Labrado Olive and four silver Cochins from Irwin Miller live in peace. They live in a custom-built chicken coop in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, equipped with electric automatic door openers and crystal chandeliers. Los Angeles Times/Christina House

Kate Richards put her Delaware chicken princess Vespa in her chicken coop designed in Sierra Madre, California. At the top left, Richards lined her chicken coop with a vinyl plant-print wallpaper designed by Sarah Treu for Spoonflower. Los Angeles Times/Mel Melcon

From left, Meeno Peluce, Ilse Ackerman and Mette Peluce and their lavender Orpington Maeve. Los Angeles Times/Maria Tuge

Vines help Trish and Roe Sie cool down in the chicken coop near Los Feliz, Los Angeles. After the 2018 heat wave, the couple installed generators and air conditioners. Los Angeles Times/Dania Maxwell

Ellen Bennett and her Silkies relax in her backyard near Echo Park in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times/Christina House

Kate Richards lined her chicken coop with vinyl plant-print wallpaper designed by Sarah Treu for Spoonflower. Los Angeles Times/Mel Melcon

Alison Hessel and her children Abby, Nellie, and Nathan are on their farm near Malibu, Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times/Dania Maxwell

Modern buildings in the Middle Ages and Japanese Kotobuki ban timber exterior walls. Printed wallpaper on the entire wall and shabby chic crystal chandeliers. These are not features of family tours, but facilities you might find in some of the more sophisticated chicken coops in Los Angeles.

In a city obsessed with design and indoor and outdoor living, it makes sense for some chicken farmers to wish to place their pets in a high-end and comfortable environment. In addition to giving homeowners the opportunity to personalize their living space, urban homesteads also provide an elusive rural life in a city of more than 4 million people.

After the recent cases of Newcastle disease, backyard chickens continue to be news. It is worth noting that raising chickens can cause trauma. Free range can be fatal. Coyotes, raccoons, eagles—even cougars—will prey on hens. Extreme heat can make chickens at a loss because they don't sweat. Something as simple as a backyard avocado can be fatal to chickens.

So, why do urban homesteaders endure heartache, disease, and loss? Because chickens are like other pets: they make people happy.

“It’s extraordinary to have chickens and fresh eggs and interact with them,” says gardening consultant Lauri Kranz (Lauri Kranz), who recently published “The garden can be anywhere: creating rich and beautiful edible gardens "The author of the book. "I like to visit customers who raise chickens. They are always happy to meet me. But I always talk seriously with customers who want them. When you raise chickens, you are in contact with the natural world in a completely different way. . No matter how well your chicken coop is built, it still faces the risk of predators. They are not just cute, sweet and funny. This is a huge responsibility."

Next are the stories of homegrown farmers in six cities and how they personalize their chicken coops, with budgets ranging from US$750 to US$14,000.

Inspired by the clean lines of mid-century modern architecture, Casey Caplowe and Ellen Marie Bennett wanted a chicken coop that complemented the lines of their home. "We wanted a chicken coop inspired by Eames," said Bennett, founder of the culinary brand Hedley & Bennett. To pay tribute to the 1950s, Caplowe, the co-founder of Good Magazine, built a chicken coop with a sloping roof and painted it a vibrant yellow. The color palette enhances the animated interior of the residence, highlighted by the yellow Bertazzoni collection, aquamarine wasteland tiles and orange sliding barn doors. Located at the bottom of a terraced yard, this medieval-style chicken coop is filled with drought-tolerant plants, food, and rotting granite paths. It is home to a group of silky cats, which Bennett calls "ladies." Olive oil is the only survivor of the sheep that died in the heat wave last year. She now chooses to live on a tree in the backyard. When she is not dating Oliver, the 200-pound pig in her home, on the upper deck, she will go to the chicken coop to eat. "Olive Oil laid eggs in his pig house," said former chef Bennett. "I like the idea that when people come over, they can go out and enjoy the ladies. It's fun to show people where their food comes from."

As the principal and design director of Gensler, the world's largest construction company, Irwin Miller is responsible for overseeing the new office from Eataly in Century City to Shonda Rhimes opposite the Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Therefore, it is not surprising that Miller's chicken coop is a unique building in Hollywood legend ("Apocalypse Now" screenwriter John Millius lives here). There are several small buildings in the lush compound: a 900-square-foot main house, a 400-square-foot studio, a separate "men's cave" for Miller's two sons, and a "she shed" for his wife, Heidi. Miller built the chicken coop on an enclosed terrace under a huge grapefruit tree one weekend. The emerald green chicken coop is mathematically sensitive and incorporates the triangular theme that runs through the entire compound residence. In the evening, the family can sit outside and enjoy the four silver Cochins, their sweet laboratory Olive and the nearby hot tub. The extra vines help keep the chicken coop cool, and Miller’s electric door detailed with red and green stripes (the door opener is about $200, from ChickenGuard), opens and closes automatically when the family is away. Miller hung a gleaming, shabby chic chandelier from the center of the chicken coop. "The crystal feels great," he said with a wink. "It exudes positive energy."

