People rush to raise backyard chickens amid egg shortages, coronavirus concerns

When Rebecca Henry noticed barren grocery aisles, she could not help but think of chickens.

“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely if we had our own eggs right now?’ ” she said from her home in Takoma Park, Md.

So Henry and her husband, who had long debated a chicken investment, decided to rent a coop with two hens in hopes of becoming more self-sufficient and having “science lessons” with the poultry while her boys are home from school.