How to Buy and Raise Baby Chicks

Take your first step toward chicken sovereignty.

Chicken was once the common person’s meat, but the price is rising astronomically. It’s not unusual to see chicken wings listed at “market price” as if it were lobster. The Washington Post reports:

Prices for the world’s most consumed meat have been surging in recent months. Retail whole chickens in the US cost $1.79 per pound in April, the highest price in 15 years of records and about 19% more than their 10-year average. In Thailand, the fourth-biggest exporter after the US, Brazil, and European Union, similar birds last week were at 62.50 baht ($1.82) per kilogram, a one-third increase in six months. Wholesale frozen chickens in Brazil were going for 10.21 reais ($2.12) per kilo May 19, more than double their 10-year average.

Eggs are every bit as expensive. On my last trip to Walmart, even the cheapest carton of a dozen eggs cost $3, which is what the fancy “free-range” eggs used to cost.

Now would be an excellent time to start raising your own chickens, both for eggs and meat. In the “before times,” raising chickens was a money-losing hobby for most, but with chicken and egg prices through the roof, it’s now a way to secure your family’s food supply and you may even make a profit while doing so.

I’ve raised chickens for the past five years, both for meat and eggs. Here’s how you can get started.