The MOTTE Chicken Farm

Building land is notoriously expensive in Hamburg. This is especially true for popular neighbourhoods such as Ottensen. This makes it all the more remarkable that a 400 square metre area there is inhabited by chickens instead of people - and has been for almost four decades.

Fortunately. Because MOTTE-Hühnerhof e.V. is a true Hamburg original and brings the idyllic farm to the big city. The history of the association began in 1986: a plot of land in Rothestraße was lying fallow and the Nettelnburg construction school launched the chicken farm project. The animal home was built by the students at the time in an ecologically correct way: as a half-timbered construction with clay walls, a green roof and lots of plants around it.

A few years after the first chickens moved in, bees were added as flatmates. Their honey is sold - in the ice cream parlour Ice cream parlour Eisliebe, in the bookshop Hier & Jetzt and in the MOTTE office at Eulenstraße 43. The proceeds help to financially support the voluntary work. The hens' eggs can also be purchased from the farm's own egg vending machine. You have a good chance of getting eggs that are still almost warm every Saturday from eleven o'clock, when they are fed and cleaned.

The MOTTE Hühnerhof not only brings greenery to the neighbourhood and joy to its members: school classes and daycare centres regularly visit to learn about agriculture in the middle of the city. And to a certain extent, the farm is even political, because when plans to develop the site became known in the early 1990s, the association fought back with all its might and a lot of support from Ottensen. Successfully, as we can see today: The plans were cancelled and the chickens were allowed to keep scratching.

Today, not only visitors are always welcome, but also small food donations. There is a food hatch in the courtyard for fresh vegetables, salad or fruit - preferably cut into small pieces and in manageable quantities.

Address: MOTTE, Rothestraße 44, 22765 Hamburg

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