JD Vance's new chicken coop puts spotlight on growing American backyard trend that family has 'loved'

Matt DuBoise has built chicken coops for many well-known people, including Mike Tyson and four-time World's Strongest Man Brian Shaw. But when he got the call saying Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance wanted him to construct a Carolina Coop at 1 Observatory Circle, their residence in Washington, D.C., he got goosebumps. "The rush, the euphoria, it's hard to describe what that feeling is like," DuBoise told Fox News Digital. DuBoise quickly realized that he and his employees had their work cut out for them. MORE AMERICANS SEEK EGGS AT HOME AS CHICKEN COOP INTEREST SURGES: WHAT EXPERTS WANT YOU TO KNOW DuBoise said it was an "amazing opportunity" but came with a tight deadline. "I can't thank my team enough," he said. "We had to work in the rain almost every single day to get that coop done in time." The second family is making the most of the new chicken coop. "Our family has loved having a chicken coop on the property," Usha Vance told Fox News Digital. "Our children have especially enjoyed caring for the chickens as part of their daily routine. The beautifully designed coop fits seamlessly with the Naval Observatory and makes looking after the chickens so easy." Carolina Coops designs and builds all of its coops by hand at its North Carolina facility. The company crafted a Victorian-style coop for the Vances that was designed to complement the historic house. FORMER DIETITIAN'S HOMEGROWN FOOD HELPS FAMILY'S HELP AFTER CUTTING GROCERY TRIPS "You can't miss that turret in the upper right-hand corner" of the house, DuBoise said. "And I went to my chief designer and said, 'Use that turret somehow.' He just said, 'I'm on it.'" The Vances approved the design right away. Then, DuBoise said, "The real fun began." "The second family is into it. They didn't just get chickens to be hip." The large Carolina Coops are either shipped — sometimes around the world — on a pallet or, in this case, broken down methodically, stacked and delivered on a trailer. "Keep in mind the hen house area is round," DuBoise said. "That made it that much more difficult, but we did it." TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ Carolina Coops donated the coop, valued at about $120,000, and installed it in June. DuBoise said he "was kind of starstruck" when he met the Vances. "When JD came out, he's in a T-shirt that says something about Lake Erie. And then Usha is in overalls," he said. "I was, like, 'Wow, I love this.' They are just such down-to-earth people. It was so much fun to talk to them." The Vances asked "all the normal questions most people have when they're brand-new to keeping chickens," DuBoise recalled. Interest in the homesteading lifestyle and keeping backyard chickens has grown in recent years. About 11 million U.S. households kept chickens in 2025, nearly double the 5.8 million households recorded in 2018, according to American Pet Products Association data. "The second family is into it," DuBoise said. "They didn't just get chickens to be hip. Especially the vice president. I didn't expect him to be so into the chickens, even though it makes sense because he's the one who wanted the chicken coop there. But I was just so happy [with] all the questions he had about them." CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS The Vance children are also very involved in keeping chickens, DuBoise revealed. "They love those chickens," he said. "The second lady has an initiative for childhood literacy, and [the Vance children] painted their favorite books on some bricks for the coop-scaping art. Usha told us her children love to come out and read to the chickens." Carolina Coops are built to accommodate modern standards, DuBoise said. People can have chickens and still go on vacation, for example. "I want everyone to be able to have a chicken coop — and we have a chicken coop for everyone, even people in the city," DuBoise said. Carolina Coops recently donated a coop to a school in Harlem. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER "Their chickens are just thriving, and the kids are having so much fun," DuBoise said. There's an "awakening" happening across America regarding the food industry, and the lessons learned from the pandemic have prompted people to think about sourcing their own food. There are many advantages to homegrown eggs beyond their function as a reliable food source, DuBoise said. "It's so much healthier for you when you're eating those fresh, backyard eggs," he said. And it doesn't stop there, he said. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP Chicken coops are also a place where families can come together to clean, handle the chickens and collect the eggs, DuBoise said. "It's also such a great classroom for the kids," he added. "So I just absolutely love what the chicken coop and having chickens can do for families."