If you know me, you know that I love raising my chickens. That’s me above. And I will tell you everything I know. I grew up with a chicken coop, I come from a long line of egg farmers in Holland, and we’ve had our chickens here in Jaffa for about 7 years. Maybe more. Raising chickens is not intuitive. It’s not something you will know how to do right unless you have a coach or some experience.

But since COVID-19 or corona struck there has been a race in countries like the US (where people have backyards) to raise chickens. One American university says don’t do it. But start a Victory Garden instead. Or downsize and build a sweet A Frame cabin the woods. Forage, mushroom pick.

“A global pandemic is not the optimal time to start raising chickens,”says Marisa Erasmus, an assistant professor of animal sciences at Purdue University.

Food security and sustainability is increasingly on people’s minds as government leaders issue stay-at-home orders and grocery stores are frequently low on staples. Recent popular press reports have said that anxiety around the food supply may be causing an uptick in the US of people ordering chicks so they might have a reliable supply of eggs.

Many people jump into this undertaking blindly, not considering certain factors before placing that order for live chicks, Erasmus said.

“If you’re thinking of buying chicks, do your work ahead of time,” she continued. “Make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. These animals are going to grow up and have very specific needs. They are reliant on us to provide for them and we have to be sure we can do that.”

Download the Victory Garden Handbook, circa 1943

Before you buy chicks for eggs

• Chicks take roughly 5-6 months to mature, at which time they will start producing eggs.
• Chickens, while housed outside, need shelter from the elements, whether in the form of a hoop structure, a shed or a coop. The structure must be dry with good air circulation and adequate flooring to maintain the health of the flock. As chickens grow, they will need increasingly more space, roughly 2 square feet per bird.
• Other amenities like perches, where the chickens rest, and fencing to keep out wild animals are all necessary to raise healthy birds.
• At some point, birds will become injured or ill. Those rearing chickens need to have a plan in place to deal with this eventuality and need to be able to recognize signs of disease and deterioration.
• Chickens require specific feed based on their age and whether or not they are laying eggs. “They can eat some scraps but they do have specific nutritional requirements, which require supplemental feed to be met,” Erasmus said.

Erasmus also recommends those considering chickens acquaint themselves with local ordinances, which many towns and counties have, regarding the rearing of poultry. In some places it is forbidden while other areas may allow it under certain conditions or require shelter specifications.

Victory Garden Instead?

Those hesitant about investing the time, energy and financial resources required to raise chickens should consider other ways to become more self-sustaining, from starting a vegetable garden to composting. Download our Victory Garden Handbook here. Rearing animals unprepared threatens their quality of life and ability to be productive, Erasmus said.

“Poultry, including chickens, sometimes have the reputation of being ‘bird-brained’,” Erasmus said.  “But anyone who has experience raising chickens will tell you they are intelligent and complex creatures who have the capacity to experience suffering and contentment.”

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Free from the dilemma of buying the free-range or organic eggs (I own my own coop with eight hens), the Israeli government has decided to make a law that will require the Made-In label on every egg sold in Israeli supermarkets. The public was aghast apparently at the news that millions of the eggs sold on the local market do not originate in Israel, but come from countries such as Turkey which does not control for salmonella. Some 80 million eggs are imported to Israel every year from Turkey, more than half of the 3 percent of all foreign imports and the health inspection on these eggs are limited, according to Haaretz. Some of them are sold under the Tnuva label, which includes pictures of hens out to pasture in verdant fields. Likely the opposite of how these eggs are raised. 

The egg market in Israelis huge, turning over NIS 710 million a year (about $177 million USD). The dominant players are Tnuva with a 44% market share, followed by Glicksman (21%) and M. Lesser with 10%.

According to surveys more than 80 percent of Israelis would buy local eggs if given the choice, so the companies have an interest to hide this information from consumers. The new labelling would include a code that tells the conditions in which the chickens were raised.

The label law was reported this week in Haaretz, and it comes on the heels of last summer’s tent protests and an Israeli public that is demanding more and more transparency in food prices and the food market in general. I hope for all Israelis that the egg effort to label every egg will pay off in other directions too. There have been scandals in Israel over re-frozen beef and frozen fish from China pumped with water. And as they come to awareness, one firm has found outrageous levels of potential carcinogens in ceramic pots and pans.

Just today a local water report testing water at the tap from municipalities throughout Israel found unreasonable levels of heavy metals being supplied to homes throughout the country. A vast majority of the problems were found in Arab towns and villages. While the government regularly tests water in its municipal pipes, with the water coming up clean, this is the first time that water was tested at the taps. Outdated pipes are the reason for the unusually high levels of contaminants in the water, the report (and not yet online) stated.

So you’ve got a label on your eggs. One that you can feel good about. It’s time for the public to know where all our food comes from so that suppliers will be forced to be transparent, and the public better able to make educated decisions with their pockets.

Image of organic eggs from Shutterstock

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