From Professional Working Mom to Chicken Keeper. The Founder of Cutest Coops.
After moving to a property with a bit more land and a farmhouse feel I just could not wait to get chickens! Funny enough, I was seriously the last person in my group of friends to “look and act the part” of a chicken keeper…or was I?!? I had a very established career, was in heels 99% of the time and already had way too much on my plate – but something told me that adding a small flock to my life would bring my family and I a bit of much-needed wholesome happiness! What I did not realize is that my first 3 chickens would ultimately lead to the beginning of a new professional chapter, the founding of Cutest Coops!
It all started with the purchase of a small chicken coop….my husband knew how much I wanted chickens, so he very kindly surprised me with a coop he found online as a gift for Christmas! I could not wait for the springtime because I knew what was next, our first flock! What I did not realize were the challenges we were about to face due to our less-than-desirable coop. We did our best to keep the coop clean but could barely access the places they frequently soiled without killing our backs, so cleaning happened less often than maybe it should have. We found that the coop was actually falling apart after just a few weeks due to the low quality materials it was made of. And we struggled with cramming our flock of 3 (lovingly named Snap, Crackle & Pop) into this small space during the day so we reluctantly free ranged when we were not home (that didn’t end well, sadly). As goes the story, we fell in love with our chickens and chicken keeping so we started to consider investing in a cute, predator safe, weather resistant, highly functional and long-term chicken coop! And guess what? We could not find one! The rest is history!
My nearly 20-year career was in the home goods retail space. I knew how to identify quality furniture. I knew the importance of superior functionality and I knew what made great design! I took my professional experience and decided to design and build the first Cutest Coop for my very own property! I lived with it for over a year before even thinking about launching the company but as time went on, I grew to love my coop more and more and found myself enjoying chicken keeping more and more! I came to realize that my coop was my one true happy place!! When I spent time with my chickens, I experienced a peace that I normally did not. I could feel my blood pressure drop, my tension lesson and my breathing normalize. My coop and my chickens became my therapy! As soon as I realized what all of this meant, I started to explore ways I could share this journey with other stressed-out women! At first, I thought about creating a lifestyle channel so others could see firsthand the benefits to chicken keeping. Then I considered creating cute décor for coops but then it dawned on me…..it all started with this amazing coop I designed and built for myself, and if no one else was going to help bring this kind of happiness to homes across the USA, I would! So, I did! After nearly 12 months of consumer research and design I launched what is now know as the top online retailer of cute & functional chicken coops www.cutestcoops.com!
The time I spent researching was an affirmation of exactly what I had experienced with our first coop; coops that were readily available were too small, lacked functionality, were not sanitary, were not predator safe, were not weather resistant and were certainly not cute!! These truths became my personal motivation to design and build coops that answered each of these frustrations of chicken keepers everywhere! My goal was to enhance properties and enhance and simplify the chicken keeping experience which would ultimately lead to happier and healthier flocks for the long-term and I am proud to say that this goal is being accomplished one cutest coop at a time!
For more details about Cutest Coops’ features please visit: https://cutestcoops.com/pages/key-coop-features
For more details about Cutest Coops’ adorable styles & designs please visit: https://cutestcoops.com/collections/shop-chicken-coops
Written: Kathy Vegh Hughes. Founder & Head Hen of Cutest Coops, LLC