For Kate Richards, the lively website "Drink with Chicken" encourages readers to interact with their chicken while enjoying a "garden to glass" cocktail while interacting with their chicken lavender-infused tequila sunrise. During the eight years of raising chickens, Richards designed and built seven chicken coops. Her latest work is a fully insulated fence she built with Ragsdale and her father Rich Richards. It is stylishly decorated with flower pots, pink and coral stripes, and a vinyl stripped and pasted plant-printed wallpaper made by Sarah Treu for Spoonflower. ($7.50 per foot). The wallpaper may look luxurious, but Kate Richards said it "poo camouflaged on the wall, which is easy to wipe off." She initially hoped that the flock of chickens-an average of about 10 eggs per day- She was able to move around freely, but after they foraged in her yard, she installed the chicken coop in a 15 x 25 foot enclosed garden behind her house. There, chickens can move on a track made of pressure-treated wood, while vines and shrubs can protect them from eagles and owls. The runway is located on a 12-inch deep permeable cobblestone, so Richards can clean and flush the path if necessary. A comfortable lounge area equipped with lounge chairs and custom-made iron wine glass holders and an adjacent cocktail bar provide guests with plenty of space and entertainment. "It's very quiet here," Richards said, and his book "Drink with Chickens" will be published in the spring. "Chickens are funny and interesting creatures. They are full of joy. All I do is encourage people to take time to enjoy them."

Since opening their homestead store King's Roost in Silver Lake five years ago, Trish and Roe Sie have provided merchandise and courses that are well-suited to the DIY culture of Los Angeles. So when it came time to buy their own chicken coop, the couple conducted extensive research (starting at $4,700) before purchasing a Western Red Cedar roll-top walk-in structure from Urban Coop. The chicken house is designed for 20 chickens and has 12 apartments. It took Roe a week to assemble it. The couple personalised it by hanging a framed photo of a rooster and an image of a lonely hen above the habitat, “in case one of the flocks is lesbian or substandard,” Trish joked. When the temperature reached 105 degrees last summer, the couple bought a generator and an air conditioner from Home Depot. Flowering trumpet vines cover the roof and also help cool the chicken coop. (The couple prune the poisonous vines wisely). "Trish is a rooster," Roe added with a smile. "She is the only person I know who has a group of chickens who give her a name."

Just outside the door of the chicken coop, a wooden dust bath filled with clean ashes helps protect against parasites. When neighbors greeted family members across the fence, Trish emphasized the need to respect their community. "We make sure that our neighbors are all right," said Cui Xi, director of "Pitch Perfect 3" and the upcoming "Overnight". "We are very tidy. We share our eggs. We make sure that the chicken coop is a legal restriction of the house." Ample seating and power outlets allow family members to work outdoors and get close to their chickens. Their Rhode Island Ruby Ruby even watched the video with Trish. "The worst thing about traveling is not being with them and my family," she said. "I thought about making them a companion pet."

At Alison Hersel’s 7-acre Plumcot farm, everything is produced in small batches, from raw honey to more than 100 food and medicines that she grows on the organic farm. Five years ago, she added chickens because she wanted to show her three children regenerative agriculture in a hands-on way. The 100-square-foot wooden chicken coop designed and built by Edible Gardens LA is a large and smallest structure that provides space for chickens to roam, while giving Hersel the opportunity to share and exchange information with the public. "Recently in a cooking class, one of the children broke a fertilized egg," Hessel said. "The chicken will remind you that you have experience and conversation about the life cycle."

The structure is lined with a quarter inch square barbed wire, 3 feet deep, and surrounds the perimeter. The chicken coop has an internal space for egg cartons and an external space where chickens can meander in a protected environment (Hersel allows them to freely range outside the coop under supervision). Even if there were some problems-a hen recently ate a chick-she said it was worth it. "Animals are an important part of regenerative agriculture," Hessel said. "We don't have room for livestock or other animals, so we solved the problem with chicken manure to activate our compost." Lauri Kranz of Edible Gardens in Los Angeles added: "Chickens are a natural addition to vegetable gardens. It all nourishes each other. "

When Ilse Ackermann described herself as a "star's chick consultant", her tone was half joking. But she has a confidentiality agreement to prove it. Her work includes providing 24-hour "poultry consultation" for anxious clients with brooding birds, which stems from her many years of life at Skyfarm, which is her husband, photographer Meeno Peluce, their two daughters and 25 animals Shared urban farm. She might design a custom chicken coop for Hollywood's A-list, but her own chicken coop is simpler, built with cheap wood and Home Depot's galvanized roof. She estimates the cost is about $1,000. In contrast, the black charred appearance of the chicken coop is particularly eye-catching in the orchard full of colorful native plants and food. "I want to make it in shou sugi ban style because it is very chic and you don't have to do anything with it," Ackermann said of ancient Japanese technology. "It's great because it's insect- and weather-proof."

Before assembling the chicken coop, Ackerman used a roof torch to burn off the wood in her driveway. Then she installed a wooden floor-which she does not recommend-and assembled the structure from there. Outside the chicken coop, she installed a compost bin for collecting chicken manure and a solar-powered radio to deter predators. (The continuous and smooth jazz loop produced mixed results.) "When our first chicken died, we cried, and Meeno was very sad," Ackermann said. "The last time one of our chickens was bitten by a coyote, there was blood everywhere, and we sewed it with dental floss." (In desperation, she consulted YouTube). This incident prompted Ackerman to order a suitable suture kit online. As for the chicken? It survived.

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