Why buy eggs when you can rent the hens? Americans turn to chicken rentals as prices soar and backyards go farm-style

LA CRESCENTA (United States), May 3 — Stung by the rocketing price of eggs — and US supermarkets rationing a basic breakfast staple — Yong-mi Kim decided to get some chickens to secure her own supply in southern California.


While many people idly muse about backyard farming, for those not ready to take the plunge permanently, there’s a solution: renting a henhouse, complete with egg-laying birds.


“I really want to try it out and see whether I like it or not,” the Los Angeles-area resident told AFP as she took delivery of two chickens and all the equipment they need to live a happy egg-laying life.

“Some people I know have chickens at home, but it’s a lot of work for them — they had to adjust the whole garden themselves.

Hiring hens began to gain ground in the United States around a decade ago in Pennsylvania when a farming couple set up “Rent The Chicken”.

Since then, the project has expanded to more than 40 cities across North America, with local farmers setting up their own offshoots.


The service saw an uptick in interest during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when people were stuck at home.

But it has skyrocketed in recent months as consumers quail over the soaring cost of eggs, thanks to a bird flu pandemic that has seen the wholesale culling of egg-laying birds.

“Especially this year, we have had a much higher interest, I would say, three to four times as much as we were seeing this time last year,” said Victoria Lee, who serves the Los Angeles region from her farm in Agua Dulce.

Some Americans have been forking over more than US$10 for a dozen eggs, up to three times their usual price, with supermarkets putting daily limits on the number of cartons a shopper can buy.

The eyewatering costs were a regular feature of last year’s presidential campaign, with US President Donald Trump pledging to lower grocery bills when he got to the White House.

But prices have continued to climb, and in March eggs were 60 per cent more expensive than a year earlier, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Lee is quick to point out, however, that raising chickens at home is not cheaper than buying eggs at the store.

Instead, it’s a question of quality.

“By the time they get to the grocery store (eggs) are on average 48-60 days old,” she said.

“As eggs sit, no matter the quality at the start of that countdown, over time, the protein in the eggs begins to break down.”

Backyard eggs, in contrast, are only as old as however long it took the owner to pick them up off the henhouse floor.

‘Free eggs!’

“Rent the Chicken” offers different options that range from around US$500 to over US$1,000 for six months, depending on location and number of birds desired.



https://www.malaymail.com/news/life/2025/05...rm-style/175345

Wrong jiken

Wat am I reading! ? Okok I Oso will get ciken…. 1 hari how many eggs bole keluar? How it work? Must buy a pair jantan betina or just betina? Sori my biologi FAIL…

Ceh i tot ayam 2feidei

One day lay one egg

Don't buy male, they are loud and will make your eggs not last longer.

If female only, all eggs will not become chick, can last 1 month under normal room temperature.

If you wash those eggs, you will destroy protective membrane and those eggs will spoil faster.

scared the chicken that lay egg, accident may occur

Nope, no chicken here can lay that often. My own free range chicken also can't get this frequency.

Oh I see

waiting for rent-a-cow.. why buy a whole cow, when you can just ....

what do you mean male will make your eggs not last longer?
how?

Female chicken can lay eggs without male, and those eggs is exactly like those eggs in your fridge.

But if got male, those eggs will slowly become chicken under 21 days.

So depending on which day you crack open your egg, you may see a small underdeveloped chicken baby.

then you'd better like balut.

Chicken shit is very smely imagine whole building backyard each with 3 chicken then when u pass by and the smell if hygiene didn't done properly or correctly later and especially tak mengapa Malaysian perangai then eventually become h1n1 version 2030 .

They need a specific temperature to grow optimally.

But if quickly stored in the fridge after the egg is lay, still got balut meh?

No need cock, hens will lay eggs without cock. Also u didn’t realise all the eggs u ever ate were never fertilised by cock?

This post has been edited by iGamer: May 3 2025, 04:27 PM

It’s magnet for flies.

Ini ayam halal dan suci

not this chicken...