When the addition that will become their master bedroom suite is finally attached to their home at 157 Poverty Hollow Road, Rick and Nora Murphy will truly be coming home to roost each night.

"The original modular unit," as contractor Jay Cahill referred to it, is an 1857 chicken coop that Mrs Murphy discovered online several months back. Realizing that the patina of an old structure would better match their 1767 saltbox home for a planned expansion of the house, featured in 2005 on the Newtown Historic Homes tour, they had the chicken coop trucked to Newtown from its Millville, Mass., location.

The coop, its roof, and the cupola that tops it off arrived Friday morning, September 1, and Jay Cahill and his crew of Jay Cahill Construction, LLC, and Healy Crane Service of Bethel were on hand to lift the pieces off of the trailers and onto the waiting foundation. Nora Murphy, a designer with Ethan Allen, and Rick Murphy, a teacher at New Rochelle High School in New York, are dedicated to originality when it comes to restoration. To that end, they even had mason John Lema use the original brick from under the coop to face the new, poured foundation.

Mr Cahill is looking forward to turning architectural renderings into reality, he said.

"Anyone can build a deck," said Mr Cahill,  "but it's fun to have a challenge." Directing the placement of the chicken coop certainly met those criteria.

Dangling from the crane, the chicken coop swayed in the air, dancing above the foundation before it was delicately placed. Then the peaked roof was prepared for its flight. An angled driveway proved a trial to maneuver the roof into place for the crane, but teamwork and skillful direction inched the huge structure into position without mishap.

After careful consideration of the best method with which to safely raise the roof, it was strapped securely to the crane's lifts. With a deft swing of the crane, the roof was raised atop the coop. Last, but not least, the cupola made the ascent, capping off a good morning's work.

The picket fence dividers in the interior of the chicken coop will be removed, most likely ending up in another use in the restoration process, said Mr Murphy, and the chicken boxes themselves have long been gone, making way for a refurbished interior. The exterior of the clapboard building, though, with its decorative cornices, will be restored to the original condition. The siding will even be replaced slightly askew for that authentic look, said Mr Cahill.

One hundred and fifty years has taken its toll on the wooden shingles, so the roof, said Mr Murphy, will be reshingled with cedar shakes to match the main section of his home. The cupola will also be tended to, with original, single-pane windows being reinstalled once the wood has been refurbished.

One thing is certain: when all is said and done, the Murphys and son, Conor, will have a home to crow about.