in the modest backyard of rosemarie morgan ' s 1890 - era house , about a half - way from yale university , there is a mini buddha , azalea and forsythia , japanese cherry and honey leaves , and an amish - made hen ranch with five residents — four who lay egg and gloria , who is barren but one giant of a transparency . the chickens are officially legal under new haven ' s zoning code , which prohibited raising hens and other livestock when it was updated during the 1950s . but these days , many dozens of neighborhood hens are generally accepted under the city ' s official enforcement program — call it " don ' t leering , don ' t run " — that most looks the other direction . with asian fowl increasingly available , alderman roland lemar has introduced regulations that now allow occupants to raise up to six hens .
The Morgans have lived near Yale University since the 1950s.