Egg Vending Machine Makes Chickens Become Part of the Urban Economy

A hard-boiled egg vending machine ran by chickens offers insights into how human and farm animal relationships can be restored in urban areas.

Anastasia Eggers and Ottonie von Roeder created this vending machine as part of a fictional city called “Besteenburt” where humans and farm animals cohabit. The project is questioning the current state of animal food production industries and its rising harmful environmental effects. The duo has previously developed Cow&Co serving a similar function but with cows. In this fictional city, chickens roam freely through the streets producing food and goods for their target market, humans.

The hard-boiled egg vending machine was exhibited during Vienna Design Week where visitors were being sold breakfast directly by the chickens. In a very circular fashion, the chickens power their vending machine with their own manure that is digested by the machine in order to generate needed energy. The product’s producer (chickens) guarantees the freshest eggs for you to start your morning with.

Photo by Patrizia Kapp (Kollektiv Fischka)

Reshaping consumer patterns and tweaking our current economic system is necessary to make a positive impact through sustainability. Speculative designs such as this one, question our consumerist driven economy and give an insight into how we can make cities more livable not only for us but for chickens and other animals too.