The Chicken for the Egg: Australian Motivations for Raising Backyard Chickens

Abstract

A recent resurgence in keeping backyard chickens has been attributed to increasing awareness of and nostalgia for the “natural” and consumers’ desire to know more about where their food comes from, alongside food shortages experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, limited empirical research has explored why people are motivated to keep chickens in their backyard. This paper analyses qualitative interviews undertaken in Australia to explore what motivated people to keep backyard chickens and their experiences. Thematic analysis of interviews involving 44 participants showed that backyard chickens had considerable utility value by providing eggs for food (but interestingly not meat), recycling food scraps, and educating children about where food comes from and how to care for animals. Participants also described chickens as having pet-like characteristics, with many articulating considerable details about the personalities of their birds and how they provide companionship. However, chickens are not afforded the same privileges as other domestic pets such as cats and dogs: for instance, participants stated that they would not seek veterinary advice should their chickens have symptoms of illness, nor do they allow them to come inside the home. We argue that chickens assume a liminal place on the human–animal relations spectrum, where they occupy a position that is simultaneously in both the affect and the utility categories. With the continued growth in backyard chickens, which are associated with concerns about the food supply due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related issues, together with increasing concerns about biosecurity, developing a more robust account of the complex roles they play and the relationships we have with them are critical for our understandings of ethical and related food choices in urban settings and the efficacy of possible policy interventions related to food supply.