The Dream Chicken Coop | Full Tour with @CarolinaCoopsVideos 

THANK YOU to Carolina Coops for making a future chicken daddy's dream come true - Matt and his crew were some of the most awesome people I've ever met: carolinacoops.com/

I was lucky, I was able to convert a play house the previous owners of our house left behind into a walk-in coop for just the cost of some paint and 2x4s. My wife wanted it gone because it had some serious haunted dollhouse vibes but I ripped all the cutesy trim off, painted it barn red, and she agreed it was no longer creepy and could stay.

During a hurricane my chicken coop got a hole in it and when we got back home we only had one chicken left her name was Red because she was a Rhode Island red but we all called her “what what” because that’s what it sounded like she was saying all the time and she turned into a pet and would sleep on our porch on a rocking chair with a pan underneath her “we potty trained a chicken” she would follow me around the garden and just watch what I was doing would jump in my lap and lay down and if I pointed to a weed or bug in my garden she would pull it out or eat it. I miss her 😌

I could not recommend blue australorps more. Really pretty birds, reliable egg production, quiet, and friendly.

I love Carolina Coop. The first time I saw them I fell in love with them. I can't wait till the day I can have one. So happy for you. Enjoy!

Are there any measures in place to prevent predators from getting under the gaps between the soil and the coop?

AAAH! Congrats, Kevin! So happy you finally have a chicken coop. Can't wait to meet the Epic Feathery Friends 🥚🪶

Idk what I love more about the beginning of this video, the sweet sound effects with the sharp tools or “Lumber Jacques.” Coup looks amazing!

I almost didn’t recognize Jacque without his garden hermit hat on, but the helmet was smart, good job you guys. I love seeing the progression of the epic garden

That coop is a DREAM!!! I would love to have one like that. Great ideas went into the development of that coop. We have had chickens for many years and I would recommend Rhode Island Reds, Issa Browns, or Leghorns. All are excellent layers and have very calm and docile demeanor. Thank you for sharing this tour. That coop rocks man!

Welcome to the world of backyard garden chickens! That's a really nice coop and I'm sure it cost a few bucks more than I would spend. My coop and run are made from recycled lumber, a repurposed dog run and some hardware and other stuff I had laying around. It has served my chickens well for more than 10 years. My current flock consists of a black sex link (Jett), an Easter egger (Little Red), a white leghorn (Twitch), a Rhode Island red (Ginger) and a Golden Comet (Goldie) -- all good laying hens with fun and distinct personalities. I give them many of my garden scraps and even grow a few things just for them, including sunflowers, kale and alfalfa!

Buff Orpingtons are so so sweet and docile. I like having colorful eggs myself, so I like to keep some olive eggers and black copper marans as well. I have found barred rock hens to be pecky, but they are a good heavy breed. If you want a chicken you can handle and love on orpingtons all the way. I am hoping to add some lavender ones to my flock!

I adore my buff Orpington, blue Cochin, and rhode island reds. Great personalities. The Cochin can be a little noisy and is somewhat broody. My Easter Eggers are a little more assertive, but still social and lay green eggs. All seem to be pretty good layers…

Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Amerucana chickens are best for beginners. The Orpington is the "golden retriever" of chickens imo, the barred rocks I have owned have always been friendly and sweet and the Amerucana make green tinted eggs, great conversation starter

Definitely go for a variety of hens as opposed to one breed, there’s so many wonderful, BEAUTIFUL breeds out there why limit yourself to one or two? Plus, all this different colored eggs are GORGEOUS in the kitchen.

I don't know if it had already been mentioned, but I would recommend that you attach a string to your outside latch and put it through a drilled hole into the coop. One day that door is going to close behind you and you are going to have to call a friend to let you out.

Ha! Very pleased to see this. I’ve already got my Carolina Coop on order for May delivery. Top quality and thoughtful design. Some of Matt’s RU-vid videos show the owners and coop after a few years in use. That’s were the truth lies! I also plan on starting with 6 chickens. Congrats!

