By David DeKok
HARRISBURG, Pa., July 21 (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania couple
has come up with a solution to soaring U.S. egg prices: Rental
chickens.
RentTheChicken.com is the brainchild of Jenn and Phil
Tompkins, of Freeport, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh.
More than just a cost-beater, they see their business as a way
to change how people think about food.
"It changes the mindset of people when they know where food
comes from," said Jenn Tompkins, 38. "Pretty soon they'll have
tomato plants and be turning the chicken manure into compost."
Since starting their home-based business in the summer of
2013, they have rented chickens, either directly or through
affiliates, to about 200 customers in 12 U.S. states as well as
Ontario and Prince Edward Island in Canada.
Interest has been spurred by a surge in U.S. egg prices,
which rose a record 85 percent last month after an outbreak of
bird flu led to the culling of millions of laying hens
nationally, according to U.S. Labor Department data.
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For about $400, depending on location, the service provides
two laying hens for the four to six warm months of the year,
plus a chicken coop and a guidebook.
The hens typically produce eight to 14 eggs a week, and at
the end of the rental period customers have the option of buying
the chickens or returning them.
Hope Stambaugh, 37, and her husband Paul, 40, rented four
hens this year for $600, which they are raising along with their
four young children in Export, Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh
suburb.
"I love the idea of knowing where my food comes from," Hope
Stambaugh said. "How special for my kids to see that food does
not necessarily come from the store."
Municipalities vary widely in their attitude toward urban
chicken farming. Philadelphia bans it, Tompkins said, while
Pittsburgh earlier this month relaxed its licensing requirements
to allow homeowners with lots of a minimum size to raise small
numbers of chickens, ducks or hornless goats, or to keep bees.
Stambaugh said she plans to buy the chickens, named Jessie,
Fluffy, Lacey and Princess, at the end of the rental period, and
is thinking about moving further out in the country to add a few
more.
(Editing by Scott Malone and Eric Walsh)