Even through the Avian Influenza crisis, I was able to keep my eggs at $2. (I've accepted that my chickens are just pets that pay rent occasionally, also I get free old hog and mouse feed(lab grade) to add in as a treat and extra protein.) I had a neighbor come over to see my birds (I wasn't too concerned about quarantine, as I have the only chickens for about 6 miles), and they asked about bird flu. I ran through the usual symptoms prevention and all, but the question they asked next nearly killed me. "Can't they (your chickens) spread bird flu between themselves?" I asked what he meant and he literally was asking if my healthy chickens would somehow pass bird flu to each other, even though none of them had it. I assured him no, but he refused to buy "Infected Eggs" and I have a feeling he shared his concerns with others, because half of my customers stopped buying soon after..... Some people (although I do note that non-livestock keepers have a right to some legit questions, but I doubt he thought that through.
On another note, I was showing 9 of my birds at the county fair, and a mom and her 2 kids came up and asked if I could help them with their chickens. I said yes and went to see what the problem was. 3 bantam sized California Whites that obviously were starving. I asked what they were fed (If they fed chick starter until at least week 11) and they said "Oh, no! We feed ours a custom diet that we made up! They don't get corn, peanut, soy, wheat, or barley products. We mix it ourselves." I had to stop myself from asking what they DID feed them and they asked what to add to their feed. Since they obviously needed protein I asked if they scrambled eggs for them. "Well of course! They hardly ever lay any, though." Thankfully another person came over and backed me up on the fact that their birds were starved. They ended up with a red ribbon. They also hadn't checked on dietary needs of chickens before making their "custom diet".
Sorry if a little bit of that got to be a rant. It just drove me nuts!
