chicken holder

I never came across one of these before, so, when I saw it in an auction ad for an estate sale in New Jersey, I had to attend and see it in person. Well, low and behold, I came home with it.
It, I believe, was used to hold the chicken so it cauld be plucked easier, or it could have been used to hang from a bottle jack or spit and placed in front of a fireplace to cook the bird. It is made of steel or wrought iron and has a spring that holds the chicken by the feet in a clamping way. A neat item that's fitting with my crazy collection of oddball items.