Terry Thomlinson, the Oktibbeha County Farmers’ Cooperative pet manager, faced a problem this week. People were simply buying chickens too fast.
“I would say we’re putting out double the birds we did last year,” she said Friday. “… It’s been pretty frenzied this year, there’s a huge rush on baby chicks and we can’t ever be sure when they’re going to get here.”
When she put out a group for sale March 12, the roughly 300 chicks were gone in an hour. The demand has been so extreme the co-op has had to change the way it sells chicks.
In the past workers have simply put out chicks into the building’s display enclosure as they arrive and sold them like any other product, but Thomlinson put out a video Friday announcing the co-op would now restrict chick sales to Friday mornings at 7:30 a.m.
Selling an entire week’s worth of chicks in one day gives workers a chance to check their vitals and look for leg disorders like splayed feet. It also gives every customer a fair shot at getting theirs, instead of random shipments dictating whether a given customer arrives at just the right time or too late to get any.
“This year we’ve changed the policy so that when our chicks get healthy, we have them here long enough to make sure they are eating, drinking, their body temperature is up, and that it’s an even playing field for everyone that wants to purchase,” Thomlinson said.
Thomlinson said almost all the buyers were looking to keep the chickens for eggs, rather than have Eater pets.
“I’d say that 90% of our purchases are for (food) production, not for the Easter surge,” she said. “Of course we don’t do any of the colored chicks or anything like that, our customers are truly interested in having their own backyard flock.”
The spike in demand comes as egg prices soar nationwide, with the Associated Press reporting an average price of $5.90 per dozen in February, up from a then-record January price of $4.95. Commercial farmers have euthanized more than 166 million birds, primarily egg-laying chickens, as Avian Flu ravages large flocks.
Homesteading, cheaper eggs drive demand
Catfish farmer Joseph Peaster was among those buying chickens this year. He runs County Line Farm and Ranch near Brooksville, often coming to Columbus to sell eggs at the Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market. He bought a backyard flock of roughly 15 chickens last year hoping to diversify his offerings, and it went well enough that he ordered another 425 this year around Valentine’s Day.
Peaster didn’t have to brave the opening rush himself this year because he ordered directly from a supplier, but his sellers told him things were already different this year.
“My friend in Southern Seed and Feed has customers all the way down to the coast saying their chick day is a complete disaster,” he said. “I mean people are lined out the door to buy chicks. Everybody’s trying to buy a little flock of chickens to raise their own eggs.”
Peaster said that his own chicken buying was completely unrelated to current events, just an investment to diversify his farm’s portfolio, but he didn’t seem surprised to hear that there’s a surge of people looking to buy chicks for homesteading.
“There’s just a certain amount of interest in sustainability that people are picking up off of social media,” he said. “And then there’s the price of eggs. People think it’s worth their time, especially those that eat eggs. The people I try to market eggs through are finding that more and more people are willing to just go to their neighbor and trade them for eggs because of the price, or frankly the lack of supply itself, in stores.”
Columbus Co-op’s coop-curious customers
The rush for chicks is even affecting stores that aren’t selling chickens, like Lowndes Farm Supply on 69 Co-Op Road. Manager Jeff Hayes said he’s been getting enough calls he’s reminded of the height of the pandemic. Thomlinson also said the last time she’d seen demand like this was two years ago.
That interest hasn’t abated despite the co-op not actually selling chicks this year. Hayes said 2025’s order was canceled after many chicks died in transit last year, roughly 200 to 300 out of 600 to 800 ordered.
“We actually didn’t order any this year because of significant death loss last year, but we’ve been seeing demand and phone calls from people looking for them in line with the demand during COVID, maybe not quite that steep yet,” he said. “This is definitely more than last year, though it doesn’t compare yet to covid with interest and sales in chicks.”
Both stores get their chicks sent to them from out of state through the conventional postal service from hatcheries in Missouri, Texas, Ohio or Illinois, with air holes and some snacks if the chicks get hungry on the way. While chicks are shipped immediately after hatching and can survive for a couple days on nutrients from before hatching, postal mishaps and delays can result in dead chicks.
Lowndes Farm Supply had enough problems with delayed packages that it didn’t reorder this year. Thomlinson, for her part, said that the Oktibbeha Co-Op’s suppliers were very prompt in their deliveries.
The Oktibbeha Co-Op sells chicks for roughly $5 each, with prices going up to $10 for rarer breeds. When Lowndes Farm Supply sold chicks they were $3 each. For anyone looking to buy chickens, Thomlinson recommends consulting local experts and making sure you have the right space for the right bird.
“Look for knowledgeable staff number one, and know what breeds you’re interested in and the space you have to put them in, those are the basics,” she said. “If you want large numbers I suggest you special order early in the year, we take special orders in January. Otherwise come in and talk to your local salesman for help.”
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