Farmer in Oklahoma gets creative as egg prices surge

A farmer in Oklahoma shared with News 9 last week that he started renting out his birds and coops amid the nationwide bird flu outbreak. 

An agriculture expert says there are no immediate signs that prices will go back down anytime soon. Inflation is partially behind the rise in costs, but the 2022 avian flu outbreak is still impacting supply.

LEARN MORE: Oklahoma's Own In Focus: Understanding the surge in egg prices

The goal of Rent-A-Coop is to encourage more people to farm chicken, farmer Craig Beam explained. 

“This program would be great for somebody who’s just starting out,” he began. “It’s $500 for the coop and four birds for six months because I provide the feed, the litter- everything up front.” 

Beam said he is not renting the birds and coops out for profit. 

“It's a loss—a big loss for us, but it'll be great. I want to get people introduced into chickens and stuff like that. We'll recoup the losses wherever we can.” 

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He added that he is willing and prepared to build new coops if the demand increases “because I could repurpose them next year if I needed to as well.” 

For those with fenced-in areas, “you can free range them if you want, but ideally you keep them away from predators.” 

Beam laughed, “It’s kind of like a stress reliever—a therapy type thing too—or you just might hate them,” in which case, the renter could return the birds back to the farm. 

He received feedback from people renting coops from him: “They love it.” 

However, renting a coop is not cheaper than buying eggs at the grocery store, even as prices soar, he said. 

“But that's not what we're teaching. We’re teaching self-sufficiency and knowing that you can go to the store and they can be completely out of eggs, yet you still have your eggs at your house.” 

There are no permits or fees required to raise chickens or quail in Oklahoma City, although enforcement is on a complaint basis. 

MORE COVERAGE: Rising egg prices leave Oklahomans scrambling for alternatives