"Tom,
I thought Macdonald established the ill-reputed HenHouse behind the 6th green at Merion?"
MikeC:
He tried to. It was something of an architectural/life style "prototype" feature on Macdonald's courses like a redan, Eden, Biarritz, ....etc, etc.
Macdonald worked off of a few basic principles with his courses, architectural and otherwise. The "Hen House" concept was under his principle that "A man has to do what a man has to do."
It was not a particularly easy concept to carry off perfectly, however. The "Hen House" itself was not the difficulty----supplying it with really good hens at any particular time was the primary problem.