America's backyard chicken boom explained

We created this business to increase the convenience and the ease of backyard farming and urban farming in general

Backyard chicken farming exploded in the wake of COVID, high egg prices, and an outbreak of bird flu

That increase in suburban ranchers has created a burgeoning business to support it

Over the last decade, chickens have become a top five pet for American families

It was something that a neighbor had going on, and it was during COVID

My name is Michelle Zimmer, and I'm the founder and CEO of Bloomington Farm and Feed

And so I noticed that they had a flock, and we went over there and got to play with them and whatnot

And, like, it blew my mind that you could even have chickens in the city

After enjoying her neighbor's birds, Michelle Zimmer told her husband about this revelation

And I was waiting for him to say, that's good for him

But he said, my mom had chickens once. And I thought, he didn't say no

And so that Easter, we ended up picking out a handful of baby chicks for Easter for our kids

According to the American Pet Products Association, around 8 million households considered their backyard chickens pets in 2024

Chickens fall just below dogs, cats, and freshwater fish on the list of most popular pets in the U.S

I started seeing this backyard hen thing catching on in the 2016, 18, 19

and it was because a little bit of a I want to know where my food comes from

I seen some documentaries and industrial agriculture My name is Damian Mason and I am a farm owner farm boy My background is in agricultural economics The COVID thing spiked that whole growth I mean it just threw gas on

that whole fire because then it was, oh my God, they're fighting over toilet paper in the parking

lots outside of Safeway and I can't trust this. So then it became, I want to do this

The Zimmers moved to a home in Bloomington around eight years ago. It came with a 12 by 12 garden plot, and Michelle had a rough time getting anyone to help with those chores

However, once we got chickens, now everybody's involved. All the kids, they help with the chores

They love collecting the eggs. They help name them. They help keep the birds or chickens social

And it's actually brought us together as a family unit just by having chickens

Egg prices topped $6 per dozen in March as avian flu cases caused producers to call their flocks

Since then, prices have stabilized below $3 per dozen. Aside from price savings, raising your own chickens allows you to control its intake, which affects the eggs

So if you're getting eggs that come out of a commercial facility, they've been fed corn, which is the energy source

and then a lot of times I put things like soybean meal in there as a protein source

And don't kid yourself, these massive egg-producing farms have nutritionists on staff or as consultants that are absolutely dissecting the rations every day to make sure that they're getting the most efficient gain of egg production to amount of feed fed

Finding high-quality, locally-produced chicken feed in the suburbs of Minneapolis proved to be an adventure

Each month Michelle would take an hours round trip to the other side of the Twin Cities But an accident gave the Zimmers another challenge I was fine doing that actually until one day when my husband was in a pretty terrible accident and

he was in a hit and run accident. On a frigid December day in 2022

Luke Zimmer saw a woman stuck in a snowbank along 35W South near Johnson Street Northeast

to Minneapolis, stopping to help tow her out. A Toyota Sienna van hit him, according to state

patrol. At that point, my world shifted a bit and we were preparing to live with a

with a paralyzed individual in our house. As Michelle took part in Luke's recovery journey

the Zimmers relied on their friends and family to bring the staples they needed. When it came to chickens, they had to take whatever they could get for the time being

It was during that time when it just hit me so much that I wish there was something that was more convenient or I wish there was something that was closer or things that had higher quality closer to my fingertips

And that's when Michelle launched Bloomington Farm and Feed, a direct-to-consumer backyard chicken farmer supplier in the Twin Cities

We're like Instacart for backyard farmers. And so it's like next day delivery

So a lot of people in the city, they're busy. They've got their families, the soccer moms, maybe their single parents, maybe their car broke down, whatever the case may be

We want them to be able to still have that high quality feed that they deserve, you know

Bloomington Farm and Feed is a family business that delivers products to customers within a 20-mile radius of the metro

And they provide more than just chicken feed. We do provide chicks and we deliver them to your front door if you live in the metro And so that has been just so rewarding to be able to have that for people And we always make sure that they have the right setup

Sometimes we help them with their setup just as a concierge to make sure

that they start off on the right foot with these little creatures

So it's been pretty fun. Business is booming. And Michelle's looking beyond the delivery-only business

that has her trekking across Minneapolis-St. Paul. Our sales from last year to this year was almost 200% in general

and that's just overall sales. We are in the process of looking for a storefront, actually

so that we can get a central location for people to come

and check out the merch themselves and ask questions and have a much larger supply or availability than what we currently have

On paper, raising chickens may sound easy, but there are things to be aware of

Hens are an easy keeper as long as you can keep the 50 different things that eat chickens out of them, right

From fox to coyotes to possum to raccoons to, you know, armadillos or whatever

If you live in the suburbs, you think it's cool. Your neighbors may not because you've got hens out there or maybe you go out and stir the stuff up and it smells a little bit one day

It's not necessarily a bad thing to do this. Your cost of production per egg, I don't know that you could argue that you're saving a lot of money

But none of that matters to the zimmers. And before you ask, no, they don't eat their backyard chicks once their egg-producing days have come to an end

For more on this story, go to san.com or the Straight Arrow News app

and search Backyard Chickens to learn more about backyard farmers and the businesses that support them