Learning to Love Backyard Chickens

For most of us, chickens are ubiquitous, mainly as sources of food. Yet we rarely know much about chickens beyond that, or even interact with them. Those that do quickly find themselves obsessed with these fowl creatures — like today’s guest, journalist Tove Danovich.

Inspired after adopting three chickens for her Portland, Oregon backyard, Danovich set out to report on the wide world of chicken-keeping, a journey that took her hatchery in Iowa, to a chicken show in Ohio, to a rooster rescue in Minnesota.

We speak with Danovich about her discoveries and the surprising ways that chickens changed her life, and the lives of millions of Americans. Danovich's new book is "Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People who Love Them."