Iowa, Are Chickens Really The Answer To Egg Prices?

Over the last few months, we have seen the prices of eggs increase to record highs.

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In January of 2022, a dozen large eggs sold for approximately $1.50 a dozen in the Midwest. Just one year later, eggs were selling for $5.17.

The increased costs have had some people considering buying their own chickens. In fact, this increase in chicken ownership has been increased for a while.

A survey from the American Pet Product Association says that ownership of backyard chickens has increased from 8 percent in 2018 to 13 percent in 2020. An effect COVID-19 had was increased demand for raising chickens which would lead to hatcheries backlogged.

Recently, my boyfriend and I have been talking about starting our own flock so we can have our own supply of fresh eggs. Both of us have grown up raising poultry so we thought why not raise them?

Right off the bat we noticed longer waiting times than normal to get the chicks from the hatchery. Many hatcheries are noticing a surge in chick demand as people want to raise “heavy layer” chickens.

In the last two years, there has been a 6 percent increase in backyard chicken ownership. Many have transitioned to farm fresh eggs just to have their own source, others because of high egg prices.

Manna Pro® City Yolks™ surveyed its backyard chicken-owning community and found that around 42 percent wished they were more educated before getting their own chickens.

In fact, looking at Google Trends, there was an exponential jump in Google searches on raising chickens around the time egg prices reached their highest.