisingly we did a little heat map in 2023 of where our customers lived, and you just pick a major metro and it's just exploded the color. So that's primarily who we serve, just I think based on size and also availability. So if you're out in the country and you have three pole barns, you may just repurpose one. You have a big structure. That that's primarily who we serve
Jennifer: 38:49
well, and everybody is going to have a predator issue. I lost an, almost an entire flock of turkeys to a mink several years ago. And so it's gonna happen. It's not a, if it's gonna happen. And so a lot of things, one thing that you can do is in is have multiple coops. So if you had say three of you know the coops that hold five birds and you had a predator get in one. You're not completely out of chickens. You're just out of that. Such
Carey: 39:26
an enabler. God.
Jennifer: 39:28
Yeah.
Carey: 39:29
You're an enabler.
Jennifer: 39:31
I am. And I only have. 31 coops now. It's a, But Alright, so tell everybody where they can find you and how to get in touch with you and all that good stuff.
Danny: 39:43
Yeah. Jennifer, this and Carrie, this was great. You can find us easily. Chicken coop company.com. Again, we don't sell rabbit hutches. We sell chickens chicken coop company.com. It's the best you can reach our team. It's a small team, family company. It's great at family. At chicken coop company.com.
40:01
We're all
Danny: 40:02
on the social channels. We're trying to do better on social. It's just so noisy out there and
40:06
creating
Danny: 40:07
content. We like it, but we're finding some really great people who are taking some great photos. But you can find us on all the social platforms. Give us a call, send us an email. We pick up. And yeah, it's great.
Jennifer: 40:19
All right. Thank you so much, Danny, for being here with us today.
Danny: 40:23
Yep. I enjoyed it. My pleasure. We a lot of fun.
Jennifer: 40:28
All right. See you guys later.
Danny: 40:32
Take care.