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Nationwide, online searches related to backyard chicken coops have increased, causing experts to predict that backyard chicken coops are trending this summer, but plenty of Vail Valley locals have had coops for years.

While some might assume the skyrocketing cost of eggs has led to greater interest, as it turns out, it usually costs more to raise chickens, as opposed to paying for cartoons of eggs at the store. Costs can be offset by selling eggs, but most people own chickens simply for the love of it 鈥� as well as the taste of fresh eggs.

“The eggs are just delicious. Once you start eating fresh eggs, the other ones aren’t so good anymore,” said Eagle resident Kathy Chandler-Henry.

The family is just one of many who raise chickens in the Vail Valley. They had raised ducks, geese and turkey when their kids were in 4-H but have since simplified to chickens.

“Turkeys are big and make a big mess, so we thought it’d be fun to have some chickens in the yard to roam around,” she said. “Poultry has a lot more personality than you would expect. They are just very social, so if you go out and talk to them, they’ll chat back at you and come running over to see if you brought them a treat. They recognize my voice, especially because I’m the one who feeds them and talks to them, so if I go out the door and they see me, they’ll come running.”

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Still, some chickens show a bit of a mean streak; turns out that pecking order is a real thing.

“You can see the top chicken strutting around like a rooster,” she said.

Different breeds of hens also have various propensities for brooding, a hormonal drive to incubate eggs and hatch chickens. Chandler-Henry orders her chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa, which hatches and vaccinates them and then sends the chicks through the mail. The company offers various breeds, noting whether they’re heat- or cold-tolerant, good egg layers, etc. In addition to cold-tolerant, non-broody hens, she orders Araucana hens, for their unique blue and green eggs.

“If they decide they want to hatch them, then they get aggravated at you if you take the eggs, but usually they lay and go on about their business,” she said, adding that most of her hens lay in a nesting box, where the eggs roll down. “Sometimes they decide to lay eggs under the wood pile, so you have to go searching.”

The family only had one hen who sat on her eggs, which resulted in baby chicks that did just fine.

She prefers to order the chicks from Murray McMurray because it’s difficult to determine gender of chickens.

“So if you get them from Murdoch’s or Tractor Supply or someplace, you’re more likely to end up with a lot of roosters,” she said.

This year, demand for chicks has increased, in part due to the avian flu. She usually orders chicks in March and receives them in April, but this year, she ordered in January, and the soonest they could get them was early June. Some breeds they wanted weren’t available until this October 鈥� a harsh time for chicks in mountain climates, since they haven’t developed their warm feathers.

The family received 20 chicks in June, so they now have 25 chickens, which freely roam the yard during the day and naturally return to the safety of their coop at night.

And, safety is a significant factor in maintaining chickens. Foxes, raccoons and even mountain lions have killed her flocks. Two years ago, 40 of her chickens disappeared within a few days, and she’s not sure what ate them. She even has to keep an eye on her Goldendoodle, who usually behaves and certainly doesn’t want to eat them, but every once in a while, the dog wants to play, not realizing that shaking the chickens leads to their demise.

The family recently installed an automatic door that opens and closes during day and night, respectively, which prevents anyone from forgetting to safely shut the chickens in on any given night. A tall fence during the day also helps, though the chickens like to fly over it, into the yard to eat grasshoppers and other insects.

“So that’s where they sometimes meet their mortality,” she said. “They’re pretty good flyers. I don’t know why they don’t think to fly when something is attacking them 鈥� they usually just run.”

Sometimes they wander across the street; one of their neighbors called one chicken Dora the Explorer because she would walk down Howard Street, only returning to the coop at night.

In addition to mail-order chicks, 4H kids give them the chickens that don’t sell at livestock auctions. They also receive hens from friends, particularly one who had a chicken who was mean to the others聽鈥斅爕et, the hen gets along just fine with the Chandler-Henrys’ chickens.

Chickens live for five or six years, assuming they remain safe from predators. They begin laying eggs around 6 months old and continue until the end of their life. However, most breeds don’t lay during winter 鈥� about mid-October through March 鈥� unless owners “trick” them with artificial lights, something she doesn’t do.

“It seems to me like they need a break. I mean, that must be pretty hard to lay an egg every day,” she said.

If they get stressed, egg laying will be delayed. When raptors tried to attack her chickens, they didn’t lay eggs for a few days after the incident.

They haven’t had trouble with losing chickens to disease, something she partially attributes to the fact that they roam outside, eating grass and bugs, as opposed to constantly sitting in their own manure in a coop.

While the cost of a chick has increased from $3-4 to $6-8 and building a coop requires an initial investment, the most significant cost comes in the form of feed. A $14 bag feeds about 20 chickens for about three weeks, she said.

“They go through a lot of feed, so it’s certainly not a profitable endeavor,” she said, adding, “It’s a good hobby. It’s not overly expensive to get started.”

They don’t usually heat the coop during winter unless below-zero temperatures hit. They also heat the chicks until their feathers come in. For a cozy treat, she often feeds them warm rice and oatmeal in the winter months.

“They’re pretty omnivorous; they’ll eat any snacks you take out for them,” she said. “They are sort of our natural compost pit. We give them the kitchen leftovers and scraps, and they eat that up.”

Of course, cost also involves time cleaning the pen a couple times a year 鈥� a big job, she said 鈥� as well as filling big feeders and water tanks and gathering eggs daily.

Just like any pet, chickens take time, money and effort. Most people raise chicken for the love of it.

“They’re sort of a meditative species. You just go out and end up standing there watching them peck and walk around. They talk to you 鈥� it’s just a relaxing hobby,” she said.

And, like outdoor playhouses, “she sheds” and other outbuildings, people can put plenty of character into their chicken coops through decorative touches, such as painted designs, solar-powered lighting and antiques. Nameplates also add charm. Prince Henry and Meghan Markle named their chicken coop, highlighted on Netflix’s “With Love, Meghan,” “Archie’s Chick Inn.” A little more locally, owners of Latigo Ranch, an award-winning dude ranch in Kremmling that has been serving guests for a hundred years, named their coop Cluckingham Palace.

Of course, before jumping into chicken ownership, check local regulations. For example, some areas do not allow roosters. Josh Roth, chief buyers agent at Eden Emerald Buyers Agent, which conducted this year’s survey on rising national interest in chickens, reminds people:

“Having chickens is a huge responsibility, and you should only commit to this if you are confident that you can take this on well.”