Amidst egg shortage, chickens now popular in San Mateo County

But each time there is a shortage, Cardona notices an increased interest to raise chickens among her new and potential customers. Some are well prepared, but many require additional education. 

“Every time there’s an egg shortage it happens. People call and they go, ‘oh I just want chicks,’ and then they show up and they have no idea what goes into raising a chick,” she said. “Now I’m at the point where if I sell chicks to people I make sure they understand the checklist of things they have to have on hand. Otherwise, I won’t even bother selling them.” 

The business is sold out of chicks until May, but she still receives about 30 calls daily from prospective buyers. 

“We have zero ads, and our website has been down. It’s absolutely insane how many calls I’m getting a day,” she said.

Half Moon Bay Feed and Fuel has also seen a spike in interest from potential customers, even though it is not selling baby chicks at the moment due to bird flu concerns. 

"We usually do get more calls any way this time of year, but we are also starting to get more first-time people who want to have chicks and raise them,” said one Half Moon Bay Feed and Fuel employee who preferred not to be named. “Same thing happened with COVID.”

The pandemic is a big reason why San Mateo resident Jeff Lewis and his family started raising chickens. After repeated requests from his young daughter, he bought several chicks, and the family has been raising chickens ever since. It was a steep learning curve, as baby chicks are difficult to care for, needing a certain amount of light and heat to survive, not to mention protection from rats, raccoons and other animals. 

“The one issue we had with neighbors was when the chicks were young. We didn’t know the sex, and we ended up having a couple roosters. They were loud all the time, so the neighbor next door said something. … I got rid of it and then two weeks later [found out] there was another one,” he said. 

Similar to those who bought dogs in 2020, Lewis said he’s noticed some people wanting to get rid of their chickens now that the pandemic is over. 

“After two, three, four years, sometimes they don’t want them anymore,” he said.  

Since COVID, there has been another surge in demand for home chickens, as the avian flu has wreaked havoc across poultry factories nationwide. The virulent disease spreads quickly among chickens in close quarters, which tends to impact mass-production farms the most. 

“Once one bird comes back positive for it you have to kill the entire flock,” Cardona said. “Part of the reason is because there is no way for you to take 20,000 or 200,000 birds and put them 10 feet apart in open air spaces, while you test every single bird. It’s not really feasible for them to avoid. With home chickens, you can absolutely avoid it.”

Backyard chickens can still contract the illness though, especially if they’re in an open area where wild birds can mingle with the chickens. Last month, a backyard chicken tested positive for the illness in San Mateo, as did a stray cat in Half Moon Bay. And while residents need a permit to raise chickens on their private properties in San Mateo — up to 10 chickens per lot — there isn’t followup to ensure compliance unless they receive a complaint, Code Enforcement Manager Eugene Alper said. The code is also pretty silent on what you can do with the chickens, he added. 

In January, a North Central resident was found to have more than 30 chickens on their property without a permit. 

The city has issued about 18 permits since 2019, which is the same number of violation notices that have been issued between 2023-24. 

Still, the risk of humans contracting avian flu is low, and there haven’t been any cases of individuals with bird flu in the county thus far. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control, the disease is not a food-borne illness, and there aren’t any reported incidents of humans contracting it from ingesting cooked poultry, even if the flock tested positive. Though rare, individuals could contract the bird flu through direct contact with an infected animal or contaminated surfaces.

The signs of a chicken with bird flu are pretty obvious, with swollen, bugged-out eyes and mucus in their nostrils, which can cause difficulty breathing — underscoring the need for educated owners, Cardona said. That also means being prepared for potential cost increases just to keep them alive. You may not have to worry about the egg shortage and subsequent price hikes if you raise your own chickens, but other costs, like the surge in feed costs, will impact overall savings, she said. Just four years ago, theURBANkitchen sold chicks for $5 each, and now they’re $25 each. Not only have hatcheries increased their prices, but feed costs have more than doubled as well. 

Raising chickens may come with a learning curve — and upfront cost — but both Cardona and Lewis have said the experience has produced many valuable lessons, especially for their children. In addition to raising chickens, Cardona’s family also grows fruit and vegetables using seeds from the food they consume, a regenerative philosophy that she says is central to her personal and professional life. 

“We get a lot of people coming back. Every time we eat fruit I plant the seeds, so I grow fruit trees year-round. Now we’re at a point where if you buy a chicken, you’re walking home with a fruit tree,” se said. “I give food away. You never know when prices of things are going to go up, and if you know how to grow it, you don’t have to pay for it.”