27/10/2026
Was your Mother or Granny at the poultry classes?
Poultry instructresses travelled the country teach breeds, feeding, hatching and grading - real knowledge, passed woman to woman.
Was your mother, aunt or granny a pupil, prize winner at the shows, or a station keeper?
We would love to hear your story.
Monaghan County Council is inviting people to share memories, photographs and names for a fascinating local history project:
Egg Money: Women, Poultry and Independence in County Monaghan, 1910–1950
Historian Dr Michelle McGoff-McCann is exploring the role played by women in poultry keeping and egg production across County Monaghan. For many families, the money women earned from selling eggs helped pay for everyday essentials. Yet much of this story has never been recorded.
We are looking for:
🐔 Memories of mothers, grandmothers and aunts who kept hens and sold eggs
📷 Old photographs of women with hens, farmyards, egg baskets, poultry classes, stations or shows
🥚 Names of women who ran egg stations, worked as poultry instructresses or won prizes at shows
🚲 Border stories about eggs and poultry crossing the customs frontier
💬 Family stories, no matter how small. Every memory can help build the picture.
Stories can be recorded as oral history, written down or shared anonymously. Photographs can be digitally copied and returned to their owners.
📧 Have something to share?
Contact [email protected]
The project is supported through Monaghan County Council’s Commemorations History Bursary 2026, with funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and is delivered in partnership with Monaghan County Museum and Monaghan County Libraries
Please share this post with family and friends. You never know who might have a photograph, a name or a story waiting to be rediscovered.
