I can't imagine why anyone would name a town Chicken but, the following storm report was taken from the NWS Fairbanks, AK storm reports feed. I think they are missing a dash somewhere (Chicken COOP?). 😆 #weather #LSR #Chicken #AKwx

Chicken [Southeast Fairbanks Co, AK] CO-OP Observer reports Snow of 2.50 Inch at 8:00 AM AKST -- Chicken COOP 0.20/2.5/15 ZONE 835.

@uccawx Typically the coldest place in the United States many days of the year! (there's also some random town in the mountains of Utah that drops to cold temps due to some strangeness of topography)

@uccawx

Per the website:

The story goes that Ptarmigan (now the Alaska State Bird) were prevalent in the area, and supplied a crucial food source for miners in the early days. When the town got its post office and was incorporated in 1902 the name Ptarmigan was proposed.

However, there were concerns that it was too difficult to spell.

Luckily, the Ptarmigan has a strong resemblance to Chicken, and everyone knows how to spell Chicken.

https://www.alaska.org/destination/chicken

Chicken

One of the few surviving gold rush towns in Alaska

ALASKA.ORG
@JohnJBurnsIII Ah, mystery solved. Thanks for the explanation.