• Culture  • Fowl Play: Keeping Chickens at Home

Fowl Play: Keeping Chickens at Home

Corey Marie Birger, chief operating officer of Corcoran Reverie, raises multiple breeds at Cluckingham Palace, her home coop, in Freeport, Florida.
Corey Marie Birger, chief operating officer of Corcoran Reverie, raises multiple breeds at Cluckingham Palace, her home coop, in Freeport, Florida.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To check out the fabulous real estate, of course. From the rooftops of Manhattan to the backyards of Corcoran agents and staff across the country, chickens rule the roost, charming their owners with their distinctive personalities and gorgeous feathered style.

It’s hard to track down exactly how many backyard chickens there are in the United States, with estimates ranging from a low of 12 million to a high of 85 million chickens living in non-commercial settings. But since the pandemic, there has been a noticeable rise in pet chickens across the country. As more people pivoted to hybrid and work-from-home arrangements and migrated to larger, more pastoral properties, interest in chickens (and fresh eggs) rose.

Which Came First? The Chickens or the Eggs?

The road to chicken ownership often starts with a move — or, in the case of Kim Hutsenpiller, a Corcoran Icon agent in San Jose, California, a successful sale. Hutsenpiller was hired by a client to sell her family home in 2017. “When I arrived, I saw the beautiful chicken coop in the backyard, with six chickens inside. The client told us all about her girls and how she was worried about what would happen to them,” says Hutsenpiller.  The house quickly found a buyer, but the chickens did not.

Hutsenpiller elaborates, “I told her that I could take them if she trusted me with them. She was over the moon about it, knowing how much I care for animals. After close of escrow, I hired a handyman to deconstruct the coop and move it to my backyard easement. The funniest part of the story was catching all six of the girls to put them in a cage to transport them to my house. I had never handled chickens before, and they were not excited to be picked up. I chased them around the yard for over an hour before I had all six in the cage.” Her chicken adoption earned her a rave from her client, with a testimonial that “Kim even brought me eggs weekly until they weren’t laying anymore.”

A few of agent Konstantine Wells's flock clucking around.
A few of agent Konstantine Wells's flock clucking around.

Hutsenpiller took her chicken ownership seriously, adding, “Long story short, I ended up with a chicken coop until early 2024 — all six chickens survived and had great lives. I adopted three additional girls who intermingled pretty well. My chickens now live in Elk Grove and the three older girls live in San Martin at a bird sanctuary.”

The chickens of Sawyer Smith, principal and founder of Corcoran Sawyer Smith, never feel cooped up in Tewksbury, New Jersey.

For Sawyer Smith, principal and founder of Corcoran Sawyer Smith — who lives in Tewksbury, New Jersey, with his husband, son, in-laws, and seven chickens — the beauty of the fancy chicken eggs was the lure: “When we moved to the country, we decided to get the chickens for their colored eggs,” he says. Smith’s flock includes Partridge Orpingtons, a Lavender Orpington, a White Legbar, Copper Marans, and a Japanese Bantam, who collectively lay a regular rainbow in light brown, chocolate brown, olive, blue, and plaster white. The chickens — Tiny, Beaky, Allie, and friends — live in a chic coop that has a slate roof to match the main house, a herringbone brick floor, and an Edison light bulb, as well as their own gravel run next to the rose garden.

Meanwhile, the chickens of Corey Marie Birger, chief operating officer of Corcoran Reverie, reside at Cluckingham Palace in Freeport, Florida. “They’re very spoiled chickens,” says Birger. Birger has eight chickens that she hatched from eggs (plus two recently added ducks) that are a mix of Plymouth Barred Rock and Andalusians, who are named after famous women, including Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Margaret Thatcher. “They have fans on them at all times and have ice baths available in the summer. In the winter, when there’s a cold snap, they have a little heater in the coop.”

Eggs in every hue from Konstantine Wells of Corcoran Centric.

Pecking Order and Personalities

Pecking order is a real phenomenon — all the owners described their chickens as having very distinct personalities. Birger says that her chickens match their namesakes, with Marilyn Monroe being the sweetest bird in the flock, while Margaret Thatcher often has an ornery attitude. Birger calls her flock her “emotional support chickens.” She says, “After talking to people all day, it’s nice to just enjoy that connection with something. They’re always happy to see you and run towards you when you come home.” Kimberly Beck, an agent at Corcoran Perry & Co., echoes this sentiment, saying that her chickens “have personalities like dogs.”

Birger has even influenced Liane Jamason, a broker-owner of Corcoran Dwellings, to join the fowl lifestyle. “Liane got them after she saw mine and had chicken envy,” says Birger. “Now we talk all the time about how our chickens are doing.” Konstantine Wells, an agent at Corcoran Centric, has a flock of 30-some chickens of many breeds at his house in Greenwich, Connecticut, including a White Crested Polish pair named Fendi and Gucci. “When you see them, you’ll immediately understand the names. They all have different personalities and are very entertaining to watch,” he says.

At the home of Cheryl Stone, a director at Corcoran Affiliate Services, it’s clear who rules the roost.

Chickens even have made appearances at some Corcoran meetings. Cheryl Stone, a director of broker services, works from home in Hillsborough, New Jersey, and allows her three chickens to roam free-range during the day. “They really do silly things. I’ll be on a Zoom meeting, and if I have my sliding door open in my family room, they’ll try and come wandering in, and then I have to shoo them out.” Stone also says her chickens — Oreo and Nilla Wafer among them — are at their funniest when they take dust baths. “They’re just hysterical to watch. They nuzzle down into the dust and kind of kick it around. They look like Pigpen from Peanuts.” And for colleagues of the chicken owners, fresh eggs are often a perk of coming into the office. Birger keeps a stack of egg boxes at home, giving out a half dozen at a time.

Here a-chick, there a-chick, everywhere a-chick-chick

Even in Manhattan, the most urban of destinations, chickens have been finding a foothold. In 2020, agent Diane Silberstein of Corcoran’s East Side office won the office’s “Crazy Deal Contest” with her tale of negotiating a chicken coop on a terrace for a $20,000/month triplex rental in NoHo that included a custom chicken coop being flown to New York City on the client’s private plane. Armed with assurances from the Crosby Street Hotel chicken manager that urban chickens would thrive in a busy metropolis, Silberstein secured the rental and permission for the client’s beloved chickens in the middle of Manhattan. (The hotel still has the flock on the roof and serves the blue Aracuna eggs in its restaurant).

A mention of a chicken coop — and surprisingly often, a “luxury” chicken coop — has become increasingly common in network listings in recent years. Wells says, “I’m seeing chicken coops more and more. Some are quite elaborate and are made to look like miniature versions of people’s houses. I find that Greenwich’s farm fresh eggs are commensurate with our real estate: superb.”

Chicks in charge at the home of Cheryl Stone.

So go ahead and put all your eggs in one basket and consider adding a flock of feathered friends to your household. Just be sure to check local regulations first, as most cities and HOAs have strict guidelines for chickens, often limiting the total amount of hens and barring roosters for obvious cock-a-doodle-doo reasons.

Find your roost.