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Growing up, Kate E. Richards was surrounded with animals of all sorts—dogs, cats, rabbits, a pig—but never chickens. “I wanted them badly,” she says. Fast-forward to about 15 years ago when she and her husband Jonathon Ragsdale bought a house in a Los Angeles suburb and “dove right into backyard chickening,” she says. Of course, back then she didn’t know she was on the verge of becoming a full-time hen-fluencer, but that’s precisely what happened in 2016.
Kate E. Richards
Kate Richards and a few of her feathered friends
While watching her feathered friends gallivant about the yard as she sipped a cocktail, she was inspired to start her lifestyle blog, “Drinking with Chickens,” and the internet was soon all aflutter. “Unbeknownst to me, we weren’t the only people who spent time drinking with our chickens,” says Kate, whose recent move to a home situated on a half-acre property allows for even more outdoor bawktails. “It’s peaceful and quiet, except when the chickens are arguing over the best nesting box,” says Kate.
Here’s a peek inside Kate’s seriously colorful and playfully (yet practically!) appointed chicken coop.
Color-Drenched Garden
Kate E. Richards
Given Kate’s vibrant, fun-loving personality, it’s probably no surprise that her 6-by-8-foot board-and-batten chicken coop is situated in a 30-by-30-foot garden with raised and in-ground beds that stay ablaze with seasonal color (here, zinnias, marigolds, and other edible flowers).
Related StoryEyelet Trim 
Kate E. Richards
While the bold-striped front door deservedly commands attention, the coop’s other details (including antique leaded-glass windows) are just as delightful. Take, for example, the eyelet trim that gives the coop a sweet cottage-like feel.
Get the Look:
Door Paint Colors: Cabaret and Timeless Ruby by Behr
Whimsical Wallpaper 
Kate E. Richards
Chicken-themed peel-and-stick vinyl wallcovering (“Chicken Damask” by Norma Vela) complements the raspberry red trim (Lingonberry Punch by Behr) and guarantees the henhouse’s interior is as lively as its garden surroundings. “I know it seems like an over-the-top aesthetic choice, but the wallpaper is the most wipeable surface in the entire coop,” says Kate.
Related StoryCocktail Corner
Kate E. Richards
Positioned in front of the coop, an iron café set on a petite patio provides one of several tucked-in spots to sit and enjoy a beverage, preferably just before dusk when “the chickens are actively hunting bugs and the hummingbirds are out,” says Kate. Her book, also titled Drinking with Chickens, features 60 garden-to-glass cocktail recipes, but this time of year she’s partial to a light wine spritzer made of rosé, sparkling water, some citrus, and a sprig of mint or basil. “I’m never mad at a fresh margarita, either,” she says.
Mix Up One of Kate’s 5 O’Cluck Cocktails:
Cheeky Signage
Kate E. Richards
“We put a fountain in our previous chicken garden just for the pleasant sound and the ambiance and quickly realized that the chickens were obsessed with it,” says Kate. That same whimsical fountain now sits in the run of the new henhouse, and Corn (pictured), a Buff Laced Polish, is its biggest fan. Kate provides alternative waterers in the coop for when the fountain water is, ahem, compromised—which, she admits, is almost daily.
This story originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Country Living.
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