Will the Chickens Come Home to Roost for The Washington Post?

I’m not especially taken aback by the fact that The Washington Post wasted a lot of time doing a story about the Vice Presidential chicken coop. 

Lifestyle stories are a staple in the media, and if People Magazine can do features on Democrat Party figures trying to turn Hollywood for Ugly People into something interesting for the people more inclined to read their magazine, I guess they might as well try. 

But I was, naively, a bit surprised that they did a full-blown investigative-style report on a coop, speculating on the political implications of the Vice Presidential family keeping chickens, the expense involved in doing so, the legal implications of raising chickens inside Washington, D.C., and consulting a they/them chicken expert who speculates on the political motives behind the embrace of chickens at the Naval Observatory. 

We even get discussion about the value of chickens as emotional support animals. 

https://t.co/EsYDJk0Kfu

— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) August 3, 2026

Needless to say, this was not a lifestyle piece to humanize the Vice President and his family; it was an investigation with more than a bit of speculation, tinged with digs at the “trad wife” lifestyle. 

Usha Vance, high-powered lawyer and trad wife. Uh, yeah. I get it. 

The Vances live at the Naval Observatory in Northwest Washington, directly across from the British Embassy. It is a lovely area, situated on 72 acres, and obviously is a secure enclave, well separated from the White House. As a residence, it is unsurprising that a couple with four children would want to make it family-friendly, so having a chicken coop built (it was donated by the company) makes a lot of sense if you are into that sort of thing. 

As I said, a story ripe for the “human interest”-types, of which I am definitely not one. 

But instead we get this. 

Vice President JD Vance and his family are raising chickens at their residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory. The family has a dozen hens pecking inside a custom-made coop on a 72-acre federal observatory — but many other details about their experiment in raising chickens are unknown.

The coop was designed to mirror the Queen Anne-style architecture of the vice president’s residence at Number One Observatory Circle. As such, the henhouse is not cheap: It cost between $100,000 and $120,000, according to the owner of the North Carolina company that built the structure. But U.S. taxpayers didn’t foot the bill. The coop was donated by the company.

The custom-built, Queen Anne-style chicken coop at the vice president’s official residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory. (Office of the Vice President)

So who exactly will be raising the hens? And why are the Vances taking on this project? For eggs? For educational purposes? For feathered pets? A spokesman for Vance did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment.

The Washington Post turned to former and current backyard chicken keepers to gather insights on what may be going on at Number One Observatory Circle. We also talked to the guy who built the pricey coop. We even checked with a city official to discuss whether the Vances are following the proper protocols to raise hens in Washington.

A deep dive! Investigative reporting! Is money being wasted? Are the Vances breaking the law? Is Usha Vance sending a political message to the MAGA-types? 

When Usha got pregnant, the deep political motives behind her pregnancy were endlessly discussed as well. What secret message was being sent by her swelling belly? 

For God’s sake. If she were a Democrat, it would be a Kennedyesque moment. But J.D. Vance is a Republican, so there must be political motives involved. 

The addition has led to speculation that there may be political motivations behind the flock’s appearance. It’s a theory that resonates with Danny Bowers, who keeps 19 chickens on a suburban property in Utah County, Utah. Bowers, who uses they/them pronouns, points out that some conservatives have embraced the values espoused by “trad wife” influencers, many of whom raise chickens.

They/them. Heh. 

Of course, almost nobody in the world even knew that there was a chicken coop on the Naval Observatory grounds until The Washington Post wrote about it, and I pretty much guarantee that MAGA folks are not scouring The Washington Post to discover the lifestyles of the Vice Presidential and Famous. 

I tried to confirm the regulations with a few people at D.C. Health. No one returned my calls or responded to my emails. But one city official said D.C. regulations don’t typically apply to federal property. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media.

But locals don’t follow the rules, either, the official said. “I know we have plenty of people in the city that are raising chickens on properties that don’t meet [the] requirements,” he said.

We’ve even got an anonymous source! How very Washington Post of them. All to say that the city has no say about what happens at the Observatory and that it wouldn’t matter anyway. Nobody follows the rules. 

Except, of course, nobody is above the law if they are a Republican. Too bad Vance or Usha can’t be prosecuted.

Our nonbinary chicken keeper who worries about the trad wife implications of Usha’s lifestyle choices does think that there are psychological upsides of keeping chickens. They do because they are emotionally unstable and need emotional support animals, so maybe that is the real reason why the Vances keep the birds. 

Bowers, the Utah chicken keeper, thinks of their hens, especially a bearded white Silkie bantam named Karen, almost as emotional support animals. When Bowers is having a particularly bad day — they suffer chronic pain from several autoimmune disorders — they will cuddle up with Karen.

“You wouldn’t think a chicken could be such a comfort,” Bowers said. “But all I know is she’s 6 years old, and she better live to be, like, 20.”

Personally, I doubt that emotional support is the primary reason for the chicken coop. It’s more likely that the kids are learning responsibility, and we know they like eggs. Vance joked about it on the campaign trail. 

Only in Washington or New York could a story about a family building a chicken coop get this deep a dive and so much spilled ink and dark speculation.

The Fauci diary contents got less attention inside the Washington Post building than Vance’s chickens. And the Fauci stories tended to focus on Rand Paul’s supposedly Javert-like fixation on Fauci rather than the fact that he lied about everything and ruined people’s lives. 

I am sure that the Post is disappointed that they couldn’t find a scandal buried in the chicken droppings. But at least they got a non-binary person to get their shot in at Usha Vance, so all that effort wasn’t wasted. 

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