Feb 19, 2025 - News

Chicken rentals are available in Nashville amid egg shortage

Illustration of a welcome mat with chicken footprints. — Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios

One way to deal with the egg shortage: rent chickens.

Why it matters: Nashvillians looking for a reliable egg source without a huge commitment could try keeping backyard chickens for a few months.

Rent The Chicken offers delivery and setup up of a coop on wheels, two or four young egg-laying hens, chicken feed, and food dishes for a five-to-six month rental period in Nashville.

The one-time cost to have two hens from spring through fall is $495 in Middle Tennessee.

Zoom in: Davidson County residents can own backyard chickens, but for most properties it requires a permit.

The city's website has tips on taking care of hens, maintaining coops and the permitting process.

Zoom out: 11 million U.S. households have backyard chickens, making chickens the third most popular pet in the country, according to the latest data from the American Pet Products Association (APPA).

That's way more than in 2018 (5.8 million), according to APPA data.

State of play: 2025 is already shaping up to be a big year for backyard chickens (as was 2020), according to Jenn Tompkins, co-owner of Rent The Chicken.

She's taking reservations now for rentals to start in April or May.
"People truly want to know where their food's coming from [and] they're not trusting that the grocery store is going to have what they need," Tompkins tells Axios.

Go deeper: Read Axios' Carly Mallenbaum's story about the rising popularity of backyard chickens.

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Chicken rentals are available in Nashville amid egg shortage

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