Author(s): Tove Danovich

Nature

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.