Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also hen frigate) any house where the wife rather than the husband rules [note naut. jargon hen frigate, a ship where the captain’s wife travelled with her husband].

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Hen house, a house where the woman rules, called also a she house and hen frigate, the latter a sea phrase, originally applied to a ship, the captain of which had his wife on board, supposed to command him.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. a women’s hostel or lodging house [note US Army hen house, the Officers’ Club, ‘where all the chicken hangs out’].

1906

J.W. Carr ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:ii 140: hen-coop, hen-house, hennery, n. Young women’s dormitory. ‘The hen-coop’s just full up with girls.’.

3. a prison in general.

1902

Ade Forty Modern Fables 229: He would put the Grafter into the Hen-House so quick it would make his Head swim.

4. (US prison) a women’s prison; the women’s section of a prison.

1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 116: hen house Women’s quarters of a penitentiary.