Don’t buy a backyard chicken to combat inflation

• Egg costs have risen by 70% over the past year, in keeping with federal government knowledge.
• More people are turning to yard chickens, however consultants warn it is not as simple or low cost because it appears.
• Farm rescues are bracing for people who will likely be making an attempt to get rid of chickens bought on a whim.

The attraction of yard chickens — roaming round, grazing on grass, and producing recent, scrumptious eggs — is obvious, and the high price of eggs on the grocery retailer has made the thought of bringing chickens residence even more attractive for some customers.

Driven by inflation and an avian flu outbreak decimating flocks, the price of eggs has soared. Altogether the chicken flu has led to the deaths of more than 58 million farm birds since January 2022, by means of an infection or culling, drastically impacting the egg supply. Over the past year, egg costs have risen by more than 70%, in keeping with knowledge from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Earlier this year, The New York Times, Insider, and others wrote about people turning to yard chickens to deal with inflation.

Farmers say they have been inundated with requests from people who’re in getting some egg-laying hens of their own, a pattern that even predates the “eggflation.” Tractor Supply Co., a number one vendor of chicks, told The Wall Street Journal its live hen gross sales have more than doubled since 2018, and that they count on to promote 11 million chicks in 2023 alone.

But yard chickens will not be the budget-savvy trick some hope for.

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Farm rescues told Insider they’re bracing themselves for an inflow of people seeking to dump their chickens after they notice they’re unable to keep up the cost or time related to caring for the birds.

Backyard chickens could be costly and a problem to look after

“Besides pot belly pigs, calls for chickens and roosters are the most frequent calls we get,” Matt Lieurance, the co-founder of Farm Animal Refuge in San Diego, California, told Insider. “People get chickens mainly for egg production and then a few things happen. One is they don’t have the proper setup and they get a predator attack.”

Chickens could be preyed upon by creatures which might be generally discovered in American backyards, comparable to coyotes, hawks, raccoons, or possums. Someone would possibly buy a easy hen coop on the same farm retailer from the place they buy chicks, however it could be too small because the chickens develop or not adequately protecting against predators. Proper housing for yard chickens can run anyplace from a number of hundred to a number of thousand {dollars}.

There are also some prices related to yard chickens that will not be clear upfront to a first-timer, comparable to ongoing meals prices, which have gotten more costly, and unexpectedly high medical payments attributable to chickens requiring specialty veterinarians and being in danger for health problems that might require ongoing remedy or medication.

Farm Sanctuary, which has places in New York state and Los Angeles, said yard chickens make up the vast majority of animal placement requests they obtain.

“Many guardians who reach out to us for help are new to caring for a backyard flock and are ill-prepared for the challenges of providing lifelong care. In some cases, they underestimate the challenges associated with protecting birds from predation, the expense involved, the difficulties of wintertime care, or the general level of care and commitment,” Ashley Pankratz, Farm Sanctuary’s senior supervisor of rescue and placement, said in a press release provided to Insider.

Pankratz also noted that yard chickens are usually not essentially the reply for people who view it as a more humane way to eat eggs, including chicks are sometimes coming from the same amenities that supply manufacturing facility farms.

Complicated by the chicken flu outbreak

Many people also do not realize that it may take 4 to 6 months for chicks, which are sometimes bought as an alternative of full-grown chickens, to begin laying eggs, or that they will only produce eggs for a number of years and live for much longer than that.

“The same thing kind of happened in 2020, when everyone went into quarantine and decided they were going to homestead,” Lieurance said of people speeding out to buy chickens and later realizing it was a nasty thought.

This time round, the issue is compounded by the chicken flu outbreak, as sanctuaries like Farm Animal Refuge are unable to take in new birds as a result of danger of spreading the illness, which means people seeking to get rid of their yard chickens could not have many choices.

“That is another huge problem with everybody going out and buying these chicks right now — they’re potentially moving around this disease to places it hasn’t been before,” Lieurance said, including: “We’re kind of bracing for three months from now to be getting a lot of these calls and unfortunately having to say no and not having an option for them.”

Some suppose they’re shopping for hens and end up with roosters

Another problem with shopping for yard chickens is that you could be unintentionally end up with a rooster.

Determining the intercourse of chicks could be tough, and shops will typically promote a gaggle of small hens that truly comprise a rooster.

“When you buy baby chicks, they tell you that they’re female, and then six to eight weeks later one of them starts crowing and your neighbors complain,” Lieurance said, including that Farm Animal Refuge typically hears from people seeking to get rid of roosters.

Pankratz of the Farm Sanctuary also said they “receive daily requests to take in roosters who are unwanted, abandoned, or surrendered to shelters.”

In addition to not producing eggs, roosters are also unlawful or closely restricted in many jurisdictions the place egg-laying hens are allowed. They could be tough to rehome for comparable causes.

Kelly Rutkowski, the founding father of the Adopt a Bird Network, said the roosters signify a “big animal welfare issue.” Her group serves as an middleman between people who need to undertake chickens, and rescues, sanctuaries, or shelters which might be in search of someplace to position them.

Rutkowski said the hens are simple to position, typically to people who’d simply like to keep them as pets, and that they’re usually adopted out the same days she posts them on-line, however roosters are a lot tougher.

“There are people who see them as more than just egg machines and see them for their personality,” she said. But even these people could live in locations that make it unlawful or impractical to have a rooster round. She tries to discourage people from shopping for yard chickens on a whim, to keep away from having more roosters with nowhere they’ll go.

“It does worry me,” Rutkowski said of the high egg costs and improve in people shopping for chicks. “I’m just waiting for all the birds to start showing up in shelters, especially the roosters.”

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