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It might sound strange, but Julie Baker, a mother of a New Hampshire family, has a monthly income of US$18,000 … selling chicken diapers.

Baker never saw a business in the sale of diapers. It did not even seem like an idea that remotely interested her, but all of that seemed to change when her daughter adopted a pet chicken and decided to let it stay in the house like a cat or a dog. However, there was only one drawback: the complete ineptitude of the chicken to learn where he should do his business, which turned the house into a corral.

All photos: Courtesy of Pampered Poultry

As a result, Baker began to surf the web, and found a video by an anonymous source, in which a chicken appeared dressed in an apron. As soon as Baker saw the apron, she found the solution to her problem and began to make diapers for her daughter’s chicken. This process, which was originally the topic of a school assignment, quickly became known on the Internet. Shortly, after that, the unexpected happened; a huge amount of requests from people who, like their daughter, were suffering the consequences of having a pet chicken, came flooding in.

Chicken with diapers

Because of this, their company, Pampered Poultry, now sells diapers at US$18 apiece, with orders reaching 1,000 units a month. Of course, since the diapers are not only utilitarian, but also decorative, they are carefully designed in different styles ranging from monochromatic to colorful. Sort of as if H & M had opened their very own unique section for birds.

However, the phenomenon of chicken diapers contains an even stranger and fancier phenomenon. In the most affluent cities in the United States (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco), having a pet chicken has become a symbol of economic and social status.

Chicken with diapers

Traci Torres, a Connecticut businesswoman who has replicated the business with her company My Pet Chicken, is one of several business owners in the bird diaper industry. “There is a lot of competition,” Torres said to The Outline, and not just in diapers, as the business has spread to other avenues, including the creation of similar products for roosters.

As a result, this bird-friendly extravagance has also gained traction via Social Media.

Instagram accounts such as drinkingwithchickens or sammichicken display these fabulous birds wearing beautiful diapers, and other accessories, where the amount of Likes a picture gets dictates how high you are on the Social Scale.

Things have definitely changed over the years. What was once thought of as a meal option from KFC is now a prominent Social Status Symbol. ■