Farming, by its very nature, is anything but “fancy”. So, no matter what the overblown copy from Heritage Hen Farm, the company behind “Beau Coop”, the $100,000 Neiman Marcus-edition chicken coop, promises, you’ll never be a farmer, nor will farming ever be fancy. But, let’s back up a bit. It’s safe to say that handling a couple of chickens in your backyard–or more accurately, having the live-in help handle them–doesn’t constitute anything near farming. What it does constitute, however, is delusion (probably brought on by all that lead in your eggs), which won’t come cheap if you buy into this whole “Versailles-inspired Le Petit Trianon” fowl fantasy. Continue.

And speaking of architecture and farming, if you got a project you think successfully straddles both, submit it for an Architizer A+ Award here!

Sure, the marketing doesn’t promise a scaled replica of the Petit Trianon’s architecture, so much as an experience evocative of Marie Antoinette, “the first gentle lady farmer”, and her mimed tilling of the grounds there. Hilariously, the copy does describe, in purplish cinematic narrative, the leisurely life that comes with owning the “poshest hen house ever made”:

“Dawn breaks. The hens descend from their bespoke Versailles-inspired Le Petit Trianon house to their playground below for a morning wing stretch. Slipping on your wellies, you start for the coop and are greeted by the pleasant clucking of your specially chosen flock and the site of the poshest hen house ever imagined.”

If you really need to know more, the set includes three consultations with Heritage Hen Farm, which will ensure that you will have everything you need to start keeping your heritage-breed chickens year-round. The installation also comes with two vegetable or herb planters, plus feeders and waterers for your hens. Inside the mini palace,  there’s a nesting area, broody room, library, “living room”, and, of course a chandelier. Oh, and there’s a special entrance–a Neiman Marcus butterfly cutout portal–for the chickens as they pass in and out of the hennerie. Even if you do decide to blow your kid’s college savings on the hen chateau, don’t think that it will look anything like the model home depicted in the promotional material. As the spread concludes, “All other props and furnishings not included”.

by Samuel Medina

posted in Uncategorized

tagged $100, 000, animal architecture, architecture for animals, chicken coop, chickens, criminal, hens, le petit trianon, LOL, neiman marcus

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