Why
Coop-de-ville?
Clucking hens, tasty omelets, Easter chicks, and colored eggs are enough to entice anyone to consider raising poultry. If you have ever raised chickens, you know the delight of fresh, flavorful eggs, as well as the challenges of securing your flock in a healthy, efficient manner. After nearly 30 years of raising chickens in the traditional manner, the developers of Coop-de-Ville, realized there’s an easier way.
The Challenge
Historically speaking, a chicken coop is a small, permanent structure that requires regular cleaning and maintenance, as well as a protected run for poultry. Unfortunately humans aren’t the only ones who enjoy the taste of chicken. Heretofore, that meant digging in the run 3” - 6” below ground to set the fences securely against predators such as foxes, raccoons, possums, hawks, weasels, and dogs. Because chickens are some of nature’s best foragers, a run is essential, and a hen allowed to feast naturally on grasses, weeds, and insects is not only a healthier, happier hen, but her eggs have less cholesterol and greater nutritional value. Coop-de-Ville provides the perfect solution to this challenge by encasing the birds in the safety of wood and wire, with a roof shade for sunny days.
Benefits of owning a Coop-de-ville.
1. Coop-de-ville safely handles 3– 6 chickens, the perfect size flock for a family of 4.
2. Coop-de-ville is virtually predator-proof.
3. Coop-de-ville benefits both yard and poultry since birds are easily moved to fresh grass each day ,and the wire mesh in the floor of the coop allows the birds to eat grass, weeds, and bugs, leaving fertilizer at the same time.
4. Coop-de-ville is easily maneuverable by a child of 10-12 with only minimal supervision to insure the new position is on level ground.
5. There are two hinged-sections on the roof to allow easy access for cleaning, watering, and gathering eggs.
Premium Materials & Construction
At Coop-de-Ville, we take pride in the materials and construction of each and every coop. All coops are made of durable outdoor materials, including stainless steel screws, aluminum hinges, pressure treated lumber and high-grade, exterior painted sign board. Our wheels are heavy-duty, spoked utility cart style with 3/4” double bearing and a 3/4” axle.
Floor is heavy-gauge, welded wire, and run walls are galvanized 1” chicken wire.
Delivery within 50 miles Crozet, VA for an additional fee.
Who we are . . . .
Peter S. Welch came to central Virginia from Rhode Island, and points around the globe, approximately thirty- eight years ago. For thirty of those years, he was a Class A contractor of fine homes and commercial construction. More recently Peter has instructed students and adults in woodworking, developing a niche in hall tables and hand turned wooden bowls. Twenty years ago, he and his wife, an Albemarle county native, decided that raising chickens would be a good responsibility for their two growing sons. They were delighted to discover that having hens is not only educational – it’s fun!
Decades of county fairs and numerous blue ribbons later, their sons grown, Peter and Paula were hooked on the availability of fresh eggs. Even though their “farms” were never much more than a big backyard, they began to recognize new benefits of raising poultry. Paula began composting with three components they had in abundance: nitrogen-rich chicken manure, sawdust, and grass clippings, and an unexpected byproduct was born - liquid fertilizer.
Paula’s sister shared her interest in poultry, and it was her husband who first created the prototype of Coop-de-Ville. Content to produce just one for their use, he passed along the plans to Peter. After several months of redefining and adjusting for production, Coop-de-Ville is now offered so that others can realize the joy and health to family and environment that can come from raising chickens.