DUHAMEL, Alta. – Debbie Schielke carefully lifts the day old chicks out of their cardboard transport box, dips their beaks in water and sets them on straw in their new home.
Schielke has raised chickens on her central Alberta farm for 20 years and has learned a few tricks to raising newborn birds.
She has put those tricks to good use, turning her farmyard hobby into a business growing broiler chickens.
“Certain people want to know where their food comes from and where it was raised, and they like the taste,” said Schielke, who will raise 800 broiler chickens in three batches this year.
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Schielke’s customers are part of a growing number of Canadians who are interested in raising their own chickens or buying directly from farmers who raise their own.
Kevin Berg of Berg Hatchery in Russell, Man., said the business doesn’t sell the same number of chicks as it did in the 1970s and 1980s, but there has been a steady growth in the past 15 years in customers wanting to raise their own chickens. Farm customers, acreage owners and Hutterite colonies are his main customers.
The third generation hatchery owner said the main difference between him and his father and grandfather is the sales area.
Most small towns used to have their own hatcheries, but today’s businesses sell to customers across the Prairies, making deliveries or shipping the birds by mail or air.
“I can have 3,000 chicks in the truck, but they’re in 50 different boxes for 50 different customers. That’s what makes it confusing.”
Travis Young of Buckerfield’s Store in Saanich, B.C., said he’s seen a growing interest in raising chickens from hobby farmers and those who want a few hens for their backyards.
“There’s a lot of backyard chickening happening and the hobby farmers are getting them in bigger quantities,” said Young.
Recent decisions by Vancouver Island municipalities to allow four or five hens and a rooster in urban backyards have increased interest in chickens.
Young said he also sells a lot of books and manuals to help guide the new growers.
“I don’t think it’s for everyone. Some people romanticize it.”
Tom Devries, co-owner of the Smithers Feed Store in Smithers, B.C., said the number of customers for chicks hasn’t changed in the last 10 years.
Most of the interest comes from small acreage owners who buy 25 to 50 chicks each spring to raise and put in the freezer.
Keith Lepoudre, agriculture manager of the Turtleford Co-op in Turtleford, Sask., said the number of chickens his store sells is slowly increasing. Interest is mostly from acreage residents who want to give their children the experience of raising chickens.
“I had a family with four children who came in and ordered three types of chickens, ducks and turkeys and they all were excited about their project,” he said.
Most orders are for 75 to 100 chicks for the freezer and 25 laying hens every two years.
Michelle Syzmesko of Wadena Coop in Wadena, Sask., said this year’s cool weather has slowed spring chick orders, but she expects orders to pick up in May when the weather improves.
“They’re hesitating because of the weather.”
