“I always said since I was a little boy that I wanted to build the best chicken coops so that my chooks were safe.”
The first thing you should know about Trevor and Dayna of The Poodle and the Hen is this: when they finally found their dream acreage on the outskirts of the Southern Highlands, the chook shed was the first thing to go up, not their home.
Talk about priorities!
Such is Trevor’s love of chooks, which has been passed down to him over four generations.
Trevor and his wife Dayna, both builders, made the move from Wollongong’s North Beach to the Highlands after falling head over heels in love with a television show.
“River Cottage really lit a fire,” says Trevor.
When we discovered their amazing chicken coops, we knew we had to find out more.
Trevor and Dayna sat down with us to talk about living their River Cottage dream and all things chickens: from eggs to chook feed, chicken runs to coops and their prized Light Sussex and White Leghorns.
This is a beautiful story about their farm and business, The Poodle and The Hen.
1 :: Chooks are in your blood Trevor?
Trevor :: Yes, they are. My father and grandfather and great grandfather all had chooks, so I grew up around them and love the damn things.
Dayna :: I actually grew up with no pets. Zero. In fact, I spent a lot of time as a kid playing representative sport, so there was no time for pets. We had nothing and Trevor’s place was like a zoo.
2 :: You’re known in the Highlands for your beautiful backyard chicken coops. How did it all start?
Dayna :: I suppose the coop thing really took off when Covid hit. Trev had always built his own chicken coops so had already nailed down all the elements of a good pen.
We had a team of carpenters working for us in our building company and instead of laying them off, we had them build extra chook coops for Trev. When one of our chook feed clients came around, he saw these pens and asked if we would make them. He was our first customer and it took off from there.
Trevor :: Then Dayna started posting pictures of the coops on Instagram and the orders just started rolling in.
Dayna :: With people moving out of the city to the Highlands, having backyard chickens became even more popular. That meant more people needed chook pens and we wanted to offer safe and secure pens for the Highlands because we know the reailty of what damage foxes can do.
Trevor :: It was the perfect storm really. Once we started making the pens, Dayna started doing a few sketches, knowing that people were wanting something that looked good on their property. But we knew we had to build something that would withstand the Highlands weather and that was strong enough to keep the foxes out where flat pack chook pens fail. It all came together with our building experience and that’s how The Poodle and The Hen chicken coop began.
3 :: And there are different types of chook pens?
Dayna :: Yes, the coops change depending on what you need them for. Breeders wouldn’t necessarily want something grand like we’ve got here in the Highlands. They might want different runs and sizes of pens rather than a feature pen.
Trevor :: We build all kinds of chicken pens from the big beautiful pens to the backyard feature chicken coop to chicken runs and everything in between.
4 :: And they’re all custom made?
Dayna :: Yes. All completely customised. We have some samples, but that is really to give people an idea of size, cost, and how many chickens it might hold. Everyone has different spaces and requirements, and we always work to those needs, whether that be adapting one of our existing designs or creating something completely new.
Trevor :: They’re a real investment. We’re not talking about them blowing away in the first storm. We’re builders. They’re built on concrete footings, with treated timber and high-grade mesh.
They’re literally houses for chooks!!
Dayna :: Definitely built to last.
5 :: And you’ve documented your River Cottage dream on Instagram.
Trevor :: Yes, most of the business has actually sprung from social media. Dayna did the veggie patches and then she got a beautiful big kitchen and she’s turned into an amazing cook experimenting with cooking our own farm produce. And just very gradually, Dayna started posting her cooking, I’d post my chooks and post a photo of Parris [that’s The Poodle folks!] and the page started growing and growing.
Dayna :: And then Trevor got back into showing his chooks and people wanted to purchase the birds. Before you know it, we had a thriving business of coops and breeding.
6 :: And chook feed! The chook feed also has an amazing story behind it – tell us about that.
Trevor :: Well, that started as I wasn’t happy with the quality of the feed that was available at the time. So, I organised a company to make some feed of our own and I really wanted to dive into getting the feed to a really high quality. At first, we had no intention of selling it so we formulated a feed with all natural ingredients and worked with a nutritionist to balance out the protein etc.
Dayna :: And we’ve actually got our own pellet in there now with the right vitamins and amino acids.
Trevor :: It was a more expensive chook feed but it was worth it because it was for my chooks and I love my chooks…
Dayna :: And then something amazing happened! The chooks responded really well to it. The difference in the growth of the bird, the gloss of the feathers, the quality, size, colour and taste of the eggs was outstanding. And now the feed is a thriving, very unexpected, side of the business.
7 :: It’s really become a holistic way of life for you guys, hasn’t it?
Dayna :: Yes, although chooks are at the core of what we do, we have cows, sheep, goats, all types of birds and the veggie patch. And it’s been great to see it literally coming from the paddock to the plate and experimenting with all the produce from the farm.
Trevor :: It’s funny how all those years ago I wanted to become a builder to protect my chooks. And now here I am living the River Cottage dream building chook pens, living off the produce from the farm and building a business from what really started as a passion project.
Isn’t that awesome? LOVE LOVE LOVE hearing these sorts of stories.
So amazing and we had such a lovely time with Dayna and Trevor at The Poodle and the Hen.
Highlanders, head to The Poodle and the Hen to find out more about chook pens, chook feed or Trev’s prized chooks – or to live your own River Cottage dream vicariously! We certainly do!
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