Egg prices are rising, but the ‘Poultry Princess’ can help. A look at Macon’s chicken expert

If you were to meet the Macon woman known as the “Poultry Princess,” you might miss her house the first time around the block. Her South Bibb abode shows no signs of chicken life from the front yard. Once you pull into the driveway, though, the hens come into view, along with a kind woman waiting to greet you.

Her name is Mandy Croft, but she’s better known to some by the “Poultry Princess” nickname given to her by a relative.

“My cousin from Maryland came up with the nickname. He came down to meet us, saw the chickens and called me that... it just kind of stuck,” Croft said. “My family just knows I love chickens.”

Croft is a lifelong Maconite who adopted chickens as a hobby and became an aficionado of sorts amid rising egg prices, often advising neighbors and friends who want to buy her eggs or get their own chickens. She started her own Middle Georgia Backyard Chickens Facebook group and also moderates a nationwide group for new chicken owners that has thousands of members, attracting the attention of the New York Times.

“I got the chickens back in 2021, I’ve just always loved them. I wanted to have some in my old neighborhood but I couldn’t. I had as many as 64 chickens at one point here, but that did get a little chaotic,” Croft said with a smile.

Now she has 10 chickens with names ranging from Khaleesi, a reference to a Game of Thrones character, to the names of the Golden Girls. The hens cluck around the yard in aimless circles before Croft comes in, but once she is through the fence gate the flock swarms – it’s dinner time.

Croft laughs often as she feeds them, tossing strands of lettuce that get pecked on just as soon as they touch the grass. It’s clear she’s having a great time with her pets. They’ve always been friends more than food supply for Croft because, interestingly enough, she doesn’t particularly like eggs.

“I will eat eggs, but I’ll cook them in different ways because I don’t like the yolk all that much,” Croft said. “I know it’s kind of funny, but I just always wanted chickens. The eggs are like a bonus.”

Even if Croft doesn’t tend to start her day with an egg breakfast, the clucking companions are not without benefits. The egg “bonus” has only improved as of late for a variety of reasons.

More inflation, more interest

Egg prices shot up throughout 2022, growing as much as 59.9% from December 2021 to the end of last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Amid the constant small talk about the price hikes, the reasons behind them were clear – inflation and a brutal wave of avian flu.

Croft made sure she had enough medicine for her chickens and removed bird feeders from her yard when she learned of the avian flu wave.

“Medicine is expensive, and if you don’t quarantine them then it can impact the whole flock,” Croft said. “That’s something you really have to watch for.”

Croft already had a market for her eggs because they’re fresher and more durable than grocery store eggs, but the rising prices at the supermarket piqued people’s interest.

“I first really started noticing more interest in the chickens from people last year. Once the (egg) prices started going up, I started selling a lot more eggs,” Croft said. “On the bigger Facebook page I admin we got something like 200 requests a day (in late 2022), people that wanted to raise chickens. People thought they could save some money.”

Croft said that while the eggs have become more beneficial lately, the cost of starting up your own chicken coop simply for the purpose of business is not always optimal. Between buying the chickens, building a coop and then the supplies on a daily basis, expenses can stack up.

“It would be at least $1,500 to $2,000 (to start up a coop),” Croft said. “And that’s not even including what you pay for food down the line.”

Regardless of the price, Croft said anyone who wants to get chickens should consider it. As hens named Frizzle and Betty White peck around her yard, it’s easy to see that the cost is worth it for her. Croft’s enthusiasm about her chickens could make almost anyone interested in adopting chickens.

“You get free fertilizer, you get free pest control…I don’t know when the last time I saw a bug around here was,” Croft said in what felt like an expert sales pitch. “I would just start small. Figure out how many eggs you might want, and go from there.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 5:00 AM.