PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — More and more people are getting backyard chickens amid high egg prices.
Instead of reaching for eggs on the grocery store shelf, Daniel Parri can simply go to his backyard.
“I had all this time, and I used to have chickens, so I decided I would get four baby chicks,” said Parri.
He's been raising chickens for about two and a half years now.
The last time he picked up eggs at the store?
“Probably been about two and a half years ago,” said Parri.
As the price of eggs rises, so does the popularity of keeping backyard chickens.
“We call it chicken math,” said Patti Reed. “You're going to start with four. You're going to end up with 10."
Reed is the Owner of Amber Glen Feed Depot in Pinellas Park, where they sell chicks.
"It started kind of before the egg prices started going up, that people were noticing different prices in all kinds of things, that they could almost support themselves in certain areas,” said Reed.
Here, these birds are a hot commodity.
“If I had 100 chickens that laid eggs, I could sell every one of them today,” said Reed. “If I had 100 chicks today, I could sell 100 chicks."
Keep in mind, Reed said it'll take about four to six months for chicks to start laying eggs.
"You have some egg-producing chickens. They’re specifically that's their job is to lay eggs, so you're going to get that 320, 340 amount of eggs out of them,” said Reed. “You have some that are only going to lay maybe 250-290 eggs."
Parri also had a bit of advice for anyone looking to raise chickens.
"Prepare to build a bigger coop,” said Parri. “Everybody who starts with chickens always gets more."
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