Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them

by Tove Danovich

An immersive blend of chicken-keeping memoir and animal welfare reporting by a journalist who accidentally became obsessed with her flock.

Since first domesticating the chicken thousands of years ago, humans have become exceptionally adept at raising them for food. Yet most people rarely interact with chickens or know much about them. In Under the Henfluence, culture reporter Tove Danovich explores the lives of these quirky, mysterious birds who stole her heart the moment her first box of chicks arrived at the post office.

From a hatchery in Iowa to a chicken show in Ohio to a rooster rescue in Minnesota, Danovich interviews the people breeding, training, healing, and, most importantly, adoring chickens. With more than 60 billion chickens killed every year on industrial farms around the world, they’re easy to dismiss as just another dinner ingredient. Yet Danovich’s reporting reveals the hidden cleverness, quiet sweetness, and irresistible personalities of these birds, as well as the complex human-chicken relationship that has evolved over centuries. This glimpse into the lives of backyard chickens doesn’t just help us to understand chickens better—it also casts light back on ourselves and what 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Nature, Memoir, Audiobook, Birds, Food

232 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2023

About the author

Tove Danovich is the author of Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them.

Her work appears in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Orion, The Atlantic, Vox, and many others. Her articles have been selected for Year’s Best Sports Writing and Best Food Writing and been notable selections in Best American Food Writing and Best American Travel Writing. She has been interviewed about her work by 99% Invisible, Ologies, Marketplace, KERA Think, and others.

She lives in Portland, Oregon and works as a freelance journalist.

Reviews

[Tove Danovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this book and have read it at least nine times and am still somehow not sick of talking about chickens. I hope you will read it once (twice?) so we can talk about chickens together.

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me reading this was not good news for my husband because now I want chickens 🤣

[Anika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Under the Henfluence is a lot like hanging out with your most enthusiastic and knowledgeable chicken-loving friend. You're sure to be entertained and to learn something--even if, like me, you're the crazy chicken person in your own social circle--as Danovich takes you beyond her backyard to a hatchery in Iowa, a national poultry show in Ohio, and even to the island of Kauai, where the ubiquity and beauty of wild chickens reignited my own childlike love for the animals. With passionate reporting in every chapter, and compassion on every page, this book will make you appreciate how long-lived and deeply entrenched the human-chicken relationship is and compel you to consider what our responsibility is to these delightful and often misunderstood birds.

[JoNel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A d**m raccoon(s) emptied my chicken coop earlier this spring and I had decided I wasn't going to get anymore chicks... Then I read this book and was reminded of all the reasons I love keeping chickens. Soooooo, I'm tightening coop security and perusing the hatchery catalogs. Can't wait to have the bathtub full of day old chicks!

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book mostly while hanging out with my chickens. Parts of it made me cry, not gonna lie. It was a really good balance of information, fun stories, and entreaties to learn more about and have more respect for these animals who we’ve changed so much and yet denigrate so harshly.

[Kristin Hirsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dangerous book bc now i want chickens

[Grace (alatteofliterature) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of this book starts with a nostalgic look at small backyard flocks and rural American women making “egg money,” then takes a tour an Iowa hatchery (I’ve been there!) and an OH poultry show before making a somewhat calculated dive off the ledge into why we shouldn’t eat chicken anymore.

TL;DR: birds are friends, not food

To say that modern chicken production is woefully different from my great-grandmother’s flock is an understatement, but the irony does not escape me that Grandma Marion made fried chicken too.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Entertaining, informative, sometimes hard to read when it comes to the conditions a lot of animals live in to produce the excess food in our grocery stores.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's love for her backyard chickens shines through with stones about her own chickens, how chickens fare at egg hatcheries and what it's like to show chickens, too.

[Kelly Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom, (Sharon Wild) is friends with the author’s dad and told me about this book that his daughter wrote. That connection, plus the fact that Tove loves chickens as much as, if not more than I do, had me hooked from the beginning. I found the book to be very educational and enjoyable. Much of the information about chickens I knew after doing my own research before getting my first flock almost a year ago. But, I learned so much more about chicken history and the big industry of chicken farming. I was enlightened, entertained and sadly sometimes overwhelmed while reading the book. My eyes have been opened and I’m grateful for that. The author’s writing style and narrative voice were both great! I highly recommend reading Danovich’s book. I hope there will be more.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who kept backyard chickens for several years, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a memoir about the author's own flock of chickens (including two rescue former battery hens named Thelma and Louise), but also a fascinating inquiry into how humans have affected the chicken. Chapters take the reader on visits to a commercial hatchery that sends day old chicks to backyard chicken hobbyists through the mail, a national chicken fanciers show, a chicken clicker-training class, and to a town where wild chickens roost in the trees. Though gentle and never scolding in tone, the author does not hesitate to point out the dark side of chicken ownership (e.g. many male chicks are killed because they are not desired or allowed as pets), and makes clear the poor conditions that egg laying and broiler hens are kept in, particularly in the US.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has chickens or is interested in backyard chickens, as well as those concerned about where their food comes from.

