Meet the Crazy Coop! July 12 & 19 at the Willow Falls Market in Lehi from 9-12.
About our crazy coop
It Started With an Idea...
One sunny, Sunday morning, I was lounging in bed, just sorta waking up, thinking about our new chicks.
I'd been working with our Buff Orpington, Nuggie, with chronic pasty butt and was starting to feel confident with the herbal treatment I was adding to their food regularly. The whole clutch was growing fast, and all I wanted was for them to become happy, healthy, productive laying hens.
I thought about the research I had been conducting and some of the experimentation with herbs and spices as feed toppers, and my mind flooded with ideas. I grabbed my iPad, opened a note, and started jotting down ideas as quickly as I could.
A Couple Hours Later...
In what felt like no time at all, I had a rough business plan, motto, value statement, product sketches, research notes, and a name: Crazy Coop Creations.
You see, I'm a sucker for alterations, and with the Triple-C Philosophy in rough draft form I felt like I was truly onto something!
I had pinned articles from fellow backyard chicken keepers and white papers alike, a brain spinning with new information, a brooder bursting at the seams with chicks ready to move into the custom coop Pops and I were finishing, and an excitement for the future that I hadn't felt in a very long time.
Alas, I forced myself back to "reality" and decided I'd continue to mix supplements for my own chickens; I didn't have the time, money or bandwidth to start something real. Besides, who would be interested?
Spiralling Into Control (*Almost!)
I sat my iPad down and went back to my day job, but the idea of the Crazy Coop kept burning in the back of my mind.
You see, I have a background in marketing, running supplement brands for human consumption. I also have a passion for health and wellness, love animals and take my responsibility as a pet parent seriously, and in general am a nerd.
So...what exactly was stopping me from diving in?
Finances are always the primary hurdle for new businesses, and after being unexpectedly laid off a year ago and struggling to rebuild the life I was building, I didn't have the mental bandwidth, not to mention financial backing or support.
Or so I thought.
Once I admitted to myself (several weeks later) that I really did have something, I talked to my family about it. And guess what? They were on board!
After roping Pops into a second chicken coop, I thought for sure he'd be out--and understandably so. (Oh the shenanigans I've dragged him into...) Now he's the Crazy Coop Creations production lead.
Mum is a career graphic designer who specializes in product packaging and she was thrilled to design a new, fun brand. The chicken wire design in the background of the Crazy Coop labels? Her brilliance. The Egg logo? Her genius. She has irreplaceable experience and a natural eye for art that cannot be replicated.
My bro has an older flock that has been testing out products while our girls are transitioning to layer feed.
My sis also has a natural eye for art and has been extremely helpful with a consumer perspective of aesthetic, connection, and booth support.
In short, we're small, we're new to the game, but we have something that has the potential to change the lives of countless backyard flocks while helping to educate and support new and experienced chicken tenders in their endeavors to raise healthy, happy flocks of their own.