This coop was designed by Alison Brookins and built by Alison and Brad Brookins. This 4' x 8' coop (6' tall at the gable peak) is made of cedar, wire and a little plywood for the roosting box. The nesting box is inside the roost and accessible through the small door on the left. The roof is an asphalt composite product we got at Menards. (Which, by the way, did not stand up to the hail storm last April.) It is home to Lizzie, a White Brahma, Jane, a Buff Orpington, Lydia, a Black Australorp, and Kitty, a Golden Laced Wyandotte. The girls just began laying in July and we are having lots of four egg days and a surprising number of double yolk eggs.

Under a threatening sky, the Second Annual Backyard Chicken Coop Tour of Madison was held on Sunday, June 25, 2006. Seven coop owners spent the week leading up to the tour repairing, raking, washing and generally tidying up their backyards in anticipation of the large and lively turnout of curious visitors. Undeterred by the occasional raindrops and rumble of thunder, more than 80 visitors were recorded as passing through one of the tour sites.

The houses were marked by a colorful nylon wind sock in the shape of chickens. These yard streamers, along with shoe coverings and other tour info were distributed to each tour site in advance of the event. Why the foot coverings?

Poultry diseases are often spread from coop to coop by contact with the birds' droppings. Some tour site hosts, wishing to keep the risk of disease to a minimum, asked the visitors to don disposable cotton foot coverings while walking in and around the coop.

The seven coop sites were selected by geographic location. This year's tour took place on Madison's east north/east side, allowing quick travel between the coops. While six of the sites were in the backyards of the owners, one coop on the tour took the visitors to a community garden site.

While each of the coops displayed the idiosyncrasies of its owner, one deserves special mention. (See photo of Lucinda's Saloon, Coop 1.) According to the owners/designers, this nearly authentic reproduction required no less than 20 hours of viewing of the old TV series, Gunsmoke. As the four handsome hens strutted in their run area, tiny speakers hidden somewhere in the roost box played ragtime piano tunes.

This tour was delightfully over the top!