We've had our own obsession with chickens on Re-Nest, and we found this week's New Yorker article on the resurgence of chicken keeping completely in line with our thinking on the matter. The author, Susan Orlean, sums up the new obsession with chickens by writing that they "seem to be the perfect convergence of the economic, environmental, gastronomic, and emotional matters of the moment..."
Chickens have undergone a complete image rehabilitation. Chicken keeping went from being a common occurrence — and a good investment, since a laying hen used to cost only a few dollars and produced an egg every day or two in her prime laying season — to being a lowly profession, "stuck in the netherworld between the high-stakes cattle business and the matter-of-fact farming of crops, and factory-raised chickens seemed to be the worst of both."
Martha Stewart's 1982 book "Entertaining" began to change that perception. As a committed chicken-keeper herself, she made chickens "seem less like livestock and more like useful, companionable creatures." Add to that the concept in recent years of "The 100-Mile Diet" and a growing focus on eating locally grown food. After all, what could be more local than your back yard?
Orlean also writes that raising chickens goes hand-in-hand with the "post-feminist reclamation" of domestic arts, like knitting, canning, and quilting. (In other words, urban homesteading.) It's "a do-it-yourself hobby at a moment when doing things yourself [is] newly appreciated as a declaration of self-sufficiency, a celebration of handwork, and push-back from a numbing and disconnected big-box life."
Orlean herself purchased the now-well-known modern and innovative Eglu chicken coop from Omlet.
Very interesting reading. Check out the full article at The New Yorker (for subscribers only) or on newsstands now.
Related Posts:
• Green Obsession: Chicken Coops
• Urban Agriculture: Raising Chickens in New York City
• Green Obsession: Chicken Gallery
• Green Obsession (Still!): Chicken Coops by Urban Hens
• Reclaimed Cedar Chicken Coops by Modern Coop
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I so very much want chickens. Unfortunately our neigborhood is home to a few coyotes, and even if it wasn't Mr. Catbird would veto. And the homeowners association would probably have something to say about it too.
view MrsCatbird's profile
I WISH I could have a chicken or two like my Grandma did - county zoning does not allow it where I live :(
view VeryDelishVeg's profile
I'm a vegetarian with a fear of birds and an apartment environment so I don't see chickens in my life any time soon. Maybe one day when I have the space and eat more eggs. But bee keeping is something I would LOVE to do. I like bees a lot.
view graciela's profile
my friends had chickens for a little over a year. they kept them in their backyard, a quarter of the yard being the coop. as i remember, in san francisco, the chicken laws are fairly strict. you need a 50ft radius around the chickens. this wasn't a problem until a spiteful neighbor moved into the area and reported the chickens and their 25ft radius.
i've always wondered if the same rules apply to quails.
view bittenbyamouse's profile
My parents have chickens and I love them! They are such sweet girls and they lay the yummiest eggs ever. They may or may not have more birds than county ordinances allow, but they're keeping the operation pretty quiet. It's working out very well so far. And I get free eggs, so that's a nice deal!
Where I live, the law allows up to two chickens, but I am in an apartment so I don't really have a place for them. I'd love to have a couple chickens when I have a house of my own.
view shabadeux's profile