LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Elevated egg costs might trigger some to need to increase their very own laying hens. Feed shops across the valley have equipped for incoming chick shipments.
If you’re planning to beat the egg scarcity by elevating your personal, there are some things you want to know earlier than bringing them residence.
To begin with, you will not get eggs shortly.
“They won’t lay for several months,” Justin Battistone mentioned.
Justin Battistone is an animal handler who works at Jones Feed and Tack, one of many shops set to obtain chicks. He mentioned it takes about 4 months to get from chick to egg-laying hen.
In that point, you may must spend a bit more cash than a dozen eggs only for shopping for feed.
“You’re looking at around 23 to 25 dollars a bag. When we get into the layer feed, it depends now, because we have different types,” Battistone mentioned.
So, you have obtained the worth of feed squared away, and you’ve got picked up some chicks, you additionally want to fret in regards to the animals which are going to eat them.
“Especially with Nevada with the Red-tailed hawk out here, a lot of people don’t realize they got predators that are going to drop down and try to get the chicken,” Battistone mentioned.
So, construct a coop and regulate them. If you wish to get your flock began, you have to to come back shortly when it is time to purchase. The final time feed shops noticed folks speeding to purchase chicks was through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As soon as they figure it out, we’ve had lines. People get in line and go out the back way,” Battistone mentioned. “Especially when Covid originally hit, we had lines going out and all the way around.”
Proper now, it is too chilly for chicks to be shipped to the valley, however they’re going to be coming quickly. Chicks ought to arrive in shops across the begin of March.
