Rent The Chicken business taking wing
SOUTH BUFFALO TWP, Armstrong County — Nine years ago Phil and Jenn Tompkins hatched a home business that Jenn could run when her job in academia ended.
Today, the chickens have literally come home to roost as their business, Rent The Chicken, and its offshoots keep both Tompkins busy full time.
Rent The Chicken provides customers with two to four egg-laying hens, a coop, food dish, water dish and food for a five-to-six-month rental. Also included is a copy of the book “Fresh Eggs Daily” by Lisa Steele to help chicken renters tend their flock.
Jenn Tompkins said the business was born of necessity.
“My research program (at Howard Community College in Columbia, Md.) was coming to an end. Phil was already working remotely from home in IT before it was cool,” she said. “I was looking for something I could do from home. I Googled crazy business ideas and they listed chicken rentals.”
“I said, ‘You want to rent chickens?’ We didn’t know what that conversation was going to lead to,” she said.
In the first year, she said, “We knew it wouldn’t be easy to take on. We decided to do some research and development. We put out feelers to people to rent a chicken for free. We had no takers.
“Finally, my mother’s friend in Indiana County said she would take a free coop,” said Jenn Tompkins. “I think my mother paid her.”
Phil Tompkins said his wife built 54 chicken coops in their front yard. But as the business took wing, the Tompkins were able to outsource the coop-building,
Today, they said they rent out 70 coops, and the accompanying chickens, a year during the rental season, which runs from April to October or May through November.
Jenn Tompkins said a two-chicken coop can produce up to 12 eggs a week and rents for $485. A four-chicken coop can produce up to two dozen eggs a week and rents for $685.
Rent The Chicken will deliver the birds, coop and accompanying materials for free within a 50-mile radius of their South Buffalo Township base.
The coops are equipped with wheels so the renters can move the coop around their yards, giving their chickens access to the insects in the grass and preventing a buildup of droppings.
Jenn Tompkins said customers can soon tell the chickens apart and can name them. Laverne and Shirley are popular names, she said, as well as the characters from “The Golden Girls.”
“People can interact with them. They can recognize up to 100 faces. They really are amazing creatures,” she said. And because no roosters are included in the rentals, there’s not chance of crowing disturbing the neighbors or the renters.
It’s a given that sometimes chickens get ill or predators find crafty ways to have chicken for lunch. The chickens will be replaced free of charge within the free delivery areas as long as the death of the Rent The Chicken was not due to neglect.
At any time, the customer can adopt the chickens for good or “chicken out” and return them back to the homestead.
The eggs come in a variety of colors: white, brown and greenish blue, but that they all taste the same.
The Tompkins say their chickens produce a high-quality egg because they are not cramped in a factory farm setting.
Phil Tompkins said, “Our chickens are more relaxed. They’re not pacing in a cage. There’s less stress. Most factory chickens don’t have access to sunlight.”
Phil Tompkins said their business helps families bring one food source closer to their table.
He said, “I think that is definitely a factor. People want to know where their food is coming from. They want a local food source and a more sustainable food source.”
The Tompkins have even started a second business, Hatch The Chicken, where customers can rent an incubator and seven fertilized eggs. For five weeks, renters can watch eggs hatch and the chicks grow. Once they’re bigger and not as cute, the chicks are picked up and taken to a farm to finish their growth.
The Tompkins plan to show off Rent The Chicken during the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show March 3 through 12 at the Pittsburgh Convention Center. They can be reached at their website, www.RentTheChicken.com.
