The call to IT was strange. A Cochin rooster had by chance modified the password of a money register and someone had to come back and unlock the money register.
“We had to explain the situation – a chicken changed the password and we don’t know what it is and he won’t give it out,” said Sue Cristante, the fluffy bird’s owner. She had brought her pet chickens to work and dressed them up as bumblebees to advertise the supply of beehives to shoppers on the Peavey Mart ironmongery shop in Ontario, Canada. “It took a while for them to respond.”
In the shop, 56-year-old Cristante offers her expertise to customers who’re constructing their very own herds. Before the pandemic, the corporate probably sold one chicken coop per 12 months. “Now we can’t keep them in stock,” she said. “Chickens have really caught on.”
In the US the $30 billion retailer Tractor supply hopes to capitalize on how much people have valued their chickens. While they often use chicken farming to live a more sustainable lifestyle and have a guaranteed source of fresh eggs for breakfast, people have fallen in love with them.
“Chickens are truly the new third pet out there,” says Hal Lawton, CEO of Tractor Supply told CNBC on April twenty fifth. “The vast majority of our customer base participates in this category and views them as pets – they name them, care for them that way and it has been a great new source of growth for us over the last five years or so.”
Among the corporate’s 34 million customers who take part in its loyalty program, one in five own chickens, he added.
The chicks themselves cost $3 to $4 each – but once a customer starts constructing a flock, they’ll need chicken coops, heaters, feeders and waterers. The average flock size for patrons is 14 birds, although nearly 30% of the corporate’s customers who raise chickens have 20 birds or more.
“In America, the new pet is the chicken,” Chief Financial Officer Kurt Barton said in a press release Assets.
Last 12 months the corporate sold 11 million chicks, greater than twice as many as ten years ago. In 2022, the corporate launched the Impeckables brand to appeal to poultry lovers. The branded items include chicken toys reminiscent of: xylophone, TambourineAnd fruity treats mixed with mealworms — they usually were “all the rage this year,” said Nicole Logan, senior vice chairman of general merchandising at Tractor Supply.
The company also has its “Chick days” Events. What was once a six-week project with live birds in the shop for families to tackle a Saturday outing is now a project eight-month event with fluffy tufts Chicks on display in stores under heat lamps with food and water. The company’s goal is to be a one-stop shop for anyone seeking to bring home chickens and begin a backyard flock.
A 2024 study on attitudes toward chickens found that 13% of U.S. households now own a complete of 85 million backyard chickens, with a median of 5 per owner. A survey of two,000 chicken keepers as a part of the study found that just about 90% were women. Of the 20% who said they cared for chickens with health or other issues reminiscent of special needs or disabilities, flock owners said they used chicken wheelchairs, walkers or a hammock to support birds with broken backs. About 82% of homeowners said they arrange a chicken sitter after they go away for the weekend, and 12% said they let their chickens into the home every time they need.
However, this brings with it one among the one downsides to chickens – their toilet habits. “If you sit on the couch with your chickens and watch TV, you’re bound to get pooped on,” Cristante said. She runs an Etsy shop, Chickenwear by Sue, where she sells colourful hand-sewn chicken diapers and takes special orders. She has shipped fashionable chicken clothing to customers in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City and almost every state within the U.S., she said. For a client in England who had a pet chicken at her wedding reception, Cristante made a dress with a white satin harness, a small veil and tiny pearls, with a burgundy bow on the back to match the groomsmen. “It was a very interesting project,” she said. In New York City, a customer asked for a Halloween costume and Cristante sent vampire outfits with removable capes and bat wings.
“Chickens – if you’ve never been around them and don’t know – they have their own personalities, and some of them are very affectionate and smart,” Cristante said. She described a well-liked breed of fluffy chickens often called Silkies, “like giant balls of cotton.” They are very docile and straightforward to look after and, frankly, make superb pets.”
Trish Sie, 53, a movie director within the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, began with a half-dozen chicks and a chicken coop from Williams-Sonoma. The flock grew after the chickens “exceeded all expectations as to how fun it would be to keep them as pets,” she said. “They all have different temperaments and personalities. You will learn their names and provides you with a reputation.” She, who directed movies like Pitch Perfect 3 And playerdoes too Video content along with her chickensincluding dances and music videos.
“I have such a strong bond with our dogs and they are like man’s best friend for a reason because they love people,” she said. “But with chickens you have to earn their trust because you’re a big thing for them to eat.” Currently, her family has 11 chickens and a rooster named Brian.
She thought it was just her imagination at first, when she realized that the chickens all made the identical noise after they saw her. But after looking into it, she learned that chickens have names for various things of their lives. After being on a movie set for 3 months, she got here home late at night after the chickens had already gone to bed. Just before midnight she crept to the chicken coop to see them roosting and whispered, “Hello chickens.” Three woke up and clicked sleepily with the sound that’s their “chicken name” to you.
Her favorite Ruby sadly passed away last summer. The bird had a protracted life with you. Once, when Ruby was affected by a cloacal prolapse, a standard problem in female birds, she allowed Ruby to be held for several hours while her husband gently “reset” the organ along with his hands. Ruby lived for an additional three years after that. “That’s what they allow you to do if they just trust you,” she said. A jeweler friend recreates Ruby’s foot in sterling silver with inlaid onyx stones; She plans to wear the piece round her neck in honor of Ruby.
Tractor Supply’s Lawton says the chicken boom is partly on account of urban areas being unaffordable for Millennials and Gen Zers as an entire. One of the few areas where these demographic cohorts can afford to buy homes are the suburban, exurban and rural parts of the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service found that migration to rural areas increased by an element of 45 between 2020 and 2022 in comparison with the period before the pandemic.
“We believe that the sense of community that exists in our markets, and perhaps more importantly, the ability to secure a property at a reasonable price, has ensured that the rural migration trend will continue for the time being,” said Lawton through the company’s conference call last week.
Once there, the Millennial and Gen Z generations are striving for cleaner lives by growing vegatables and fruits and raising chickens, Logan said. The poultry category is a gateway to a more sustainable lifestyle, she said. Additionally, this demographic is willing to spend more on organic ingredients. A decade ago, organic chicken feed accounted for 1% of the corporate’s poultry feed sales; Now it’s over 10%, she added.
“I wake up every day and think, ‘How can I get more people excited about this?'” Logan said.
