ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Lollypop Farm hosts a class on keeping backyard chickens — covering the advantages, disadvantages and important fundamentals to know as more people gain an interest in having their own chickens.

What You Need To Know

  • Egg prices continue to climb, amid threats of bird flu, residents have turned to backyard chickens as a solution

  • While New York state doesn't have a blanket ban on backyard chickens, local municipalities have the authority to regulate or prohibit them

  • Lollypop Farm hosts a backyard chickens course to focus all about chicken care, from behavior and health to legality and coop maintenance

The rise in raising chickens began during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, staff has seen a resurgence as egg prices increase due to threats of bird flu. 

“With the soaring egg prices, many people are getting chicks that never got chicks before,” Lollypop Farm farm manager Mary Miller said. “So we just want to make sure that they know how to properly take care of them.”

And as people begin to shell out their own eggs, farm manager Mary Miller hosts a free backyard chicken course with Lollypop Farm, sharing the logistics about raising backyard chickens, which often can be a tough topic to crack.

“It's really important to reach out to the community and answer people's questions, because there's a lot of people that really want to do good for their animals, and so they need the right resources to help them,” Miller said. “And that they keep them and have them nice and healthy in their homes, and then also just educate people. We want to make sure that people have their chickens humanely and give them a good life.”

From chicken care, to behavior, health and coop maintenance, Miller takes participants under her wing. She's making sure its guests prepare for a flock of their own — it can be a safe and ‘egg’cellent time.

“I've always been a huge animal lover,” Miller said. “I love talking about chickens. I have my own chickens at home. I can talk about them all day. We get a lot of people who call us who get chicks, and the next day they're like, oh my gosh, I didn't realize there was so much upkeep. So definitely make sure you do your research before you go out and get any new animal.”