North Bay 'chicken geek' rents backyard hens to city folk
SEBASTOPOL (KPIX) - The rising price of eggs earlier this year, along with an uncertain supply at times had some Bay Area families looking at raising chickens at home. bringing more attention to a North Bay business helping people try out the experience by renting a couple hens for one to three months at a time.
"It's hard to say, I've always been a chicken geek," said Eric Strother, who started Rent Backyard Hens during the pandemic. "A lot of people don't know where to start."
Strother had chickens when he was a child and thinks they can make for a great pet. He knew cities around the Bay Area allow you to have chickens in your own backyard so when he heard people were renting them on the east coast, he saw an opportunity to provide that service locally before anyone else.
"It's really taking off, people really seem to enjoy it, and I get calls from all over the Bay Area and demand," he told KPIX.
He got his chickens from Iowa, they start off as baby chicks and as hens, they can live six to seven years while laying eggs for four to five years. While he has a large setup for chickens in his backyard, he created a chicken tractor or a mobile chicken coop he can use to transport them around the Bay Area. This lets his customers keep the chickens safe in their own backyard.
"The chickens seem to be very much at home in them," he said. "I had a customer book a rental yesterday and she was like, 'It's all about the eggs! I got to have those eggs.'"
The combination of the rising price of eggs as well as a shortage at times in local grocery stores has encouraged more people to contact Strother to give the process a try. But he explains you have to love chickens and expect the cost overall won't save you money. The difference though of eggs that are only a few days or even a few hours old has convinced some of his customers it's worth it.
"There's nothing like having farm fresh eggs if you haven't had farm fresh eggs before," he said.
"The experience of having eggs, the quality of eggs are much different so I think that's a real appeal to people."
In the spring and summer, a hen should lay an egg once a day while in the fall and winter it will be closer to a few eggs a week. The cost to rent hens varies depending on where in the Bay Area you live but can range between $250 to $475 for one to three months.
"I love eggs, I've always loved eggs," said Kelly Cytron, a San Francisco resident who was Strother's first customer. "The eggs were awesome, the excitement of seeing that first egg that was laid was just incredible."
Cytron had a chicken when she was seven years old and wanted that experience again. She found the experience so enjoyable because she could easily take care of the chickens and tasted the difference in the eggs.
"Still warm in your hand when you go to pick them up, it's like wow. Yay!" she said about the eggs from the chickens she rented.
After three months, she had plans to travel so she had to stop but now wants to raise chickens on her own.
"Having that connection with nature yet living in the city was a really great balance," Cytron said.
Even when customers realize they are not meant to care for chickens long-term, Strother is glad he can help them without committing to raising the animals on their own. But he is grateful that many customers have had a similar experience like Cytron because of Rent Backyard Hens.
"There's no end to the fun that can be had," Strother said. "You can really get into it, become a chicken geek."
https://rentbackyardhens.com/