But, he said, if you really want them, make sure to watch out for any signs of illness, like lethargy or decreased appetite. If you see any, stay away. “If they are sick, you need to not touch them whatsoever,” Dr. Hopkins said. “And if you really have to, you need to use protective equipment.” (He said it was safe to touch chickens as long as they were not sick, but he did recommend taking precautions: “Even if you are refilling an outdoor bird feeder, go outside and feed them and then come inside and wash your hands with soap and water. Don’t touch your eyes and mouth.”)
And while egg prices have received a lot of press coverage, these rentals will not help save money. Prices vary by location, but in Long Island, for example, it costs $1,195 to rent four chickens for three months from Rent the Chicken. If the chickens produce up to 28 dozen eggs in total, each dozen would have to cost about $42 to break even financially.
Rental companies say their clients are after the certainty of having fresh eggs, not cheap prices. And they do not want to wait until summer.
“When people make their reservations now, they are like, ‘How soon can we get the chickens?’” Ms. Tompkins of Rent the Chicken said. “There is more of an urgency.”
“I started getting calls around January,” said Mr. DeFrancesco of Farmer Joe’s Gardens, whose calls normally start in the spring. “I think what we are seeing is people wanting to have some security with their food sources. They want to know where their food is coming from and have some control over it.”
Michelle Woeber, 56, an environmental scientist who lives outside Pittsburgh, is entering her fifth season with Rent the Chicken and can’t wait for her chickens to be delivered in the next month. (She tries to get the same hens — Mabel, Helga, Sapphire and Ethel — every year. “You get to know their personalities,” she said.)
