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Every time the price of eggs jumps, somebody decides it’s time they get their own chickens so they can have their own eggs and not have to pay prices they don’t like.

I know a few things about farming and chickens. You might want to rethink that and pay the higher prices, which aren’t really that high.

It’s true that the best eggs are those produced by your own chickens. You know what you’re putting into the hen’s mouth, so you have quality control over what’s going to come out the other end of the hen.

When we were keeping chickens, our flock ranged in size based on a set of variables, including predators and mortality, but generally, there were about 100 hens. We supplied them with organic food and allowed them to free-range in grass pastures where they had a ready supply of earthworms, grubs and vegetation.

Organic eggs from chickens that are given good food and habitat are more valuable. I’m sure that’s what thieves who stole 100,000 Nellie’s Free Range eggs from a delivery truck in Pennsylvania this week were thinking. That shipment was valued at $40,000, or $4.80 a dozen. Maybe they were hoping to sell them to Waffle House, which announced this week a 50-cent per egg surcharge.

That’s 40 cents per Nellie egg. Two eggs for breakfast would cost you 80 cents. Or, you could take that 80 cents to Starbucks and buy yourself two tablespoons of a Grande Java Chips Frappuccino. You’ll want to lick that spoon real good.

When prices soar as they have recently, it’s amusing to see people who know nothing about laying hens posting on various social media platforms that they are hoping to buy some chickens for egg production. So my chickens are laying highly sought-after eggs, and you want me to sell those chickens to you? Really?

Back in our farming days, we were known to give away a few of our top layers to youngsters who wanted to learn about chickens, and their parents were willing to spend a few hundred dollars to create a backyard setup. No,w those are expensive eggs. 

So here’s my advice, free of charge because of its dubious value, for those thinking of getting into chickens.

Read and understand Murphy’s Law. Understand ROI (return on investment). Know how to build a fence no predator, wild or domestic, can get through. Prepare yourself for heartbreak, for it will come.

Or, do what I do: buy local eggs no matter the price and eat them as though it’s your last day of freedom.

Larry McDermott is a local retired farmer/journalist. Reach him at hardscrabblehollow@gmail.com