[Laura Birnbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very light, tongue-in-cheek animal book a la Mary Roach, thought you could probably spend this much time with any species and fall in love. This book was a Culture Study recommendation.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great listen to, especially if you want chickens or on the fence about chickens or even if you have chickens already. This is great insight into the chicken world and a great historical account of how chickens came to be in our world. I learned so much. Now, I'm searching for my own Thelma & Louise chickens.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The *best book about chickens that I’ve read this year



*only

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nonfiction. I love reading books like these, where the person writing is so interested in the topic that you can feel their enthusiasm through the pages. Since this book is about chickens, and I was already interested in the world of chickens, it was an easy decision to start to read. Danovich writes about chickens from many different angles, doing multiple on-site interviews with experts. She visits a hatchery that sends out chicks by mail, a national poultry show, an industrial chicken set-up, a chicken sanctuary, and a town in Georgia that has a population of wild chickens. She lovingly talks about starting her own flock and how her flock grows and changes over the years. Tough topics, like the fate of roosters at the hatchery, or the quality of life for chickens that never go outside, are addressed honestly without euphemism. Overall the book shows the state of chickens today and inspires curiosity and admiration for these birds.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first third was informative and energizing, and it had a good mix of personal narrative with inveatigative-type journalism. And then, that same format continued but without any sort of centralized point. We go from chick hatcheries to 4H clubs and urban hen-raising to chicken therapies to rescue chickens. I'm sure the piecemeal format works for some people, it just didn't quite work for me. (The author is a journalist, and it shows.)

Reading this book, I am enchanted enough by chickens, and am discouraged by their treatment. However, I don't think it will affect my choices going forward. I will still eat chicken, and though I will toy with having backyard chickens one day, I would be much more likely to keep bees.

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having found such incredible joy (and sometimes heartache) in my own backyard flock, this book was a wonderful journey inside the world of chicken owners and how these birds came to be such an important part of our lives. It also opened my eyes to how behind our country is in regards to legislation protecting chickens and how they are treated on a commercial scale. I hope I can be some small part of the movement to advocate for better treatment of these special little animals.

[Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the chicken book I’ve been looking for!!!

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heard about this book from my favorite podcast ologies when they interviewed the author! It did not disappoint.

Personal stories of the author’s own flock mix with educational information about wild chickens, commercial chicken farms, chicken shows, chicken rescuers and everything in between a lovely celebration and sad behind the scenes look at the lives of these lovely birds.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Tove Danovich's tone throughout this book. I became a chicken mom during quarantine and my coop has never been empty since. This book is so relatable and answers so many questions I didn't even know I had! Definitely going to be on my top 5 books of the year!

[Kaitlyn Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love chickens you will love this charming chicken book filled with chicken stories, information, and background. It’s delightful, just like my feathered friends!

[Martha☀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

How could I resist another book about chicken-keeping? I'm powerless!
Danovich and I would get along famously. I spend a lot of time telling others about my flock of 12 and trying to show them that chickens are truly pets. Some come when they're called, some like to play games with me, some hop on my lap for early morning snuggles and some come right over to tell me that they are sick or scared. Danovich has the same experiences with her flock and is spreading the word with her cute, touching and devastating tales of chicken-keeping.

Sandwiched in between all the stories, Danovich digs into the world of chickens - from visiting a hatchery to attending a chicken-fancier show, from tracing the history of industrialized egg and meat production to the perils of being an unwanted rooster in a hen's world.

Although the deep dives into these areas was comprehensive and informative, it felt too much like a textbook required reading. Frankly I was bored and wanted to get back to the cute stories again.
I suppose that this ⬆️ is exactly the problem with educating people about chickens. Most people don't want to be schooled in the dark side of industrial animal agriculture and just want to be surprised and entertained by the funny antics of this atypical pet as they ask for a second helping of wings.

