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

An Exciting Day In The Field.

Hello fellow barn lovers, owners, and hunters, my name is Stephanie Lessard aka the "CT Trust Intern." I started working in mid-September as an intern for the Historic Barns project. On October 5th "Barn Hunter Charlotte" and I spent the day surveying historic barns in Chaplin, Connecticut. This was my first time in the field and hopefully not the last!

While driving through Chaplin, Charlotte and I had our eyes peeled for barns and always kept in mind to look for signs of agriculture in the area. While doing so we were able to find the local historic district. As we drove through, we almost felt like we had stepped back in time. Chaplin Street's historical character has been incredibly maintained! This was one of my favorite parts of the day!
One of the great things about this project is being able to explore the state I live in and, being from Fairfield, I had never spent time in the northeastern part before. This is a great time of year to hunt for barns too! For lunch we picnicked on the river beneath one of Chaplin's many bridges. The foliage was beautiful and many animals were out and about. By the end of our day, Charlotte and I photographed over 50 barns and had seen a lot of Chaplin. It was an overall ideal day for a barn hunter!