About this item
Highlights
- An immersive blend of chicken-keeping memoir and culture reporting by a journalist who accidentally became obsessed with her flock.Since first domesticating the chicken thousands of years ago, humans have become exceptionally adept at raising them for food.
- About the Author: Tove Danovich is a freelance journalist who has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Ringer, Backyard Poultry Magazine, and many others.
- 232 Pages
- Nature, Animals
Description
About the Book
"When journalist Tove Danovich arrived at the post office to pick up her first flock of chicks, she didn't expect the birds inside that cardboard box to change her life. But within months, the chicks went from hiding under the heat plate of the bathroom brooder to singing egg songs in her backyard coop and enchanting thousands of followers online. They also made her wonder -- what was a good life for a chicken anyway? From a hatchery in Iowa to a chicken training camp in Washington, Danovich went in search of the people breeding, training, healing, and advocating for chickens. With more than 26 billion chickens living on industrial farms around the world, they're easy to dismiss as just another dinner ingredient. Yet Danovich's reporting reveals the hidden cleverness and irresistible personalities of these birds, casting light on the creatures we've ignored throughout the explosive growth of industrial agriculture. Woven with delightful and sometimes heartbreaking anecdotes from Danovich's own henhouse, Under the Henfluence proves that chickens are so much more than what they bring to the table."--Book Synopsis
An immersive blend of chicken-keeping memoir and culture reporting by a journalist who accidentally became obsessed with her flock.
Since first domesticating the chicken thousands of years ago, humans have become exceptionally adept at raising them for food. Yet most people rarely interact with chickens or know much about them. In Under the Henfluence, culture reporter Tove Danovich explores the lives of these quirky, mysterious birds who stole her heart the moment her first box of chicks arrived at the post office.
From a hatchery in Iowa to a chicken show in Ohio to a rooster rescue in Minnesota, Danovich interviews the people breeding, training, healing, and, most importantly, adoring chickens. With more than 26 billion chickens living on industrial farms around the world, they're easy to dismiss as just another dinner ingredient. Yet Danovich's reporting reveals the hidden cleverness, quiet sweetness, and irresistible personalities of these birds, as well as the complex human-chicken relationship that has evolved over centuries. This glimpse into the lives of backyard chickens doesn't just help us to understand chickens better--it also casts light back on ourselves and what we've ignored throughout the explosive growth of industrial agriculture. Woven with delightful and sometimes heartbreaking anecdotes from Danovich's own henhouse, Under the Henfluence proves that chickens are so much more than what they bring to the table.
Review Quotes
Praise for Tove Danovich's UNDER THE HENFLUENCE:
"A heartfelt account of raising pet hens. . . Anyone who's mulled the possibility of setting up a backyard coop will find this the next best thing." --Publishers Weekly
"Not intended to be a how-to for amateur poultry breeders, Danovich's work does offer broad and compelling insight into how raising chickens transforms and enriches human lives." --Booklist
"Under the Henfluence clocks our obsession with chicken-keeping. Highbrow / Brilliant." --New York Magazine
"Share[s] the life-enhancing joys of the humble hen." --The Sunday Times
"A realistic and immersive look into our relationship with those beings in our care. . . Under the Henfluence makes it impossible for the reader not to think of--and possibly love--the idea of chickens in a new way." --Mira Ptacin, Modern Farmer
"I enjoyed every single page." --Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., Psychology Today
"A call to arms, but in an entertainingly written, well-paced way. It certainly makes you think." --Kate Green, Country Life
About the Author
Tove Danovich is a freelance journalist who has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Ringer, Backyard Poultry Magazine, and many others. She is a former Midwesterner, turned New Yorker, who now lives in Portland, Oregon. She keeps eight chickens in her suburban yard and hopes to add more. Their Instagram @BestLittleHenhouse is more popular than hers. You can find her on Twitter @TKDano.