YAY! Finally! That is such a beautiful and well designed coop! Regarding chicken breeds - highly recommend Murry McMurry for your chicks. Breed wise - research yourself what you want. Also be aware - free ranging in your yard they might help themself to your massive garden (they will eat lettus, strawberries and other veg)

We've had chickens for about 50 years and so many varieties I've lost count. My all time favorites are Plymouth Barred Rocks. Friendly, good layers and foragers. Enjoy!

The Taj Mahal of henhouses. All you need is gold-leaf roofing and a diamond doorknob. Watched Matt's critique of Jacques' coop and so glad he got a 90%. Hey, it's still an A grade. Thanks for the inspiration guys :) 🐔🍳🥚

Wow, that is a very nice coop

That's about what I have, except I built it into a 1 axle trailer, I move it a little over one length every day or so, putting them on fresh grass and bugs.

Bared Rock, Americana, Orpingtons, Road island red cant go wrong. Very good layers in my experience. Congratulations on the coop man looks great. Can't wait to see a video on the girls 🐔

Ahh! I’ve been dying for a Carolina Coop! Lucky you! As for chickens to add to your beautiful coop… EASTER EGGERS! Eggs are a beautiful light green/blue. 🥰 The yolk is a little bigger, but they taste just as good as your regular brown eggs.

One can only dream!!! I have a pop up tent and dog cage makeshift coop!!! 😩😩😩 I absolutely love your coop!

Beautiful Coop! I recommend Buff Orpington for a beginner. They are friendly and good layers. If you want fun colored eggs, auracanas or prairie bluebells lay pretty blue/blue-green eggs or Copper Moran that lay dark chocolate colored eggs. My favorite birds have been Sapphire Gems. Have fun, chickens are so much fun!

Finally- I need these ideas and input for my DIY coop myself that the wife has been wanting me to build.

that chicken coop has as many special features as a 2022 kitchen.....wow....so impressive!! No worries here....enjoy your chickens. WOW!! predator proof - self watering - easy to clean - easy to extract eggs. What else can one ask for? Great purchase!!

Beautiful chicken coop and chicken run, especially you can get eggs outside. the wire mesh you used was perfect for young chicks and chickens, and avoid small wild animal to steal eggs.

Isa brown are some of the most friendliest chicken I've seen and there not jumpers! I also love the golden comet these hens lay real nice big brown eggs, friendly and not a jumper

I KNEW IT! Love @Carolina Coops. If you LOVE eggs, get some Black Austrolorps, Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, or Leghorns. Great egg layers.

Love this! I didn't know coops could be so high-tech. Is there any plans to ensure that predators can't dig their way under the coop's walls? Also, love that you mentioned the compost system. I was wondering what was happening with that project

What a dream of a coop! Thanks for the tour and keeping the dream alive of having an Epic Coop. Hope you will film your girls once the are established in their new home.💞

Now that is an EPIC Chicken Coop!! Awesome tour, they thought of everything!! Can't wait to see it in action!!!🪱🪱🪱

Ha this was fun! We have 5 Rhode Island Reds, and 5 Barred Rock. They're silly creatures, but still giving us ~4-6 eggs a day in the middle of a very cold Niagara Falls Ontario winter!

Have had good success with Rhode Island Reds--in SoCal and Indiana. They traveled across the country in my back seat and even waited out wild fires at a Evac Center

I’ve read that you’re supposed to burn the stump. For some reason if you burn it down to soil the roots will decompose faster. (I’m assuming if there’s anything above the soil the tree still thinks it’s a tree and so continues trying to absorb nutrients.) How do I know this? No clue. I live in a freakin’ condo so I don’t even own a tree. Likewise I am watching chicken coop videos and without a chicken to my name. Thus is the power of the Epic channel. 😂

I've been extremely happy with my 6 - Buff Orpington, 5 - Rhode Island Red and 4 - Plymouth-Barred Rock hens. Great egg layers, and calm, docile birds.

Wow!!! Really makes me want to have chickens just so I can have that coop!! Like the Penthouse of coops!!! Matt seems to really care about the chickens and has really thought out their needs. Sadly I live in the "city".... no farm animals allowed :( Jacque was one happy man playing with the tools!!!

