--| Egg Basket |--

Notes: Coops

The architecture of chicken coops is directly related to both the market conditions and technological advances of best practices, researched by state land grant colleges such as Cornell in New York State. Initially in the 30's, many small farms had coops holding 500-1000 birds. WWII created a demand for both eggs and meat birds. Coops expanded to up to 5000 birds. Many bungalow colonies had a small egg operation in conjunction with their summer rentals. Post war, the demand for meat birds and eggs greatly expanded. A meat bird operation was not as labor intensive and could easily be managed by a family without extra paid labor. Many buildings were converted to coops. The "capette" (artificial hormone used to fatten birds) scare caused a collapse of the meat bird farms in the mid-50's. Some switched to layers.

Egg farmers had to pick eggs 3 times daily and then wash, grade and pack eggs. Egg farms kept increasing in scale so by the mid-50's, farms of 50,000 birds were common. The coop sizes increased to 2-3 stories to accommodate the birds, which were on the "floor." These operations required a large paid labor force putting economic pressure on smaller family operations. By the late 50's the "cage" system was increasingly adopted for efficiency and reduction of labor costs. The cage system quickly expanded into the battery cage system, cages stacked vertically 3 high. These buildings were usually single floor operations with a basement for manure. The smaller floor bird operations could not compete. Many closed by the mid 60's leaving only larger operations of 200,000 birds or more. The egg farmer had to "get big, or get out." Eventually even the larger operations could not survive the competition from the Southern and Midwestern states. Today only 2 egg farms survive, K-Brand and Brey Farm.

Farms that have been located, appear on the map and have been photographed.

Farms not yet documented on this site. If visitors can provide information please do so using the contact page.

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Notes: Photographed

I have been photographing vacant coops and locations for over 3 years. I approached many different individuals to identify the former owner of the farm. On occasion, local neighbors identified the original owner's name. Many individuals who participated in the interviews also identified other farmers and locations. In many instances, the abandoned chicken coops sit vacant. Some are used for storage. Others have been recycled for new commercial or even residential purposes. For many, the coops have been demolished and all that remains is a vacant cement slab, the remains of a foundation wall or a vacant field. In some locations, the land has been redeveloped for new construction. Some coops while photographed remain "Unknown" as to the original owner.

A number of owners had multiple locations and many sites had multiple buildings. A representative building was selected for the book. In the "Farms" section, all the extant coops do appear. Although the photographs focus mainly on farms in Sullivan County, Inter-County also had members in neighboring Ulster and Orange County. These identified farms are also included. In the "Map" section each photographed farm appears on a www.bing.com website. The farms have been split into Eastern & Western Sullivan County. One can zoom in using the "Bird's Eye" setting in Bing to the exact location and see the surviving coops and property.

Notes: Not Photographed

I was given access to an old membership list of Inter-County, which provided names of farmers whose locations have not yet been specifically located and documented. As well in discussion with local residents, names of other egg farmers have come up. I have compiled this list in hopes that someone might be able to locate these former farms. Since many farms failed over 40-60 years ago, these locations are extremely difficult to identify. If anyone has information about a location or wishes to add the name of another farmer to the list, please contact me.