Into the Woods

The Washington Post has a funny story this morning about how keeping chickens is now a status symbol in Silicon Valley. The status of having well-kept chickens, the story says, is “on par with driving a Tesla.” The story is “The Silicon Valley elite’s latest status symbol: Chickens.”

Spending $20,000 on a chicken coop is a bit extreme. Nor does one have to pay hundreds, or thousands, of dollars for fancy-bred hens. Ordinary chickens from a good farm supply store will be just fine. Still, despite the excess, I’m all for it. I’m all for anything that gives chickens better lives and raises awareness of how important chickens are to us — not to mention what sweet, highly conscious creatures they are.

Meanwhile, for some very sad reading, the Intercept has this: “Consumers Are Revolting Against Animal Cruelty — So the Poultry Industry Is Lobbying for Laws to Force Stores to Sell Their Eggs.”

The way chickens are treated by the chicken and egg industry is almost unimaginable in its cruelty. The whole point of it is to make eggs and chicken meat cheap, with no regard for the chickens.

I believe that everyone with a conscience should have a rule: Don’t eat chickens raised by the cheap-chicken industry, and don’t buy eggs from the cheap-eggs industry. Why not find a source that gives the chickens decent lives. Yes, it will cost more. But the reallocation of consumers’ egg dollars will force the industry to change. Every egg laid by a happy chicken is one less egg that has to be laid by a miserable chicken.

And for those whose living situation allows keeping chickens, do it! Keep as many hens as is practical, and sell or give away your egg surplus.