Australorps are your go to all around chicken. They did great in Calle Tania, CA where some of our very good friends live. They lay massive eggs, they do great, they're also very good at going through gardens without hurting the vegetables within the garden. You can also harvest them for meat if you want because they're big birds. They're very gentle and love people. If you can have one, I would suggest a small rooster to be with your hens because they really prefer being with a rooster for protection. You can get crow bands that go around the roosters neck and blocks the ability for them to crow. They do make bantam sized versions of pretty much all breeds of chickens, so you can look for that as well.

Couldn't be better on time with this one! I want to add chickens next year and I usually take a year to do research and get everything ready. Thank you so much for yet another good video!

Orpingtons are so friendly! We had 12 different breeds and they were by far the favorite. Would do a whole flock of them if we got more.

Epic Chicken coop!!! Can't wait to see it with chickens! Saw your broader set up on IG today, and I am so excited, I may be living vicariously through you with your chickens because I rent right now!

I have had many types of chickens, and the Ameraucanas are the sweetest and hardiest of them all. They lay blue eggs (not every day), and are very cold hardy (it got to -22 this winter). Even the rooster was a sweetheart, and let us pick him up and hold him. We have one hen that follows us around more like a dog, and will fly onto your lap for cuddles.

Lavender Orpington. So beautiful. Only the most beautiful chickens for the worlds most beautiful chicken coop. For a coop Kevin you have hit a home run

So excited to see your homestead coming together 🥲

Great coop! That would take up almost half my yard. Nice to have someone build it for you! Can't wait to see what chicken breed you decide on. I had Barred Plymouth rocks and Rhode Island reds. Both nice friendly chickens. Gotta watch out for Cooper Hawks, aka chicken hawks. Very agile flyers so they can get around most obstacles,They will take out you chickens quickly. On another note - hey guys I am going on 69 this year and I use the hand saws all the time. No big deal lol. I have taken out a peach tree as well as an orange tree. My sons will take out the trunks and I finish off removing the large root base. I only use power tools when necessary, mostly my blower because I hate sweeping!

I LOVE Carolina Coops ❤️❤️❤️❣️ Congratulations 🎉

Congratulations on your beautiful chicken coop. I love Carolina Coops, I always watch their live shows. It’s my dream to have one, but Unfortunately I can’t afford one.

Be still my heart ❤️, that coop is dreamy! I’m planning on getting 6 hens too. 2 Easter eggers, 2 Marans, & 2 Golden comets. I like the colorful egg basket 🧺. 🐥 🐣 i

So nice and if only one could afford. I start with a basic wooden coop from rural feed store cost $200. Elevated the house on a old metal work bench added a west wing w/ a wooden doghouse..with paint and a tin roof adding 2 sets unused dog run panels..I got my 6 girls a 3 level place cute as can be...but raising laying hens is easy part..they like warm oatmeal w/smidgen of molasses in winter.

I’m practicing on a 1/4 acre plot in a city that allows chickens and this is exactly what I envisioned! I have the wood I just have to use this as inspiration for my own.

Yay! Carolina coop looks awesome and super functional. I keep looking at the water tank in the back ground and wondering if I missed a video on that??? Anyone know? Is the water filtered before entering the tank?

Consider getting Easter Eggers! I had chickens for a while and Easter Eggers have a great temperament and they lay green eggs which is super fun and the eggs are beautiful and delicious. Also its just so fun and unique to have green eggs.

This is the best coop design you can build or purchase. This is what i would copy if i would make a coop.

I live in the south and raise Cinnamon Queen chickens because they are bred for our heat. I also keep some Rainbow layers simply because I enjoy the colorful eggs they provide. Love your new coop, it's a chicken castle!

Might be the 8x18 Carolina coop which starts at over $16,000 USD. That's over $21000 CAD. Where I live an average egg cost about 25 cents on a good day and a pre cooked rotisserie chicken is 12 dollars. So I have to use 1750 chickens or 105000 eggs to break even. If I had a sunday chicken dinner every week it would be 33 years before the coop paid for itself. Not including any other costs for raising the birds. Definitely a luxury item.

