They buy diapers for chickens and hire cooks 🐔

They have become elite pets, Americans are crazy about them.

Diapers, dresses and chicken saddles are becoming a new trend among Americans, note journalists from The Outline . The publication interviewed more than a dozen manufacturers and found out who makes and buys accessories for birds.

founder At first, Pampered Poultry Julia Baker sold chicken diapers to her poultry farming friends, but soon she began to receive orders from other breeders. She opened an online store and, together with her daughter, launched a full-fledged production. She now sells between 500 and 1,000 diapers a month for $18 each.

Companies like My Pet Chicken have sprung up , offering chicken accessories like houses, special swings, and hand-made "super-flexible," easy-to-wash diapers for $30. There are also premium products that provide “maximum comfort” to birds, such as FlockSuits ’s FeatherWear for $38. The manufacturer describes them as "a mix of Levi Strauss and Calvin Klein brands."

But if diapers keep the house clean (hens defecate about 12 times a day), then decorative saddles, nightgowns and dresses are needed mainly to please the owner, who can take a beautiful picture for Instagram. Chicken Armor has sold 50,000 decorative chicken saddles since 2011, and demand continues to grow.

Over the past ten years, chicken breeding has become an elite hobby. According to The Washington Post , the birds are being hired by individual chefs and are building "smart chicken coops" with motion sensors and temperature, ventilation and light controls. Chickens are increasingly kept at home and taken for walks - hence the increased demand for accessories. Manufacturers of all these products say that even residents of ordinary city apartments are starting to start chickens.

“You used to dress your Chihuahua in a dress. Now people dress up their chickens,” says Julia Baker.

Accounts with dressed up birds are really popular on Instagram - The Drinking with Chickens blog already has 44,000 subscribers. In it, chickens pose in ponchos and floral wreaths. According to Baker, such photos help to earn more likes on Facebook and Instagram: "[On Independence Day] it's fun to dress them up in patriotic outfits and take a picture at a picnic."

Retold by Maxim Ivanov