Katherine Hooper is a talented Westport photographer. Recently, she started a blog based on her intriguing shots.
One post showed this photo, from Newtown Turnpike:
Katherine wrote:
There is a strange phenomenon going on where I live in Westport, CT. It seems everyone in town wants to be a chicken farmer.
Doctors, Wall Street guys, real estate agents, yada yada yada, all seem to have sprung chicken coops in their backyards over night. Westport is an upscale surburban community about an hour from Manhattan. Here you would expect the members of the community to exercise too much, travel the globe and get overly involved in their kids sports.
This all may be true but Westport can also be a real small town where people get involved in local causes, care about their neighbors, the environment and appreciate the basics. I believe Westporters want to make the world a better place and start right here at home.
Now I am not sure what raising chickens has to do with all this but I love receiving fresh eggs from all my friends and taking pics of all the new chicks in town!
Among those chicks:
This one’s from Cypress Pond Road.
Just a few days earlier I’d seen chickens at a friend’s house, on Bayberry Lane.
Clearly, this is a case of chickens coming home to Westport to roost.
or to roast!
It seems Westport has turned back the clock toward its agricultural roots… It’s in our blood to be backyard farmers! Anyone interested in helping me organize a “Westport Chicken Coop Tour” for this upcoming spring, please email me at elizbeller@gmail.com.
BTW… that coop pictured in Woog’s blog is gorgeous! Very creative. And I’ve never seen a more adorable chick pic. 🙂
Chickens, and honey bees too. Although I draw the line at having a rooster for a neighbor – those who have experienced that will understand.
Agreed… no roosters on our little farm!
My parents had a coop in the early 70’s and now I am keeping the tradition going with chicks in the yard. When the kids get off the school bus everyone on board yells “Chickens!” and the bus driver tells them to be quiet and sit down. Great stuff!
New must-have accessory for the McMansion- a McChicken coop!
Is this about the desire for cheap organic eggs or are our Westport “farmers” trying to meet some minimum requirement to reduce/avoid property taxes?
I agree with Katherine. Westporter’s.”I believe Westporters want to make the world a better place and start right here at home”. My platform for RTM write-in District 1 echo’s this. We need more community involvement in all aspects of our town.
Marty Bell
like “back to the 60s” when lots of people had chicken farms.
nice to see
Maybe a little bit of Martha Stewart rubbed off on her neighbors after all.
Jack Whittle said it! Thought I’d escaped my rooster-infested neighborhood in Mexico, but one of my neighbors here in FL is keeping one—nothing, believe me, compared to two or more, they get each other going.
We’ve been keeping chickens as a family for 3 or so years. We currently have a back yard flock of nine. We decided after our initial ‘common or garden’ birds to go for ‘rare breeds’. We now have several old English breeds that are considered to be endangered due to them laying ‘blue’ eggs, instead of the more usual brown or white. I love the idea of having pets that give something back – eggs and chicken poo for our compost heap!