A review by melissarochelle
Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them by Tove Danovich

informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

This book has been on my TBR list for several months, but I realized this week after reading What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World's Most Familiar Bird and seeing it in Montgomery's references that I could borrow the audiobook/ebook combo from the library. It just hadn't occurred to me before.

The delay was good as I was also a little burnt out on chicken-reading after my deep dive when we first got our girls in February 2023 (this book was published in April 2023). In those first few months with our girls, I read:
--How to Speak Chicken: Why Your Chickens Do What They Do & Say What They Say,
--Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization,
--The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket,
--The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World, and
--The Chicken Chronicles: Sitting with the Angels Who Have Returned with My Memories: Glorious, Rufus, Gertrude Stein, Splendor, Hortensia, Agnes of God, The Gladyses, & Babe

(plus books I didn't document in a reading tracker like:

--Epic Eggs: The Poultry Enthusiast's Complete and Essential Guide to the Most Perfect Food and
--multiple by Gail Damerow).


It began a further exploration into nature-focused books which eventually led to my current interest in birds -- not just the domesticated ones in my backyard.

Under the Henfluence is an excellent addition for anyone wanting to learn more about chickens or a lover of nature-themed memoirs. It is a mix of information on the history of chicken-tending, ethical explorations on domestication and industrial farming, and memoir of the author's experiences raising her own ladies -- which is very much a life experience I can relate to as you can see from the reading journey I took.

It is interesting to me that both Sy Montgomery and Tove Danovich no longer have chickens, Montgomery due to predators and Danovich due to divorce (her chickens now live at a bed and breakfast). It seems to confirm a point Danovich raises in the book -- people don't view chickens as permanent members of their household. They are not like dogs where "custody" is split, but pets that are easier to leave behind or move to a new location. A species one can have or not have; a hobby picked up and dropped. (I am not questioning either author's love of their chickens, but it is an interesting fact about both authors.)

We have had to re-home a rooster, say goodbye to a sick chicken, and had 5 die unexpectedly -- Rhea Chickley, Lady Kluck, Amber, Ruby, and a member of our quadruplets collectively called Lavender Haze. My girls are definitely a therapeutic outlet who helped me dig my way out of a dark and anxious place. Two of my girls are constant companions when I'm outside, sitting with me when I read (Henrietta and Opal <3), and half of them squat for me when I visit with them on breaks throughout the day. I'm still not of a mind to take a chicken to a vet or pay for a chicken autopsy, but I was raised on a hobby farm where animals were animals --not pets -- so the attention I give to my chickens is seen as bizarre by most of my family (several family members work at a chicken processing plant in my home town). We even attempted culling, a task my husband took on and one we are unlikely to do again. I do still eat chicken, but beyond the two well-loved hens in my freezer (Peck and Mother Clucker), we will not eat our hand-raised chickens in the future. My older girls lay fewer eggs than they did during their first year, but we still have plenty of eggs for our family of 3 with enough to share with others.

We even have a nearby neighborhood with feral chickens roaming around (and one with peacocks - both in Glendale). I definitely related to this book.