The Silicon Valley elite’s latest status symbol: Chickens

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/03/02/feature/the-silicon-valley-elites-latest-status-symbol-chickens/?utm_term=.908fd56eb422

The Silicon Valley elite’s latest status symbol: Chickens

Their pampered birds wear diapers and have personal chefs — but lay the finest eggs tech money can buy

MMTB.

I doubt those eggs are that much better than the grocery store variety nutrition wise, they aren't doing things that much differently than the mass production model.

so what. At least they employ some people. Proabably my eggs are better. Maybe it leads to something they have more power and these new owners want roosters soon. So they will put pressure on the council that they can have roosters which in turn will allow other people in more urban areas have roosters. I know the whole article sounds crazy to a normal down-to-earth-found-on-the tip breeder.

opportunities for spreading the "permies" ideal can come from anywhere

here we have a bunch of "techies" realizing that something is missing and struggling using their skill set to find it

perhaps an enterprising young permie could see this as an opportunity to spread the word
and with the techies help blast permaculture everywhere

I think it definitely should be embraced as a first step. Maybe somewhere in the sub-1 level on the Wheaton Eco-scale. But a point of departure, at least.

I think anyone whose only reaction is derisive dismissal would do well to have a look at the People Care part of the Ethics. I don't really have to pull them out much, because I find I have something of an intuitive feel for them, like a warning from a little cricket in a tophat and tails that sings in a high, tinny tenor and pokes me with his cane in the eardrum.

What do we think the People Care part of Ethics would say about looking down in elitist derision at someone who is trying to do a little better, but not coming as far and as fast as we, in all our wisdom, think they should?

I think that the step to keeping a chicken as an egg-laying household pet is great. What do you figure are the odds that these new chicken keepers will discover that their new pet will eat scraps from their humans' table? What do you figure the odds are that their household compost or garbage contribution levels will decrease in volume and smell in short order?

And while I doubt we will see roosters in urban centres any time soon, what do you figure the odds are that this shift in social acceptability will have far-reaching consequences outside of Silicon Valley?

In terms of egg quality, I think that almost everything is subject to that old computer programming saying, "Garbage in, garbage out." I think that it would be very difficult to provide as complete a dietary and living regimen as a chicken could get living on a pasture designed specifically for chickens in a large chicken tractor, but in a condo environment, so of course, both the chicken health and the nutritional value of the eggs probably wouldn't be as good, but if these pets are being fed scraps from organic produce (which could be better, but is still better than purina), their health and the quality of their eggs will be better than cageless layers raised on commercial feed in an open barn structure, and far better than the caged factory-farmed birds.

-CK

I think the best part of the article was the comment from the lady who asked if people in Kansas get ridiculed about raising fainting goats as much as they're catching grief over their chickens.  

It strikes me that anyone doing Heritage birds within a reasonable drive from Silicon Valley has one heck of a revenue opportunity... $350 per bird?  Even if they're @ POL.  

My other thought is that the article talks about the couple who now takes a 6-pack of eggs instead of a nice bottle of wine to dinner parties because it's a status symbol... if that's the case, I'M ABSOLUTELY REGAL!!!  :lol

Geoff's Friday 5

Silicon Valley and “chickens 2.0”: Speaking of chickens, I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw comedian Ronny Chieng’s take on chicken coops (and bees!) in the world’s technology epicenter.  

Bryant RedHawk wrote:I doubt those eggs are that much better than the grocery store variety nutrition wise, they aren't doing things that much differently than the mass production model.

I certainly know that my backyard chicken eggs are night-and-day better tasting than store-bought eggs.  And my hunch is that the nutritional density is much much better than store bought eggs, as my birds are getting a big basket of greens daily, not to mention all the spoiled fruit that falls from the trees, whatever zuchini or cucumbers that happen to get to large . . . my girls eat well.  And you can taste it.

Having read the article, I wouldn't say that they lay the "finest eggs," though I guess that depends on one's defintion of "finest." Is something "finest" as in refined and expensive? Then, yes, they might just be the finest eggs.

Are they the healthiest eggs? Probably not. Though, from what I read in the article, the people do feed them scraps and good food and often have room for them to roam. For the small spaces that city dwellers usually have, I think these are probably well-cared for chickens. My neighbor has two chickens in a tiny coop/run, and just get conventional feed and they still look remarkably healthy. They do get to eat some bugs and mice. They seem far healtheir than factory chickens! The chickens in this article are definitely better off than many chickens who just live in their coops on chicken feed, and so they must be far and away better than store bought factory eggs.

I definitely think that there are more sustainable ways to raise chickens that don't include hooking up water and electricity to a coop and paying 2,000+ for a small coop. But, these are busy people, and they are finding ways to keep chickens and---more importantly-- teach their kids about chickens and nature and conservation. That's a HUGE step in the right direction.

If these chooks eat table scraps from their owners, they are probably eating the finest locally grown,organic, artisan, small batch scraps possible.
With the passion for data and quantification, they might have the eggs weighed, and tested for nutrients.
Hey, chicken keeping is a big tent, and frankly having rich folks into what you are into means lots of great hand me downs and more respect for the entire enterprise.