This is a great read for anyone - whether you watch regular episodes of 'Chicken TV' from your porch or prefer your chicken with hot sauce and football.
Danovich doesn't lecture or try to persuade you to become vegan. She simply gives a window into the lives of the most populous animal on the planet.

[Melissa Rochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

We're getting our first flock of laying hens any day now, so I figured it would be a good time to read this book. Tove Danovich always wanted chickens, but living in New York City made that pretty difficult. But, when she and her husband moved to Portland, Oregon her chicken dreams could come true. She initially started with three chickens and almost immediately realized that was not enough. Because of her own chickens Danovich dives into all things chickens - from visiting the hatchery where she purchased her chicks to meeting chicken trainers and people professionally showing their chickens and everything in between. She also explores the dark side of chickens - mostly in the food industry, but also when it comes to roosters and dealing with them when people either don't want them or local ordinances don't allow them. This was a quick read and an interesting book, but I just didn't love it. She is VERY much a chicken person and spends a LOT of time with her chickens. I never really wanted chickens, but my husband wore me down over time. I love animals and I'm sure I'll enjoy our chickens, but they won't be pets for us - they are for eggs and if that goes well we might branch off into meat chickens too. While she didn't push it on the readers, Danovich quit eating chicken after getting hers and I'm not interested in doing that. I am interested in sourcing local, humanely raised meat/eggs/dairy which is why we're getting our own chickens to begin with. I think this book has a lot of good information, but is more geared towards people who want to keep chickens as pets with the bonus of getting eggs.

A quote I liked:

[I was impressed that Danovich sought out spent commercial laying/battery hens to keep as pets/let them live a natural rest of their lives] "I noticed that the flock I raised from chicks only made a purring noise when they were at their absolute peak happiness - a dust bath in the sun when the weather wasn't too hot or too cold - Thelma and Louise [the rescued battery hens] did it constantly. For them, every day was the best day they'd ever had." (p. 185-86)

[Jme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite read this year. We have an ever growing backyard flock (chicken math, right?) and I picked this book up on a whim from the library, and really enjoyed it.

I particularly appreciate the author’s robust research with primary sources and frequent citations. The chapters on clicker training, therapy chickens, and 4h clubs are why I’m purchasing a hard copy for our home library. (And maybe another copy for our guest room, as our chickens are a frequent topic of conversation with visitors at dinner).

The passages about commercial hatcheries, the egg and meat industry, and fate of unwanted roosters were heart breaking but I’m thankful for an in depth look at what conditions exist to make my life (and my flocks’) possible.

Overall - what a well written, thought provoking, & enjoyable read.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've recently purchased a ranch and have been researching animal husbandry before adding to our homestead. What luck finding this book! I've learned so much more than I'd expected; this is so much more than a backyard chicken book. The author masterfully weaves present-day backyard chicken life with poultry history, commercial practices, and activities beyond egg collection. Before reading this, I didn't know what I didn't know. I've acquired a copy of . I now feel so much more prepared to chart a course for my life with chickens. Thank you!

[Isabella Fray · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mom got me this book while I was in Scotland and she was at my house watching my 4 chickens. It was a really sweet read and I agreed with a lot of the author’s observations. I have always liked chickens, but had never gotten to spend any significant amount of time with them before getting my own chicks from a local farm. They are Welsummers which can be sexed at birth due to the “eyeliner” markings the females have at the corners of their eyes. I didn’t ask about the males but the farm did have a pretty decent number of roosters running around. I think I might try rescuing hens when my girls get a little older and I get handy enough to build a bigger coop myself.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It should be required reading for everyone who owns chickens but also for everyone who eats chicken and store bought eggs. I enjoyed the author’s stories about her chickens and the history of chickens, as well.
I have a small flock of chickens (11) which includes a rooster. This book points out what I have learned from my own chickens which is that they each have personalities and are intelligent.
I am inspired by the author’s decision to rescue two laying hens that were kept in small, battery cages. I will be researching whether there are any hen rescues near me that I could adopt from and/or support.

[Allosaurusrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Complaining about this book being anti-agriculture is in bad faith. The author approaches every person involved with the world of chickens with respect and grace, and allows for humanity for people she may disagree with, wether that be hatchery CEOs, poultry exhibitors, or sanctuaries and rescues. I personally don’t think I agree with everything she wrote, as I come from the poultry show world and slaughter my own chickens, but I am also not insulted by assumptions like I often see when people talk about animal rights and welfare. Really fantastic book, thank you! -Zander aka Vashon Seramas