We share this article so that we all better understand backyard chicken market challenges, especially those in Silicon Valley. Peter Holley references birds in diapers, deluxe coops outfitted with solar panels, automated doors and electrical lighting, as well as video cameras that allow owners to check on their beloved birds remotely.
Source: The Washington Post, March 2, 2018.
Holley writes that in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the nation’s preeminent local food movement overlaps with the nation’s tech elite, egg-laying chickens are now a trendy, eco-conscious humblebrag on par with driving a Tesla. Silicon Valley chickens are often considered “members of the family,” explained Moira Hanes, noting that she refuses to eat baked chicken from Whole Foods in front of her three birds.
INSIGHTS: First, remember that the CDC has recently warned chicken owners about hugging and kissing their birds. Second, the proliferation of rare breeds may be a positive outcome of the elite bird market. Third, remember that carrying anthropomorphism too far is dangerous to us all.