Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief, is a backyard chicken enthusiast. Her article about her poultry-keeping passion, “The It Bird”, appears in this week’s New Yorker. “Chickens seem to be a perfect convergence of the economic, environmental, gastronomic, and emotional matters of the moment,” Orlean writes, “plus, in the past few years, they have undergone an image rehabilitation so astonishing that it should be studied by marketing consultants.” Orlean credits Martha Stewart, who featured pictures of her rare-breed chickens in her 1982 book Entertaining and subsequently in her magazine, for helping to take chicken keeping from a “lowly profession” to the it-thing that’s made Orlean “the object of more pure envy than I have ever experienced in my life.”
You can check out an abstract of Susan Orlean’s article here. (You have to pay to see the entire article on The New Yorker‘s website. But inquire with your local library. They may subscribe to a database that allows you to read magazine articles online for free with a library card.)
National Public Radio’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook also featured backyard chickens today. Susan Orlean was a guest, as was Elaine Belanger , editor of Backyard Poultry. You can listen to the show here.
Great article and radio-cast! I’ve always lived in a rural area and had fowl; not necessarily for eggs or meat, more so strictly ornamental fowl. I like the idea of people in urban areas being able to keep fowl. One thing I find strange is that most towns/cities don’t allow roosters. I wouldn’t think they would be any more annoying than a neighbor’s dog that barks at all hours, the early morning garbage truck, or emergency sirens.
Thanks for your comment! I’ve never actually lived in proximity of a rooster, so I can’t really say whether I’d like one as a next-door neighbor or not.
My barn is about 60-70 Ft from the house and I can’t hear my roosters as long as the house windows aren’t open. I even have Denizli and Tomaru. So to not be able to hear them in the house is really saying something.