Australia is currently in the grip of a poultry shortage – but it seems that the scarcity extends well beyond supermarket shelves.
With supply chains under strain due to COVID-related worker shortages, empty poultry sections in supermarkets have become an increasingly common sight in recent weeks.
But those looking for an egg-layer or two for the backyard are also battling to get their hands on a chook, for very different reasons.
While not quite as rare as hens' teeth, chickens are currently in high demand across Adelaide.
The South Australian Poultry Association said the spread of COVID was causing more people to stay at home, prompting parents to seek novel ways to entertain their own broods.
"The children — rather than sitting on a couch for five hours with a gaming machine — actually get out and learn to look after an animal, to care for an animal, and collect the eggs," the association's James Hawker said.
Mr Hawker said people in the market to buy a chicken for the back garden could be waiting for up to two months for one to become available.
He said the high demand dated all the way back to the start of the pandemic, but had peaked again in recent weeks.
"Every breeder [in] the South Australian Poultry Association plus all the fodder stores were inundated with people looking for chookies," Mr Hawker told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"Council by-laws restrict the number of cockerels, if not totally, out of urban areas so the egg-layers are [at] an absolute premium for people with children, [during] holidays and particularly summertime.
"That's happened again this year."
Chris Jordan, who owns Adelaide Hills Family Poultry Farm between Hahndorf and Echunga, said business had been "fantastic since the start of COVID".
"We're only a small-scale supplier, we cater to the family market … [and] when COVID came around the demand far outstripped the supply," he said.
"They seem to go out the door quicker than I can get them in."
Mr Jordan said his own children looked forward to collecting the eggs every morning.
But he said there was also another reason why more families might be getting on board.
"People have been looking at ways they can be self-reliant out of their own backyards," he said.
"That might be in really small things, like a couple of eggs every day, or it might be some honey or some way that they can replenish their own pantry without having to go down to a supermarket."
But for those thinking about getting a chook, Mr Hawker issued a word of warning — fox sightings have been on the rise.
"If you have poultry, you must protect them."
