Studio culture curated by



Volume
60—

April 17, 2020 / Michael

The Chicken House




At the beginning of the year my husband John retired from Ralph Lauren in pursuit of his dream of being a farmer. In anticipation of this we built a chicken house, and eight years later it finally has realized its purpose!




It’s a simple cabin-looking form that replaced a dilapidated goat shed. It was designed in our local board-and-batten tradition with chevron pattern skirt at the eave.

We also constructed a chicken run we thought would be ample, and able to address sun, rain, and snow! In our now-sheltered days we found time and distraction in painting it. The grass looks nice but our chicken veterans tell us that won’t last.

As the chicks arrived on March 12th, we had no idea that this would be our sheltered world together. They were a dozen Ameraucanas, the ones that lay blue eggs. We put them in a steel horse trough with pine shavings, feeders, and heat lamp and anxiously checked the 85 degree temperature. Now five weeks later we have fast growing adolescents.

They give us a fair amount of calm, as does this mild spring, that the non-human world is moving along quite well, unconcerned about our angst. They and we all go through difficult times. If we appreciate that and share, it becomes all the more bearable. Be Well.



Hudson Valley Chicken House, Staatsburg. NY - Architect: Neumann & Rudy


Hudson Valley Chicken House and Run, Staatsburg. NY - Architect: Neumann & Rudy


Hudson Valley Chicken House Daffodils in Bloom , Staatsburg. NY - Architect: Neumann & Rudy