It’s fair to say Christine Dinas has a passion for back yard chickens.
Dinas has been keeping and selling the birds for more than 15 years and reckons there’s a “chicken for everybody”.
“They all have different personalities,” says Dinas, who helps run several online poultry-keeping groups and operates Melbourne-based Aussie Chook Supplies.
“It’s fascinating and incredibly relaxing to watch them scratch around, just watching them do their thing.”
As the price of eggs rockets and they become harder to find at supermarkets, a lot of other people are developing a passion for back yard chickens – including those living in Australia’s inner suburbs.
Talking Hens, a chicken supply business on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, is fielding 60% more inquiries for egg-laying hens compared with this time last year.
NSW-based Evans Chickens now sells roughly double the number of back yard chickens it did five years ago, according to co-owner Joanne Evans.
“People are getting a bit jack of supermarket prices and frustrated with going to the supermarket and not being able to get what they want,” says Evans.
She says there was an initial surge in interest for back yard chickens during the pandemic lockdowns after many households finished their half-built coops and adopted new hobbies.
“It started with Covid, and the egg shortages have now made it even more popular to have back yard chickens.”
Cost-of-egg crisis
The price of eggs has risen sharply in Australia since avian influenza outbreaks led to mass chicken culls last year, with a dozen free-range eggs typically retailing for about $6, or up to $9 for extra-large eggs, according to research from ANZ.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the price is up 12% over the past year, far outpacing the 3% increase in the broader food category over the same timeframe.
And the problem is global.
In the US, eggs are now so expensive that people are smuggling them across borders, with so-called egg interceptions by custom officials up 36% nationwide, according to the Wall Street Journal.
ANZ’s executive director of agribusiness insights, Michael Whitehead, says that while supply is forecast to increase in 2025, it may not return to its previous levels.
“Given the investment required to rebuild and transition farms to meet new welfare standards, and the unpredictable nature of avian disease outbreaks, we may be looking at a new normal for the egg sector – one where price volatility and supply constraints are more common,” Whitehead says.
“Shoppers may need to adjust their expectations and appreciate the real cost and complexity involved in keeping eggs on the shelf.”
This is bad news for consumers, given Australia’s egg consumption is very high by international standards, at about 250 to 260 eggs per person per year, according to ANZ.
Risk and rewards
While rising egg prices make the economics of keeping back yard chickens more appealing, there’s not always a financial payoff.
Owners need to consider the outlay for the chickens, their fox-proof coop, additional fencing, bedding and ongoing feed costs. They may need a specialist vet at some stage, and have suitable protection against predators.
Hen providers generally recommended the outside area for chickens, known as a run, is at least 1 sq metre for each chicken, although more space is preferred.
Netting may also be needed to protect chickens from diseases spread by wild birds such as avian influenza.
A new outbreak of bird flu was detected in Australia in February, with authorities confirming the H7N8 strain had been detected at an egg farm in northern Victoria.
Chickens are also a social, flock animal, and should be bought in bunches, leading to higher initial costs.
There are also health issues to consider.
A 2022 study found back yard hens’ eggs contained, on average, more than 40 times the lead levels of commercially produced eggs.
After assessing trace metal contamination in back yard chickens and their eggs from garden soils across 55 Sydney homes, the researchers found almost one in two hens had significant lead levels in their blood.
Prof Mark Taylor, the study’s lead author and now Victoria’s chief environmental scientist, says people need to be aware of the potential risks and take appropriate actions to mitigate them.
“Where the soil lead levels are too high … it would be advantageous to clean that top side away and put some new soil in,” he says. “But in terms of humans, the available data shows that doesn’t really translate into significant risk of harm for people unless you’re eating absolutely mountains of eggs.”
Taylor encourages Victorians to take advantage of the state’s free GardenSafe soil testing program.
Coops should also be kept warm and dry to protect chickens from other diseases, bacteria and parasites.
Taste the difference
For Dinas, the benefits of keeping back yard chickens is substantial, and helps people understand exactly where their food comes from, addressing any ethical concerns they may have over egg supply chains.
“[With] a back yard egg compared to a cage egg, there’s a huge difference in the flavour and texture,” she says.
And Dinas says chickens “just make really, really great pets”.
“You have some that are really docile, some that are really cuddly, some that are really bossy,” she says.
“Our youngest daughter is more of a chicken person. We’ve let her experience the hatching process.
“We’ve got mums and babies wandering around the back yard and you can hold them in your lap and cuddle them.”
