Rep. Jerrold Nadler eggs on Rep. Carolyn Maloney for big-bucks campaign loan: ‘I’m the son of a chicken farmer’

Things are a-fowl in uptown Manhattan.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) took a shot at Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) on Monday for loaning her campaign $900,000 as the election battle between the West Side vs. East Side congressional districts heats up.

Nadler compared his humble roots with Maloney’s deeper pockets, perhaps to suggest he would be a better choice to represent constituents on either side of Central Park.

“I’m the son of a chicken farmer — no fortune over here,” Nadler tweeted.

Bob Liff, a spokesman for Maloney, countered that Nadler might be making a rash decision by putting “his eggs in that basket.”

“It could be he wins the votes of Manhattan chicken farmers,” Liff said. “We’re trying for the rest.”

Maloney framed the loan, which was disclosed in a federal campaign finance disclosure, as her way of putting her money where her mouth is.

“There was never a doubt that I would continue to fight for the people in my district,” Maloney said in a statement, noting that the loan came from her congressional retirement account.

Nadler and Maloney, who are longtime colleagues and onetime powerful Democratic allies, are facing off in New York’s Aug. 23 congressional primaries.

The pair were forced into a cage fight by redistricting when a court-appointed special master effectively combined Nadler’s home base on the West Side with Maloney’s East Side turf.

[ It’s map mayhem as redistricting spawns chaos for NY Dems ]

Both well-respected liberal stalwarts, the pair have little of political substance to argue about.

So Maloney may hope to leverage her personal wealth to gain an edge on her crosstown rival in the homestretch of their muggy late-summer primary fight, in which turnout is expected to be low.

Including the self-funded cash infusion, her latest campaign filing showed nearly $2 million in cash on hand, compared to about $1.2 for Nadler.

Maloney, 76, was born and raised in North Carolina but moved to New York City as a young adult. She was a public school teacher before successful runs for city council and then Congress.

Nadler, 75, grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. His father, Max, owned a poultry farm in New Jersey which the family lost when Nadler was a child.