My grandfather built a chicken coop in the late 1940's. At the time, it was a state of the art building. In fact, the coop was visited by a poultry specialist from Michigan State College named John Hannah. Dr. Hannah went on to become president of the small agricultural college as it transformed into Michigan State University.
As a child I occasionally helped my grandparents by feeding and watering the chickens and collecting eggs. When my family moved to the farmstead nearly three years ago, DW and I (briefly) considered restoring the chicken coop ourselves so we could raise chickens. When we realized the restoration would include at minimum a new roof, we quickly decided against the idea.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. The farmers to whom my dad rents the farm land hired a bulldozer to clear out some fence rows behind the farmstead. I asked if the man on the bulldozer could knock down the chicken coop. This action would serve two purposes. First, it would remove what had become an eyesore. Second, it would allow the farmers to square up the field directly behind the chicken coop, making it easier to farm, and giving them a bit more tillable acreage. So the chicken coop went down.
Part of clearing this land included picking up pieces of iron from old fences and ancient equipment. We found an old harrow and an old packer. In total, we found 1,460 pounds of iron. Some of it came from other iron abandoned from other parts of the farm, but the majority was from immediately around the chicken coop. I took it over to the salvage yard, and was paid $126 for the iron.
We burned the old lumber from the coop last night. It was a big fire. The pile of stones and concrete remain. We'll have to wait for the bulldozer guy to return with his back hoe to bury it.
The Chicken Coop
May 7th, 2012 at 02:22 pm
May 7th, 2012 at 02:27 pm 1336400855
May 7th, 2012 at 03:18 pm 1336403926
May 7th, 2012 at 05:19 pm 1336411177
May 13th, 2012 at 06:21 pm 1336933314
Jerry
May 20th, 2012 at 02:11 pm 1337523083