According to the main stream media(link at the bottom) there is a new status symbol in America and you're not going to believe what the super rich want in their lives to show off to the rest of the country.
IT'S THE CHICKEN!
That's right, the Washington Post(link at the bottom) came out with an article recently that the Silicon Valley's wealthiest residents are obsessed with having chickens and lots of them. Many are spending thousands on their flocks with expensive coops fashioned from name brand designers outfitted with the latest gadgetry. 
After all, their owners are tech giants who work in Silicon Valley and they want nothing but the best for their flocks! These coops are outfitted with solar panels, motion sensor doors, recessed lighting, web cameras, thermostats and climate control and all of it's built with top rated housing materials that any home builder would use in construction. No cheap home depot OSB construction for these birds.
The chicken has always been the mainstay of the American homestead with its uses for simple families being primarily the egg and meat production. A homestead hatches out the eggs, hatches what they can and keeps a couple males for sires. The hens are kept for eggs and the roosters are butchered for meat.
There is a longing in the American spirit that harkens back to the days of the founding and settling of this country. People were never meant to spend all their days in a florescent lit cubicle, staring at a computer screen all day and then spend an hour in a metal box driving home. But the money is GOOD! So they will try and bring that nature to the concrete environment they have created.
So now in the Bay area of the west coast, the trend of raising chickens and having fresh eggs is what separates the haves and the have-nots.
These new tech titan chicken owners who work at some of the largest leading tech firms in Sillicon Valley are spending big bucks on their birds. Some of them even let their hens walk around their houses with diapers on. They give them weekly baths and blow drys. And don't even think about cracked corns or kitchen scraps for these elite of the gallus domesticus (latin word for chicken). These fowl are dining on roasted Salmon, Watermelon and Steak! Only the best of the best for these urban California yard birds.
Some of the Silicon Valley residents are paying upwards of $300 for each chicken specialty breed. They are chosen based on their disposition of being calm and good pets. For some its about egg production. For others, its about the entertainment of owning these as pets. Experts in the article claim that under these pampered conditions, they can live over a decade.
I think at some point, these chicken owners will tire of this new popular status symbol and like all other symbols of the rich, get tossed aside at some point. You see, they will realize that chickens only produce well for so long. Are they going to keep chickens pampered and diapered for a decade even they are no longer laying eggs? Doubtful. The article mentions that instead of bringing wine to a dinner party for a host gift, party goers are bringing eggs laid by their chickens.
Farmers have long learned that chickens get rotated out every so often to keep the flock fresh and laying. The old hens are tough and the only way they are edible is to be pressure cooked. Meat eaters, most of these Bay area residents are not. Again, this is a status symbol as the article states. There are some harsh life and death realities that come with keeping a flock productive.
Lets Be Real
Ah, but why focus on reality here? Why so serious? After all this is California we are talking about which detached from reality long ago.
Listen, I totally get wanting to get back to nature and see life how it really should be. It's one of the reasons we left the city. But trying to bring that life to the city is going to be an act of futility for most. My advice to these tech titans is to pull up stakes, let someone else code and program the driverless google car and get your family back to the creation of the Creator and live in it.
Around the world you have roughly 19 billion chickens that exist as a food source for the people who keep them. These in the homes of the Silicon Valley elite however, live unlike the others I'm sure. Only in America can you see an animal as dirty and disgusting at the chicken live like the finest of royalty. Today people talk about the privileged cats of Egypt. 3000 years from now, they may talk about the privileged chickens of San Francisco.
WHAT CHICKENS DO WE RAISE ON THE HOMESTEAD?
THE WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/03/02/feature/the-silicon-valley-elites-latest-status-symbol-chickens
ENJOY THE VIDEO!
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I just want a regular old chicken coop with some plain chickens.
Not for any status mind you, I just want eggs!
Have you seen how expensive they are becoming at the store?
Yeah, it's crazy!
LOL Capitalization at its finest! No regular coop for you lovely ladies!
They have so much money, they have no idea what to do with it. Not to mention, I’m sure they have someone hired to take care of the chickens for them.
No doubt!
No doubt!
I saw that! Odd, but in a way fitting.
Not quite. In Hispanic culture, it's not abnormal to raise chickens in the backyards. SoCal has been Hispanicized to the point where it's been nicknamed "Mexifornia." I bet those moguls got the idea from barrio dwellers who have more modest chicken pens.
No big deal. We raise chickens in our yards. But I wouldn't let them in the HOUSE! :) LOL
Oh my goodness! I don't know if I should laugh or roll my eyes! This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!
You don't get out much do you? There is a whole world of crazy out there!
I like staying on our little homestead and away from all the crazy! ;)
Love that you can eat fresh like that. Never mind the elite of California, you do what you gotta do. Hey where did you get that link for SOLA, love it, and want one too. I am trying to inspire a migration from our homesteading community to SOLA, for more support. Thanks my friend
If my chickens get wind of this, they're likely to report me to the local animal welfare people.
Deliberate or not, it seems rather contemptuous toward the average American. These chickens are living in far better conditions than the majority of the human population, even experiencing luxuries that most people could only dream of—personal chefs?! But, as you said, these “fowl” elite are detached from reality. Many can't comprehend the idea of helping out your fellow man. Why waste your money on that when there are far more entertaining alternatives?
And at the same time, SF has one of the now largest homeless populations that money could be assisting.
@mericanhomestead TRUTH! Our country is so backwards in their priorities!
Just goes to show that money can't buy common sense, lol.
Aint that the truth!
Unbelievable...diapers? Blow drying feather? That's torture for those poor chickens. I guess the coops and chickens have to look great in their wealthy digs! Great article
I wonder if they've thought to plumb the coop in for sewage because ya know ...all that nice stuff is great but chickens still poop and make a mess (unless they have special upper class chickens that are toilet trained).
Thanks for sharing. :) This amused me to no end. I am sure the novelty will fade very quickly. There's a lot more to chickens that fancy accommodations.
Next thing you know they'll push for laws against killing chicken's for meat.
You're probably right! They'll add a wing to their animal shelter just for chickens. Forget feeding the homeless, let's feed chickens who stop laying. eye roll
If the Orpington's are broody why are you buying chicks?
We don't anymore. We hatch our own now. It's been great!
Thanks Zac or Tim. As far as the status symbol goes, stupid is as stupid does.
I'm dying to build one of those super smart chicken coops. I love using solar power and technology on the farm. It's the only outlet I have left to get my geek on.
Maybe we should be getting ready for some great yard sales. Leave it to California they will figure a way screw anything up.
Well, that sure is interesting!
Are you kidding me? Realy? Only in California! I enjoyed the video. You've given me some good tips to follow with my chicks.
Nothing new under the sun! This reminds me of the chicken fever of the mid 19th century, when "exotic" chickens were also a status symbol. Funnily enough, one of the reasons the Buff Orpington was bred was because practical folks were sick of the fancy birds and just wanted a utility chicken that did what chickens do.
While I want to roll my eyes and scoff at the silly elite with their silly money-wasting ways, I see this a somewhat sad. Maybe making a chicken palace in your backyard is a soul-impoverished attempt to still be connected to the land and to care for it, like we were created to be. Too bad that a lifestyle of living the high life have so obscured that need that it can't see up from down.