Second solely to canines and cats, the hen is the third hottest pet. In response to Axios, based mostly on a latest surge, 11 million U.S. households have backyard chickens.
Actually, chickens could be tied for third place with freshwater fish:
Backyard Chickens
Our story starts with Monique, the chicken that traveled around the world. Sailing from the Canary Islands during May 2014, Guirec Soudee and Monique went to St. Barts, the Arctic and beyond. Adapting immediately, she laid eggs, listened to his chatter, ran to him when called. In our featured image, Monique is wearing her sweater.
Do take a look at this delightful video to see why Monique was the ideal companion:
Now although, we’re not on the lookout for companions.
With egg costs skyrocketing, we now have hens in our houses. For $575, you may get 2 egg layers, a coop, a feeder, and 120 kilos of feed. A lot pricier, a 4-chicken deluxe package deal prices $775 however you’ll be able to anticipate 16 to twenty-eight eggs per week.
Described in yesterday’s Wall Road Journal, an egg “stock market” can even replenish our egg scarcity. Just like the NYSE, the Egg Clearinghouse (ECI) pairs consumers and sellers. The customer might be a restaurant provider and the vendor, a farmer. Now, with egg shortages, transactions are manner up as are the costs that this market determines.
So sure, egg costs preserve climbing. The January common was $4.95 a dozen, up 153% from final yr and 81 cents from December. Solely the start, a latest $7.44 distributor value means we will anticipate one other whopping value pop quickly.
You possibly can see the regular egg value climb:
Our Backside Line: Value
In her Substack put up, an knowledgeable warned us that yard chickens will value greater than we anticipate.
Remembering that the financial definition of value is sacrifice, the value of chickens is time and money. As a result of the coops you first buy are not often predator proof, you want at the very least an additional $1,000 to maintain the rats out. Taking a number of years, three hens would lay roughly 1800 eggs earlier than they may enter “henopause.” Then, including day-old chicks, it takes at the very least 6 months to get your first egg. Moreover, they lay much less throughout the winter and will catch Avian flu from a close-by wild goose. Conveying much more of a actuality verify, she means that solely with 50 to 100 birds, promoting a number of the eggs, might you break even.
The tradeoff? You can wind up with great birds like Monique.
My sources and extra: Having learn the Axios story about chickens, I recalled Monique. Then, the USDA had our egg costs and right here, you’ll be able to learn the yard hen Substack. And at last, this WSJ article described an alternate egg market.
