BOTHELL — At the Bothell Feed Center, baby hens are hot, and not only because they spend their days under a heat lamp.
The feed center has sold a large variety of chicks for years. Lately, however, sales have been more brisk than usual, said assistant manager Connie Cross.
The store gets about 150 chicks a week from hatcheries, and sales have been steady, though employee Casey DeBardi said “we noticed it being a little busier this year. We think it’s probably because of the economy.”
Bothell Feed Center isn’t the only place that’s noticed an uptick in hen sales.
Rory Bryant, manager of Monroe Farm and Feed, said his store is selling about 1,000 chicks a week. Three years ago, he said, they sold about 400 of the birds a week.
“When I placed my order this year, my first two orders were actually sold out by Saturday, in two days,” he said. “I actually called the hatchery and doubled my order.”
He said employees have seen an increase in the number of people who buy six or fewer birds and a decrease in the number of people who buy 50 to 100 birds, typically hobby farmers.
“We’re getting a significant number of clientele from the Seattle area who are coming for four to six birds,” he said.
In years past, customers at the Bothell Feed Center might buy the standard egg-laying hens such as the buff Orpington or Rhode Island red.
This year, employees have noticed customers are increasingly interested in exotic chicken varieties such as silver-laced Wyandottes, Jersey giants, Dorkings or Russian Orloffs. Still, the best egg-laying hens — the Orpingtons and Rhode Island reds — are most popular, Cross said.
City regulations about chicken ownership vary. The city of Mill Creek allows up to six hens per 7,200-square-foot lot.
Cross said the store provides new chicken owners with information about the best ways to raise their hens.
“We do answer a lot of questions,” she said. “We try to provide books that are easy to follow.”
Why buy chicks rather than full grown hens?
“If you want a tamer chicken, I recommend you raise them from chicks and you interact with them. They get used to your voice,” Cross said.
Customers have been asking for organic feed, she said.
“It makes them feel more comfortable and they know how it’s produced,” she said.
Cross said she got into raising hens after beginning work at the Bothell Feed Center. Now she’s hooked.
“It’s addicting,” she said. “They become pets, too. It’s one of the pets that gives back.”
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