Salute to Idaho Agriculture: Raising Backyard Chickens

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — With the recent spike in egg prices, you might consider raising your chickens.

“Once they are out ranging, they are so easy to take care of they’re so fun to watch and they give you healthy nutritious eggs,” said Alyssa Zabala, a local chicken farmer.

She also mentioned that chickens can be a fun pet to add to your property. However, the cost of caring for them can vary.

“The chicks themselves, the brooder you can probably get cheap because they have cardboard ones,” said Zabala. “Then the heat lamps, they are not that expensive, but then you get expensive when you get into the coop, the water source and all that.”

Zabala said the setup can cost a few hundred dollars in total. The regulations within Twin Falls County might surprise you when it comes to ensuring you can have chickens on your property.

“People who are interested in raising chickens on their property, the one place I would look first is your CC & RS if you live in a subdivision within the county,” said John Laux, the director of Twin Falls County Community Development Services. “A lot of subdivisions have regulations that prohibit people from having chickens in their subdivision or on their property. That is where I would check first.”

Laux said that if you live in an area that is not a subdivision and want to own a small number of chickens, there is not much regulation.

Once you know the rules, Zabala said the most challenging part is just doing it.

“I would say that if you want to get started, you should do it,” Zabala said. “You see the ads or the memes, you want five chickens, get 10, it’s true. You go on to the farm store, you find your local egg hatcher, don’t just get five, get twenty.”

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