Celebrate Chickens!

In anticipation of the coming holiday, today is all about poultry.

Long long ago, back in the twentieth century, there were a LOT of chickens in Connecticut. Our volunteer barn crews have sent in more than 20 chicken coops so far - here's a small one in Canterbury.

Sad to say, most of them are no longer in use for poultry.

They range from neat and trim, to empty shells like this in Ashford.



Some old barns were converted to chicken coops by the addition of extra little windows, like this one in Stafford.



The purpose-built coop is most often two or even three stories with a nearly flat roof, and long rows of windows.
This one in Ellington has enough room for 22,000 chickens.







Most of the chicken coops we've seen so far are in the northeast part of the state,


but here is Brenda's Silver Lace Wyandotte, who lays her eggs in Bethany.

Check out our web site - search under "Historic Use" and you'll be able to browse the chicken coops.

Photos: T. Ells, J. Szalay, P. Niessen, C. Seifert, C. Hitchcock