If you plan on letting your chickens raise any babies (doesn’t matter the breed or how you obtain fertilized eggs) then I’d recommend getting 1 silkie chicken. Not only are the adorable, but the best mother chickens I’ve ever had. It’s fun seeing the raise babies twice their size.

That is an Epic Coop!!! The girls will love it. You’ve got room for a nice big flock there!!! Very well done.

Congratulations Kevin on coop. Been waiting for this video. I love using my hacksaw to open up light. Cutting down trees is super fun 😄. I feel Jaques excitement. 1) light on gardens 2) removal dreadful leaves on swimming pool. Outside gardening using power tools to cut 🌳 my favorite thing to do.

Dang, that's deluxe. What a nice home for awesome chicken buds. Speaking of birds, I always love hearing the crows who hang around your area in your videos. I know gardeners dislike them, but not me.

Buff Orpingtons, Dorkings and Swedish flowers are some of my favourite breeds, Orpingtons in particular I would suggest for a beginner

It looks SO well designed and well made, well done Carolina Coops!

That water system is genius. In Seattle, I'll never have to hook up to house supply with that thing.

for sure get an easter egger and a copper maran! super pretty eggs! and for looks, a silver laced wyandotte is beautiful! plus, you cant go wrong with a rhode island red and plymouth rock!

I have a mixed flock. I love my orpingtons and road island reds. The biggest hint is to handle them as chicks. Spend lots of time with them. I have a Plymouth rock ROOSTER I can walk right up to and pick up, NBD. All of my roosters are safe to be around, even for my kids. I had some before that were not (I nearly lost an eye) and had to be culled. One of my hens loves to come to the door and tries to sneak in the house to eat the cat food.

I got hens coming again over the next few month Kevin I sold my 50 hens and 12 ducks when I moved. But miss quality eggs so they are coming back. Nothing as elaborate as this awesome coop though

Awesome!! We have about 50 chickens at my uncle's farm in NC! I would recommend getting some good laying breeds like; Barred Rock, Australorp, Barnevelder, Golden Comet, Rhode Island Red, Brahma, Orpington, Delaware - to name a few! Good luck, can't wait to see what you end up getting!

That’s a badass coop! I’m in the planning stages of building a coop so this was very helpful!

We have Ameraucana, Dorking, Australorp and Wyandotte’s. Most of the Wyandotte’s had a digestive problem. The Ameraucanas lay green blue eggs. The Dorking lays a beautiful white egg. Australopithecus looks similar to a Maran but lay brown eggs. The friendliest by far are the Australorp then the Ameraucanas.

Buff Orpington’s are a great starter chicken. Very mild mannered. They will even come and sit in your lap. They’re also good layers. The best chickens I ever had for egg production were red stars, also called red sex links. Beautiful bird and great eggs.

Also, you'll probably want to add some deer or bird netting in the garden if you let them free range. The chickens destroy absolutely everything lol.

You’ll love having chickens! There’s lots to learn. Easter eggers are fun because you get different colored eggs. I have four hens, four different breeds.

Golden Buff Orpingtons. They are very tame and affectionate if you spend time with them as babies on up. Mine come when I call them, they love hugs and scratches on their heads. They jump in my lap when I'm sitting down. (Although that could sometimes be a problem when they have poop on their feet.😳) They are good brooders if you get a rooster.

Rhode Island Reds lay great eggs and, when they stop laying, turn into excellent stewing meat. One of the best all purpose birds out there.

