Pets with benefits?

How chickens can enhance mental wellbeing.

Today, over one million households in Britain are keeping chickens and around 1 in every 20 of these birds are in London. But, as readers of Chicken & Egg will know, these birds are not livestock: they are “pets with benefits.” As well as eggs, chicken-keeping has educational potential, enhances wellbeing, and strengthens connections with nature.

While people keeping chickens in their gardens have long known how these birds can enrich our lives, places like hospitals, prisons, and care homes are bringing the therapeutic magic of chickens to vulnerable groups in our society. A psychiatric ward in Dartford promoted their flock of chickens “as a therapeutic tool in care settings for people struggling from anxiety, depression, isolation and loneliness.” In 2019, the BBC reported from Rainbow Horses in Leicestershire who promoted the use of chickens to help autistic children in their education, with chickens helping to teach “trust and empathy” while children could “learn at their own pace.”

Having kept ex-commercial chickens before, I have first-hand experience of how enriching they can be. So, in 2022 while working at Cambridge University, I set out to undertake a research project which looked at how, exactly, flocks of ex-commercial chickens were becoming part of therapeutic work. That’s when I found a remarkable space in south-east London where a flock of BHWT rehomed chickens had been introduced into an already thriving community garden whose aims are to improve the mental and physical health of their members and to increase social inclusion in the community.

The garden is located up an inconspicuous alley on a residential street, just a stone’s throw from a local park. The gardens was established with the intention of growing food and flowers while supporting and expanding mental healthcare provision in the area. These kinds of “green social prescribing” have long been used in conjunction with other methods of treatment for both physical and mental health. What’s unique about this space, however, is the rowdy flock of birds determined to be part of the work of tending the garden.

As we dig in the soil and try to plant out seedlings into the weeded beds, eleven chickens peck at our feet, searching for worms – and desperate to eat the delicious plants as we sow. For months, during “flockdown,” our interactions had been limited but now, no-one can avoid these rowdy girls. As we shoo them away from our labour, laughter ripples across the garden: there is no doubt in my mind that simply through their presence, these birds are enhancing the wellbeing of this community.

What makes this flock of chickens so important is that they aren’t just enhancing individual wellbeing, they are helping to create a social community – especially through their misbehaving! In a post-pandemic period where people have been and continue to feel isolated, and are facing some tough times ahead, it is more important than ever to find ways to create community. Rehoming chickens allows us all that beauty, whilst also offering a new lease of life for hens. Over the coming years, I plan to continue working with these beautiful birds to fully understand how – and why – living with chickens is so beneficial to both human and bird lives.