How baby chickens became America’s hottest commodity

Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply in Helena, Montana, doesn’t often see a crowd. But, these days, the line to get in the door can be hours long. People have yelled at one another as they jockey for position, and inside, employees field as many 200 calls a day from eager patrons. Everyone is after the same thing: baby chickens.

“It’s pretty ridiculous,” said Kira Amdahl, who works there. Chicks typically spend days, if not weeks, at the store before finding a home. “Now people are coming in, and [we are] selling out within an hour.”

Murdoch’s isn’t the only place turning people away. Nationwide, the demand for chickens has far outstripped supply, leaving would-be poulterers scrambling to find baby birds. But, experts say, the chick crunch is not directly linked to the avian influenza — also known as bird flu — that’s plagued the country. For the most part, the number of chicks on offer to hobby farmers hasn’t dipped.

“It’s not necessarily a chick shortage as there is increased demand,” said Tom Watkins, the president and co-owner of Murray McMurray Hatchery in Webster City, Iowa. Where he usually sees a two- or three-week wait for chickens, he’s sold out for the rest of the year. “I went into last fall thinking we’d have a slowdown. By the end of January, I knew it was going to be one of those different years.”

Why? Because the bird flu outbreak has raised the price of eggs. According to Federal Reserve Economic Data, a dozen eggs cost $3.37 in October. They crossed the $5 mark in January, and, last month the price was up to $6.23. As costs have ratcheted up, so too has the appeal of raising chickens at home. A Reddit post about the run on chicks has hundreds of upvotes, while other folks are getting around the problem by trying to hatch their own birds at home.

“Every time we have a downturn in the economy, people turn to self-sufficiency,” said Scott Beyer, an assistant professor and poultry expert at Kansas State University. Such was the case during the Great Recession, and again during the pandemic. This time it’s egg prices, and Beyer said it could take months, if not years, for commercial flocks to recover enough to stabilize the market. But, he said, that recovery will happen, and an over-correction could even mean that “soon they’ll be discounted.”

Such swings worry Amdahl. Her store sells chicks for about 11 weeks every spring, and it is going through almost a dozen birds per customer. Last time she saw a boon like this, during COVID, it was only a few months before customers started posting flyers and Craigslist ads looking to rehome their rapidly growing chickens. Some birds got abandoned or killed.

“It’s just sad,” said Amdahl, explaining that many people don’t realize what it takes to raise chickens. While their food might be affordable, the startup costs can be significant — from coops and shavings to feeders and potentially vet bills. Then winter comes, and there’s insulation, heat lamps and warming strips to keep water from freezing. “It’s a lot of work.”

When done right, however, Beyer says that raising chickens can be economical and environmentally friendly. “Eggs from home are one of the easiest ways to grow protein for your plate,” he said. “We need more people to have experience with growing food and keeping animals.”

The one curveball currently, Beyer said, is the price of the chicks, which have spiked along with the surge in interest. That could make the payback period unrealistically long. But Watkins says he’s seen the demand start to ease and “at some point you will serve all the people who will keep chickens.”

For now, though, the race for chicks continues.

“We’ve been maintaining 2,000 phone calls a day for the last couple months,” said Watkins, of a volume that is at least triple what it usually is. “The demand is hard to keep up with.”