Buff Orpington and Bared Rock are excellent layers and wonderful mothers. I tend to stay with the Buff for free range purposes because they are more naturally camouflaged from winged predators. Congrats on your beautiful coop. Happy birds are great producers ❤️ P s- Keep the girls in the coop for at least a week when they arrive. Letting them know that it is home and it is safe will save a ton regarding their stress level when it's time to go to bed. I also know that you have a large yard. You may want to take a little extra effort, when you let them out of coop at first, to restrict the area they can graze with temp fence. Increase the area slowly so they are able to explore but are still able to find their way back to the coop easily. Chasing chickens, in your yard especially, would cause lots of stress to them and many bruised shins for you. God bless

Try these: the Barred Rock chickens are nice and so are Rhode Island Reds, the Dockings are majestic, the Golden Wyandottes have warm colors. I found most on McMurray hatchery website has so many interesting birds on it.

The cupola is great for venting hot air inside the coop as well!

So I admire that double dutch door. We can check on the chickens when we don’t feel like letting them out. The coop’s also spacious enough that the birds don’t feel they’re cooped in. My girls DEMAND they be let out from the aviary every morning lol. Once they tasted free range they never want to stay in haha

I SOOOOO want to do pheasant’s here!! We have an issue w/ the loss of population due to predators and high demand to repopulate. Land is available but… these coops cost more than my car!🤣 ……when you REALLY WANT to do a thing but…it costs more than your new Volvo… 6.5 acres & ppl who just……can’t. Proud of u guys! #goals

I recommend watching Coghill farm and Mary will explain the different breeds. This young lady is very talented. Good Luck 🍀

That is the nicest coup I’ve ever seen. I didn’t even know they could look that cool. I’d live in that thing. If you decide to rent it out and Jacque isnt already living in there let me know haha

Black Australorps are excellent layers, with sleek black feathers that have an iridescent green sheen in the sunlight. We live in a dry Mediterranean climate and usually have heat wave summers. Obviously some TLC needed in really hot conditions but the Australorps have coped really well. They are not too heavily feathered and have decent size combs to help with heat regulation. It might seem counter-intuitive to have black chickens in the heat but chickens aren’t silly enough to sit out in the sun on a hot day. Our little flock also includes Dorking (one of the oldest UK breeds and possibly introduced by the Romans), Splash Australorp (seem a bit flighty), and Wyandotte. I laughed when you said ‘six to start with’. A nice number but oh my goodness SO many beautiful chickens…….. Your coop incorporates some excellent ideas and looks very easy to manage.

Buff Orpingtons are really sweet and good with kids Americanas are friendly too with fun colored eggs Bantams are smaller and hardy So many more breeds, lots to choose from Good Luck!

Awesome coop! I have Australorps, Orpingtons, and Easter Eggers. My Easter Eggers are the sweetest and lay more consistently than all of the chickens I have. The Orpington and Australorp are good layers too.

Great looking coop! Bonus, it's Avian Influenza friendly with its covered roof (if you aren't free-ranging)- it will keep them safe from the droppings of migrating birds.

My Rhode Island Reds are hearty and sweet natured and great layers. We also love the Aricanas and their colored eggs but they tend to be skiddish. The Bard Rocks are also tame and we enjoy the variety of colors in our small flock. We gave our Rhode Island Reds the names of the Presidential First Ladies just for fun. Each of our chickens come to the call of their names. Enjoy your new adventure. One warning is they will love to eat your garden plants. My grandson called me to say. “Your beloved chickens are eating your beloved garden”

Americana's. They so far are the friendliest with what I have experienced

That's an outstanding coop!! But your are nuts to have 6 chickens in the city. Have fun and no sleep. It will be interesting to see what your neighbors say. Now that a video!

I will add prairie blue bell eggers and olive eggers to the suggestion box. The blue bells lay blue eggs and are very varied in feather color so they make for a pretty flock. The olive eggers lay green or brown eggs. Both are active foragers and lay a large number of eggs per year and their "medium" eggs are still larger than most serious bought "large" eggs. You can't do wrong with some of the others I see already recommended too (barred rock, Rhode Island reds, Americanas, orphingtons, and wyanndotes).

