Introducing master henhouse builder, Dugald Jellie

Dugald Jellie is a writer, builder and recycler. The creator of the social enterprise Bowerbird Gardens, Dugald has put all those skills to good use over the years, but now focuses on building chicken coops, food gardens and more for schools and communities in Melbourne. His work with schools through Bowerbird Gardens allows him to share practical skills with children, teaching them how to saw timber and hammer nails, while in the process sowing ideas around sustainability and respect.

Why the focus on chicken coops?

Chickens are well suited to schools because they can become part of a circular economy within the kitchen garden. 

“I’ve built a lot of school food gardens for my sins,” Dugald says. “If you have hens, the leftover produce goes into the coop and you use the chook manure as fertiliser and then eat the eggs. Building henhouses has become a greater part of my work.”

Dugald’s philosophy is to source materials locally and build from the ground up. 

“The most recent henhouse I created has been the most magical. It was at St Kilda Park Primary School and when I first met with the children, we went and sat on the henhouse site, so they could engage deeply with the space. I’m a failed architecture student and at one time I went and worked for a master builder and architect in Sydney. They taught me you always need to camp in the space, feel the wind blowing and see the sun moving across the site.”

Giving children power

Dugald aims to maximise the children’s participation and power in shaping the project. He particularly likes to work alongside young people that have difficulty in the classroom. He and the students get right down to the bird’s-eye level when planning. 

“We see from a whole different perspective down there,” Dugald says. “We think about what we would like in a coop if we were a chicken, looking at orientation, aspect, ventilation, light, and our shared response to materials. A lovely timber coop with light and ventilation will make a chook much happier than a concrete one.”

Furthermore, Dugald reckons he’s building a structure he would want to live in. 

“This henhouse is a beautiful timber box where every nail hole is considered, and every piece has been recycled, right down to the bluestone steps. I’m always looking for materials and at this school I found a rubbish skip of used drumsticks, which I made into a lattice to screen light for the chooks.”

If you want to learn more about keeping chooks for your garden, click here

Jessamy Miller is a regular writer for ABC Organic Gardener magazine, offering advice on keeping chooks in urban spaces. Subscribe to Organic Gardener magazine for the latest on creating your own backyard egg supply.