[gerdesj]

"The big suppliers can ratchet up prices with zero consequences. What are you gonna do about it?"

If I was that bothered about eggs, I'd simply grow my own. Americans on average have way more space to mess around in than say most Europeans - the place is fucking huge. Chickens are very easy to "grow your own".

I'm not an American and clearly you have managed to get your collective knickers in a twist over a non issue, which almost certainly means that there is a bigger picture and a rather more important issue that really needs fixing.

Please stop fiddling whilst Rome burns.

[gnufied]

A lot of Americans live in houses and neighborhoods where keeping chickens is simply not allowed.

Source: just got done cutting some pine trees on a hill behind my house because we got a notice. They will absolutely throw a fit, if we kept chickens

[potato3732842]

The problem isn't the laws and the prices and the monopolies and all that stuff.

The problem is that people don't see anything wrong or shameful about being the person who was bitching about the noises roosters make in 2017 and then also being the person bitching about inflexible supply chains and egg prices in 2025.

If it wasn't eggs it'd be some other thing.

[t-3]

Every state has right-to-farm laws. Most only protect commercial farming, but not all and sometimes the definition of commercial is rather loose, so it might be worth looking into.

[smcin]

But those are often trumped by county or municipal laws. e.g. Most urban/suburban parts of California either restrict or require permits to raise backyard chickens (also, predators are a huge problem):

https://www.omlet.us/guide/chickens/laws_about_keeping_chick...

https://www.quora.com/Are-backyard-chickens-legal-in-Califor...

(Palo Alto: Up to six hens. Mountain View: Up to four hens. Los Altos: One hen per 1000 sq feet, no permit required. Sunnyvale: Zoning laws apply. Santa Clara: zoning restrictions apply. San Jose: Up to six without a permit, up to 20 with a permit. San Mateo: Up to 10 birds, depending on plot size, with a minimum plot requirement of 2500 sq feet (excludes most people). No permit required. San Francisco: Up to four, roosters allowed, no permit required. Oakland: No number restrictions, no permit required. Berkeley: No number restrictions, no permit required, roosters allowed. Anarchy!)

What we need roundabout now is a webcam campaign/tutorial on legal backyard chicken raising...

[throwaway2037]

    > San Francisco: Up to four, roosters allowed, no permit required

Holy shit: SF is really dense in some areas, but people still have backyards, e.g., Mission District. Can you imagine being surrounded by neighbors with roosters crowing when the sun rises? It would be hell.

[smcin]

No idea about how viable this in each of those cities, but maybe 2025 is the time for us to go read https://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/ (similar to bleach, hand-sanitizer and toilet paper in 2020.) Yes the noise around dawn is why roosters are sometimes restricted (or make your neighbors way more likely to complain). My neighbor in San Jose had a rooster that crowed 25% of mornings.

I should have said above the $$$ reason predators are a huge problem in urban/suburban areas is you can't legally shoot them/ use BB guns, and it's near-impossible to use poison (if you have pets or small kids, or your neighbors' pets pass through). So if you regularly have to spend $500++ on a professional exterminator for a single fox or raccoon, there goes your entire $ viability. It's not at all like a farm in a rural county. HN business idea: is there any multiple infrared camera security setup that can behaviorally distinguish between predators vs your own pet, in the middle of the night? without needing to AirTag your pets?

[genewitch]

I have my own and I don't even like eggs that much. I do however like their noises, and for pest control, so I keep getting new birds.

$33 for 6 birds, last month. They're not fully feathered yet.

[Dban1]

noise control?

[jay_kyburz]

Probably means the noise, ie clucking, not noise control.

[genewitch]

yes, i forgot a comma, your sibling is right, i like the noises they make, especially at night when they're sleeping.

[bdangubic]

you cannot just wake up and decide to grow your own, it is regulated heavily :)

[jay_kyburz]

Here are my local laws, not too crazy.

https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/View/di/2010-89/current/h...

[bdangubic]

sorry mate - I was referring to the USA without saying so :)