Gary Watson, a Clark County resident, started raising chickens after retirement, a gift to his wife Joyce and their visiting grandchildren.
“We started out with an enclosed garden,” says Watson. While collecting Amish yard ornaments, the couple ended up adding a chicken house too. They started with eight chickens. Then, others began dropping off birds at their home – birds the Watsons gladly accepted.
What began with basic plastic fencing eventually grew into a major property upgrade. The Watsons built a wooden-fenced run with bird netting for a lucky flock of 17 Black Australorps and Rhode Island Reds, now protected from the increased threat of flying predators.
For most backyard poultry hobbyists, the motivations are a mix of recreation, egg production and avoiding grocery store sticker shock.
The U.S. egg market has
stabilized in recent months, after nearly half a year of price hikes fueled by widespread bird flu outbreaks. Large-scale poultry operations in Western Ohio were
forced to depopulate and consumers faced steep prices at grocery stores.
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Jake ZajkowskiBackyard chicken breeds, Black Australorps and Rhode Island Reds, roam a chicken run.In the wake of this year’s shortages, interest in backyard poultry has soared in Clark County and across the state. Whether for eggs, meat, or recreation, keeping chickens at home is gaining ground, and it comes in all shapes and sizes.
Many neighbors are encouraging others to join the urban farming trend, even as they weigh the long-term challenges and viability of what was once a mostly rural practice.
According to the
United States Department of Agriculture’s 2022 data, Clark County is home to 136 poultry flocks ranging from 1 to 99 birds, a modest number for a state like Ohio, which ranks second in the nation for egg production.
While these figures are just a census capture of meat and egg laying birds, many more birds are being raised locally, says Pamela Bennett, master gardener volunteer program director and extension horticulture educator for Clark County with The Ohio State University. She explains 2025 has been a standout year in her career when it comes to backyard poultry interest.
Bennett and her team have received a surge of phone calls, workshop requests and general interest this year alone. “COVID was all about gardening,” she says, before adding that 2025 has been the year of rising egg prices and backyard chicken flocks.
Farm supply chains are feeling the effects, too. Rural King, farm stores and hatcheries have reported
increased poultry-related sales in 2025. Employees at the Upper Valley Pike Rural King say this year’s demand for live poultry has outpaced even the rush seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Jake ZajkowskiRural King store on Upper Valley Pike sells a variety of chicks and ducklings throughout the year.Both store staff and extension agents attribute the renewed backyard farming craze to pandemic-era self-sufficiency and this year’s “egg-flation.” Employees noted that ducks have been especially popular, despite the predictable spike in poorly managed pet gifts around Christmas and Easter.
“Backyard poultry is not like getting a dog and people need to really understand what it takes to raise chickens,” says Bennett.
In response, OSU Extension has ramped up support for new flock owners across the state. The agency is offering training, workshops and an online certificate program to help would-be chicken keepers start off strong. Bennett points to the
$25 online Backyard Poultry Certificate Course as a reliable starting point for learning best practices.
Preparing for a flock starts with simple information, such as reminding new farmers that chickens don't lay eggs year-round and they slow down in winter. Chicks and young poultry should also be sourced from a reliable supplier: a registered hatchery. Additionally, biosecurity is crucial in the era of avian influenza. So far in 2025, 74 commercial flock premises in Ohio have been infected,
according to Ohio Department of Agriculture data. No backyard flocks have been reported, and infections appear to be slowing down, but caution is still recommended. Finally, predator prevention tops the list of concerns, as even semi-urban environments, like Springfield, can host significant wildlife threats.
Watson, now the incoming president of the Clark County Master Gardener group, says he has learned many of these lessons through Extension.
For the design of their coop, “it all comes down to roosting bars,” says Watson. “You know how much space you have that the chickens are willing to share.”
His expansive chicken house has a garden, a coop and a netted run, which are all connected. It’s an upscale home for their 17 chickens. One of them, a rooster named Harry, sports two-inch spurs and keeps watch over the hens from predators – most of the time.
Predators remain Watson’s biggest challenge. Hawks are deterred by bird netting. Raccoons are caught in the traps he sets: seven this year, 14 last year. This concern is echoed by other backyard flock keepers and Clark County experts.
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Jake ZajkowskiGary Watson sits in his chicken run, protected from predators by bird netting and wooden fencing.
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Jake ZajkowskiAn automatic chicken door serves as a possible solution to protecting poultry in backyard environments.
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Jake ZajkowskiBird netting serves as a possible solution to protecting poultry in backyard environments.
The Jordan family in German Township got their first chicks at the request of their third-grade son.
Year after year, the family lost chickens—sometimes one at a time, other times all at once. They speculate on the culprit: weasels, raccoons, hawks, or even black bears spotted in the county just miles away.
Clark County, like many semi-rural areas, is a patchwork of farms and neighborhoods just miles from city limits, and a host of wild animals linger.
They noticed patterns over the years. “Weasels kill for sport and leave carcasses,” says Joe Jordan. “Other land critters are omnivores,” and they make the chickens disappear.
Their chicken coop and run have been upgraded over the years, along with their management strategies. During high-risk seasons, they tried keeping the chickens inside the coop more, limiting free-ranging to a few hours before locking them up each night.
Still, the Jordans say the flock’s output was worth it. It was “enough to feed us and to share,” one of them noted. “We’re eating more eggs because we have a source.”
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Jake ZajkowskiThe Jordan Family’s empty chicken coop sits on their property.
With creeks on both sides of their five-acre property, the Jordans learned the hard way that unsupervised yard time spelled danger for their semi-free-range flock. Today, their coop sits empty due to predators — for now.
As new and returning flock keepers across Clark County build coops, attend workshops and share tips on predators and poultry breeds, one thing is clear: backyard birds aren’t just a passing trend.