UCP Episode 052 – Spying on Hens with Terry Golson of Hencam.com

Terry Golson of HenCam photo by Spencer Webb

What is really happening inside of your chicken coop? Who is the naughty feather pulling hen? Is there mischief occurring in your flock that you’re simply unaware of?

For the average chicken keeper, it is impossible to know the answers to these questions. Some secrets are simply unknowable in the lives of your flock. One chicken expert and enthusiast has challenged that limitation and the private lives of her hens have been exposed for the entire world to watch. Through an intricate surveillance camera system rigged up in her chicken coop, Terry Golson of Hencam.com is providing unlimited and unfettered access for any would-be chicken voyeurs to watch her birds as they unwittingly carry on their daily routines.

But what gives a backyard chicken keeper the idea of turning her coop into a real life rendering of the “Truman Show” where the members of her flock have their lives streaming on-line all day for the viewing entertainment of the audience?

The short answer is: a husband (described by Terry lovingly, as sort of a “geek”) who has the technical know-how and resources to undertake such a chicken spying endeavor. Though others might like to similarly keep an eye on their flock, the system Hencam uses for its website is beyond the reach of the average chicken-keeper. The Hencam video system is top-grade surveillance gear, which happens to require its own dedicated server to share the feed to its on-line viewers.

When I first stumbled across hencam.com, I found it surprisingly easy to pass several minutes secretly monitor the goings-on of Terry’s flock. Surreptitiously watching these birds though this elaborate on-line streaming camera system, amusingly put me in mind of 7th grade and the one-hit-wonder Rockwell, who’s single #1 Billboard music chart topper seemed suddenly apropos.

Rockwell’s “I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me” (Pure ’80s Gold here):

All joking aside, Hencam’s streaming chicken video has tangibly served many, many viewers. Though Terry has not done a formal survey of her sizable audience (hencam.com gets over 90,000 individual visits per month), she is strongly under the impression that much of her following is compromised of individuals without chickens of their own. Terry has received messages from her viewers detailing why they watch her hens. Some have written that they used to own a farm with chickens but have since moved into a retirement home and miss owning chickens. Some have emailed Terry that they are slogging through miserable jobs in windowless, cubicle wastelands and the stream of her backyard chickens on their office computers makes their workplace a little more pleasant. One woman in particular messaged Terry explaining that she was an active duty soldier with only a few months left on her tour in the Middle East. She was counting down the days until she would return to the U.S., retire from the Army and settle onto her own piece of property with hens. Hencam helped this soldier keep her mind on the better days to come filled with backyard chickens.

There is so much more to Hencam than just the streaming chicken surveillance video. Terry also blogs on the website, providing thoughtful chicken advice for backyard hobbyist. I have turned to Terry’s website for reliable information on more than one occasion when researching a chicken issue.

Terry brings a rich and varied background to her website and audience. Born a city girl in New Jersey it was Terry’s innate love for and interest in animals that took her away from her home to study animal science in college. Her first career after graduation was working with horses. She eventually left horse training to pursue another passion, cooking. After working as a chef for a few years, Terry turned to food writing and published a few well-written cookbooks.

Inspired by her own backyard flock and the versatility and nutrition found in eggs, Terry wrote a cookbook purely dedicated eggs in 2006. Earlier this year a revised and expand version of her egg cookbook, now called “The Farmstead Egg Guide & Cookbook” was published again.

Terry also authored a children’s chicken book titled, “Tilly Lays an Egg” in 2009. This beautiful book for young readers is comprised of elaborate photos featuring Tilly the hen in marvelously detailed scenes featuring countless items of chicken memorabilia. The volume is loosely patterned after the traditional “i-spy” children’s literature. It is this book that landed Terry as a guest on the Martha Stewart show with the star of the book, Tilly the hen, a bantam white Leghorn.

Terry admits that she also spies on her own bir...