←back to thread

Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

(civileats.com)
310 points greenie_beans | 3 comments | 19 Feb 25 21:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.696s | source
Show context
bell-cot ◴[19 Feb 25 22:11 UTC] No.43108419[source]▶
It would be interesting to know the actual economics and legalities of franchising "Farmer McEgg" setups, to rural folks who wanted a side gig. Once someone had (say) 150 chickens set up and going, what would be spread between their weekly operating expenses, and weekly gross sales? How many hours/day would that typically take?

EDIT: Please read the article, especially the Feb. 19th update note at the beginning of it. Bird flu may not be so bad as it's been portrayed. And if the costs for comparatively tiny chicken farms were low enough, then their economics don't need to look good to Wall St. They're may-be-profitable little hobby farms which help local communities, while putting pressure on the greedy Big Egg oligopoly.

replies(2): >>43108961 #>>43108975 #
1. XorNot ◴[19 Feb 25 23:10 UTC] No.43108961[source]▶
You're missing the elephant in the room: egg prices are going up due to supply constraints due to flock culling due to the spread of bird flu.

At the scale you're talking about...you have a bird flu susceptible flock. If backyard chickens became really common - like if every second person in a street had them - then bird flu spread would run wild (you'd also vastly increase the number of poultry-human contacts providing a vector for a species jump).

replies(1): >>43108979 #
2. sidewndr46 ◴[19 Feb 25 23:12 UTC] No.43108979[source]▶
this is a good point. When you have mega flocks at factory farms, you at least have the option to sterilize the farm to stop the spread. If every lot has its own flock, that won't work at all
replies(1): >>43109001 #
3. ceejayoz ◴[19 Feb 25 23:14 UTC] No.43109001[source]▶
And inspections/testing/liability.