Hit by lightning many times, but ‘The Chicken’ still stands in its original spot …

Oil mill “De Bonte Hen,” also known as “the hen,” is the northernmost mill on the Zaanse Schans and dates back to 1693. The mill was built on the site of an earlier sawmill of the same name, one of the first in the region. This octagonal upper mill with scaffolding has a remarkably slender shape and was long active in pressing oil from seeds and nuts. Despite repeated lightning strikes and fires, the mill managed to be saved each time, time after time the fire was extinguished and the damage repaired. After being in operation until 1926, it was dismantled to rack height in the 1930s.

After years of neglect, the mill underwent a thorough restoration between 1973 and 1978, thanks in part to “crowdfunding,” and was refurbished with a pair of lace stones, a front and a backstage, fisting and rammers. One could get right back to work with it and still does so regularly. The restoration also used parts of the burned mill “De Koperslager”. Under the building there are still the original oil cellars, where the oil made used to be stored. In 1975, the adjacent cattle barn from 1883 was also refurbished and converted into a dwelling house. Various oil products are sold at the Bonte Hen, including linseed oil.

A steam tug equipped with an icebreaker sails past mill ‘De Bonte Hen’ in 1929