Chickens were another important product on an eighteenth-century farm. They were self-sufficient and needed very little care from farmers. They were also a great source of food. On average, chickens can lay an egg a day for nine months out of the year, providing quite a lot of food for families. Chickens were only butchered for meat once they could no longer provide those eggs.
We have a few varieties of chickens, including some that have been cross-bred, and one rooster to provide eggs. Our chickens are fenced in, which would not have been the case in the 1700s, when chickens were free-range, allowed to roam the property.
Your next stop – the cow pasture – is to your right.