Fixer Upper: Chicken Coop Edition

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to Brooklyn’s newest chicken coop!

Summer Rayne Oakes from Homestead Brooklyn crowdsourced funds and donations to build a new chicken coop and garden for Los Sures, a non-profit senior citizen service center. Summer currently fosters Kippee, a Rhode Island hen, in her Brooklyn apartment and embarked on this project in an effort to build Kippee a new home.

Summer is an environmental scientist and entomologist by training. She’s changing the way we think about everything from how to care for houseplants to how we connect our community.

Los Sures’ mission is to develop and preserve sustainable communities in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They build affordable housing, participate in community service, and even have a food program. The organization originally started to help improve the borough in the seventies.

Summer worked alongside Zach Williams, the food access manager at Los Sures, to purchase tools and equipment for the chicken coop. With the help of the community, the chicken coop was erected in a single day. The Espoma Company was happy to help by donating Sani-Care animal bedding, Sani-Care Odor Control, Bio-tone Starter Plus fertilizer, and Garden Soil.

Sani-Care animal bedding is an all-natural product, manufactured using a blend of NIH approved premium hardwoods that includes beech, birch and maple. Sani-Care Odor Control helps to mitigate the odor of chicken feces.

Summer and Los Sures built a top-notch chicken coop! The chicken coop and garden will serve a variety of purposes for the organization. The chickens provide eggs which contribute to Los Sures’ food program and pantry.

Want to see more about the chickens at Los Sures? See how Homestead Brooklyn creates a garden just for the chickens to enjoy!

Espoma Chicken Coop Essentials