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Competition encourages upscale chicken coops

Danielle Ferguson

Chickens can be cool, and so can their coops.

The Sioux Falls Design Center is giving chicken owners the opportunity to make their chicken coops more attractive with the first Sioux Falls Chix Pack Coop Design Competition.

Kellen Boice, director of the Sioux Falls Design Center, hopes residents take the competition as a chance to build a creative coop and join the urban-farming trend.

"We're really excited. Hopefully, people use reused or recycled materials," Boice said. "There's an interest in urban farming and sustainable living around here. It's a chance to do something fun."

The city of Sioux Falls passed an ordinance in April last year, allowing residents to keep six female chickens in their backyards. Roosters are prohibited.

If people want to keep more than six fowl, they have to purchase a license through animal control. Since people who have fewer than six chickens don't have to purchase a license, it's hard to keep track of how many people in Sioux Falls own poultry.

But there definitely are people in the city with chickens.

Stacey McMahan is one of them, and she thinks chickens are cool.

"Each one has a different personality," she said of her six birds.

McMahan's husband and their two sons built the chicken coop in May last year, just after the ordinance was passed. McMahan, who is an architect, drew up a sketch, and the family set to work using materials from an old structure they had in their backyard. They have a fenced-in area for the hens to run around in, making coop cleanup a bit easier.

Ease of cleanup is part of the contest'sdesign criteria and will be one of the top factors to judge, contest judge Michael Haskett said.

Haskett, owner of M.B. Haskett's Delicatessen,lives outside Dell Rapids on three acres of land and owns about 80 chickens. He is an egg handler and is able to sell raw eggs. He uses the eggs for dishes at his restaurant. Using fresh eggs, he said, makes a difference.

"The difference between grocery eggs and your own eggs is mainly flavor and freshness," Haskett said. "Store-bought eggs are probably a couple days old. When you get eggs from your own chickens, you have fresh eggs every day."

Store-bought eggs typically are all the same size and color. Eggs from home chickens vary. McMahan has cream, light brown and dark brown eggs. The varying egg colors come from the chickens' varying diet of seed, and kitchen and garden scraps.

"There is definitely a difference," McMahan said. "(Backyard eggs) taste great."

Her neighbors benefit from her chickens, too. McMahan said she drops by neighbors' houses with a basket of fresh eggs every once in a while. She said she hasn't had a neighbor complain about her chickens.

With more people owning chickens, Sioux Falls Animal Control hasn't heard too many complaints.

"Only when (the chickens) get out now and then do we get called," said Jen Trotter with animal control. "I think it's been a good transition with the ordinances put in place."

Haskett considers owning chickens to be more of a hobby than a profit.

Buying eggs at the store may be cheaper, he said, but raising the chickens yourself is worth it and can be fun.

"Chickens are fun, interesting and goofy," Haskett said.

"And it's great to see where your food comes from."

The contest

The deadline to submit a drawing or small-scale model of a coop is Aug. 8. Up to four semi-finalists will receive a $350 stipend to build their coop to be displayed the week of October 3 for public voting.

The grand prize winner will receive $1,000. All the coops on display will be auctioned off, and the proceeds will go into future design competitions.

Coop design criteria

  • Has to accommodate six chickens
  • Roosting rods
  • Nesting boxes and an access door above or behind for egg collecting
  • Ceiling hangers for feeder/ watering containers
  • Incorporate a creative allowance for easy cleaning
  • Window for natural light
  • Access door to the chicken run
  • Incorporate ventilation that won't cause draftiness in the winter

Judge's criteria

Equal parts design and innovation, people's choice, materials used and functionality and construction quality