'Chick day' brings out new farmers for in-demand chickens

On "chick day" at Shur-Gain Feeds N Needs, the sound of peeping is loud and constant.

More than 2,500 'day-old' chicks peep and cheep their cheerful chorus while awaiting pick-up by farms across the province.

And due to COVID-19, the demand for these tiny balls of yellow and brown fluff has skyrocketed.

"We have noticed a huge increase in chick sales for this year," saidSara Hayes, the store's manager.

Hayes says this year they've ordered at least 50 per centmore chicks than last year.

Carboard boxes full of chicks are each labeledwith the names of their new owners.

Some boxes have several dozen chicks, but many of them have fewerthan ten. Most of those smaller containers are destined for families and backyards that have never hosted chickens before.

"Because of COVID, everybody's home, they have time on their hands," said Hayes, over the constant peeps. "And also, people are starting to realize that we have to eat. So why not grow your own food, whether that be in the garden or growing your own meat birds."

Fresh meat and fresh eggs are abig draw during the pandemic.

Hayes says the longer it persists the more demand she expects to see in the months to come.

"If you're in the citylimits,you're only allowed three," said Hayes. "But if you're outside ofFredericton, a lot of people are going with six to ten, so they're starting out small, just to get their feet wet."

"So,I would suspect that we're going to have increased numbers again next year if things go well this year."

Four chicks were the perfect number for AricLawrence'sfamily.

Like many New Brunswickers, he and his wife aretrying their hand at chicken farming for the first time.

"I have a lot of friends who have been getting into chickens and everything else too, so we'd been thinking about doing it, and this year with everything going the way it is with COVID, it was time to start getting into it on our own," said Lawrence.

Food security has been top of mind forLawrence.

"We just started looking at what we have on our property and what kind of space we have available and what we can do," said Lawrence.

After spending much of last month building a large garden, he felt ready to move on to farmingprotein.

"I thought it was a good idea to get some chickens because we'll be able to get some eggs out of them," said Lawrence. "We've started with four, but we might work our way up to ten."

Lawrence saidgetting chickens was something he and his familyhad previously considered. But this year the pandemic pushed them into the decision. Given the unknowns with the coronavirus, he's been preparing for the worst - and that included farming their own food.

"Now it just seemed like it was the only way to go," said Lawrence.