In conversation with – Coffee with the Chicken Ladies

If you’re a pet chicken owner (which we assume most of our readers are!) and you haven’t listened to Coffee with the Chicken Ladies, we suggest you stick on the kettle, dig out your headphones and have a listen (after finishing this magazine of course!).

The weekly podcast is hosted by Chrisie DiCarlo and Holly Callahan-Kasmala and features all the chicken chat you’d expect, plus regular interviews with expert guests.

We caught up with them to find out more about what makes them tick.

Hello ladies! Firstly, kudos on such an incredibly popular podcast – how did the idea come about? Was it over coffee by any chance?

Thank you so much! Actually, we did come up with the idea over coffee. We've been best friends for 40 years, we grew up together, and have kept our friendship going over many cups of coffee. We knew that we wanted to do a project together, and we both loved animals and kept chickens. It seemed like coffee and chickens were a natural fit.

What was your aim when you started?

Our initial aim was to inform and educate - to create the podcast that we would have wanted to hear. We’d spent years caring for our chickens and learning all about their personalities, care, social needs, health concerns etc. We knew there were people like us out there who would love to be part of a kind, honest, helpful community.

Did you ever imagine it would become so popular?

Well, we hoped so. We are so grateful to our listeners, our sponsors and our supporters around the world. It means everything to us!

What’s been a particular highlight since you started recording it?

The people (and chickens) that we've met along the way, and the friendships that we've built over hen-keeping have been extraordinary. Plus, we're thankful every day to be working together and sharing these experiences with each other. We also love hearing from our listeners. If we manage to change the life of just one chicken and one chicken-keeper for the better, then we've done our jobs.

What do you think of the work of the British Hen Welfare Trust, rehoming up to 50,000 hens destined for slaughter each year? Brilliant and so inspiring!! We adore Jane and all the staff and volunteers of the Trust. To make a difference in the life of an animal is so special. And, so often, those hens bring so much love to the lives of their adopters. We can't wait to celebrate when you have rehomed the millionth hen.

Finally, we can’t let you go without asking – what’s your favourite way to eat eggs?!

We both love basic hard-boiled eggs, but we each have our favourite recipes too.

Chrisie -In an omelette with lots of veggies and cheese!

Holly -Baked in a custard, like quiche or clafoutis.