At my parents' one of the best hens turned out to be factory farm rescues of Leghorn breeding... they are good laying fowls and they ended up living and producing for years, the last one is 6 and still going strong. But that's a risky venture, they often die of previous exhaustion despite receiving good care and are more likely to carry illnesses so quarantine is an absolute must The next best ones were Dominant Blue (the Blue x Barred Plymouth Rock crosses) and leghorn crosses

So many good ideas in this video! Feeling ready to build a coop now lol

Lavender Orpington or Buff Orpington, Plymouth Rock or Barred Rock, and Cochin - we’ve owned a lot of breeds, but these were the friendliest. Good egg layers and meat chickens even though we don’t eat ours because they are pets to us.

Looks great Kevin. Excited to see more chicken content from both of you guys. Started keeping a pet cottontail (got it as a 25 cent "meat") rabbit for compost making (in a deep bedding system) and it's been really fun. Definitely worth it.

Fantastic coop! The quality looks outstanding. We bought a prefab coop approx 6 years ago, and it's now on it's last legs (NOT great quality) so we'll be having to custom build something (we're in Australia, so unfortunately this coop isn't an option for us) There were some excellent design points on here, so much thought has gone into it! We added insulation to our chicken house roof when we replaced it recently (We're in Queensland, it gets HOT) As a consequence, we've had the coolest summer in living memory 😆 We dug in concrete sleepers and did a deep litter of bedding sand for the entire run, to keep things as dry as possible, but gave them a dirt bath section in one corner. The concrete sleepers (2 sleepers deep) are to deter anything from burrowing in (rats, bush rats, snakes etc) As for the chooks themselves, we're loving our pretty Lavender Sussex, Australorps (both very placid) & Leghorn. Extremely partial to Wyandotte too, they are lovely and placid. Our Leghorn, Wilma, is the naughtiest chook EVER, and she's very noisy. But she's a firm favourite, as we hatched her from an egg when the kids were little 😍🐔 She's about 8-9 years old now.

That is one beautiful and fancy hen house and yard. We learned the hard way. A small ready to assemble coop was too light weight so we fastened 4x4s along the base. We got 6 chicks and when they were half grown the mesh wire was breeched anyway by a predator pushing in on a corner of the screen. 2 chickens lost. We reinforced with more wire. Later a 10x10 dog kennel topped with wire fence and surrounding the small coop created a larger yard for 4 remaining chickens. But it could be squeezed through by raccoons that found any large space in the chain link. Thankfully, I locked them in the smaller house at night. Later a newer 10x16 coop built with lumber and good wire had a space large enough for a predator to squeeze under the gate. Lost the final chickens after all this. Today we have hardware cloth (wire) surrounding the first coop with the dog kennel. Fastened with zipties. And there is 12 inches of fence below the entire perimeter. Cinderblocks buried next to that on outside. Chickens still dig so well that if that wasn't there, they'd have more intruders. Racoons regularly try to get through the outside but end up just taking the dirt out of the cinderblock centers when they dig. Second coop needs more improvements to be safe to use again. Currently have 3 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Silver Streaks. Getting 3 to 5 eggs a day. Not sure who the holdout is. But it is still way too many eggs for just me and the hubby. Expensive eggs after all this, but they are great and the hens are fun to watch and get to know. When my garden was infested with caterpillars I tossed them in the coop and the girls helped me get my revenge. Be sure to check what NOT to feed chickens. NO TOMATO vines. NO white potatoes of any kind raw or cooked. No avocado or asparagus.

Buff Orpington or Plymouth barred. If you wanna get fancy speckled Sussex. All are Hefty dual purpose birds that lay 3-5 eggs per week and weigh in around the 8lb mark so great for meat as well. All of them are heat/cold tolerant. They are all friendly, calmer, quieter breeds so your neighbors will thank you.

So! Awesome! Get some heritage breeds and some that lay black eggs and some that lay blue or green. 😁

Love this! I’m planning a rain collection system off of my quail coop. I would love to see a video about rain collection and use as it relates to your chickens. The heated rain barrel with a pump and those red waterers set in PVC?! I want to hear more since I’m in zone 7!!!!

Not planning on getting a coop anytime soon or amassing such a lovely garden, but watching this... *chef's kiss* THAT'S a nice coop! Can't wait to see the girls in action! Congrats on all!