Trend report: Get your own chicken

..chicken owners in Sweden are growing quickly, even in cities. 

  • Chickens, chickens everywhere!! How would you feel about having a handful of chickens running around your garden? It would mean work, of course, but also fresh eggs every morning. In Sweden, it may actually become the new trend, but it is not cheap.
  • How about owning a few chickens and having them go a-pecking in your neighbor’s garden? This may actually be the next trend in Sweden. "Chicken owners are growing in number—quickly. Many apply for permission to keep chickens in the city. Families with children want to be able to go into their own little chicken coop to retrieve eggs; they want their children see where food comes from,” says Jan-Olof Mathiasson, contact person at Svenska lanthönsklubben (the Swedish society of old native poultry). Mathiasson believes the increased interest in eco-friendly groceries is the reason.

  • ”It’s like with KRAV-labeled foods (organic foods are labeled KRAV), you want to know what it is you put into your mouth.” The demand has upped the prices though: If you want your very own chicken, you must be prepared to pay—a lot. ”We’re talking fantasy sums here, it’s never been like this in Sweden before,” says John-Åke Svensson, chairman of Svenska rasfjäderfäförbundet (a society for Swedish breeds of chickens). If you purchase chickens, you have to be able to care for the animal all year round. "There’s a risk it is an impulse purchase. People may buy chickens during the summer months and then, come winter, have nowhere to put them.” In Sweden if you want to keep a chicken you have to check with the municipality where you live first, and just as importantly, also ask your neighbor.

  • Read up on the alternatives before preparing for a chicken farm at the summer house: www.kackel.se (Svenska lanthönsklubben)