Egg shortage prompts more backyard chickens, but bird rescuer cautions prospective owners

There is a rush to begin raising backyard chickens as grocery store egg prices continue to skyrocket amid shortages blamed on bird flu.

In recent days, KARE 11 reports customers have lined up hours before opening at places like Anoka Ramsey Farm & Garden to snap up hundreds of baby chicks. However, raising chickens and getting eggs isn’t as easy or speedy as people may think. For instance, it takes about six months for hens to start laying eggs. Some cities also require permits. And Minnesota’s four seasons can be dangerous without a well-built coop.

Chicken Run Rescue is based out of the Twin Cities and says it is the oldest urban chicken rescue in the country. Its founder Mary Britton Clouse joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition Thursday and said the birds have a “tough time ahead of them.”

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity. Listen by clicking the player button above.

What goes through your mind as folks rush to buy chicks?

What people don't understand about the real cost of eggs is that laying hens have been bred to lay incessantly. Chickens in the wild lay fewer than 20 eggs a year and can live to 30 years old. Contemporary laying hens from hatcheries — the type that are in backyards, as well as factory farms — lay between 300-350 eggs a year.

They develop reproductive disease, which is the cause of up to 90 percent of the mortality in egg-laying flocks. That can begin as young as two years old. Their reproductive system literally blows out like an old tire. It's a protracted and horrible death.

And if you were to Google laying hens with ovarian cancer or peritonitis and choose images, you'll see things that you will really have to think about next time you sit down to a plate of scrambled eggs. And for every laying hen, there is a dead or abandoned rooster.

It’s not as simple as buying hens and getting eggs, right?

Yes, and because biology is biology, come late July, early August, when it’s apparent that some of those birds are roosters, that’s when the real fun begins. The same kind of mania that you're seeing to pick up the chicks now, you’ll be seeing people trying to dump the roosters.

And the final point that I do want to emphasize, because this is Minnesota, it is not tropical. Chickens are tropical jungle fowl, and they need serious and costly protection in Minnesota’s extreme hot and cold climate.

Probably 60 percent of the rescues that we take in are literally missing body parts due to frostbite, and they're equally susceptible to extreme heat. So when the temperatures and humidity get above 80 degrees, we always bring our birds into a climate-controlled area.

Do you think your rescue will get busy in the coming months?

Here's the sad part of it. When we began in 2001, social media didn’t really exist. Now, social media has become essentially a digital dumping ground on Craigslist, Nextdoor and forums like Backyard Chickens on Facebook. And every kind of horrible thing that can happen to a bird that can happen is a click away.

The number of surrenders that we get inquiries about has actually remained steady. But what you have to remember is that when we started in 2001, there were 26 chicken permits in the city of Minneapolis, and as of January 2024, there were 989 permits.

What should people know to make an informed decision about owning chickens?

They are welcome to come to our website or contact us by email, and we’re happy to advise.

Clouse also recommends The Open Sanctuary Project for more information.

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