This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Rent the chicken, an excellent idea clucks into cash. Have you ever wanted to keep a chicken as a pet, but weren't sure you were up for a lifetime commitment? Well, today's featured story, my friends, has just the solution for you. No need to buy chickens when you can rent them. Hey, friends, what's up?
Welcome to "Side Hustle School." Chris Guillebeau here, your host. Today, we're talking about a Pennsylvania couple who rents out 2,000 chickens to people interested in urban homesteading. It is, in fact, a side hustle worth clucking about, and I won't even apologize for it because it's just a fun story, a very fun story. The crowd-sharing world has come to the hen house. Rentals cost $350, which includes a coop and everything else you might need, food and water dishes, enough food to last six months, a Netflix subscription to keep those chickens entertained, all that good stuff.
And welcome back to the podcast, or welcome, if it's your first time. With the new year, we have a new batch of listeners coming in, so thanks for being out there. Every day on "Side Hustle School," we're bringing you new stories, actionable ideas, creative case studies, questions and answers, all kinds of fun stuff designed to get you thinking and taking action, not just thinking, but also taking action. I want you to be able to have a side hustle or a new income-generating project this year, so that's why we tell all these different fun stories. So hopefully, at some point this year, I'm gonna hear your success story as well, but for now, let's jump into today's story.
Rent the chicken, an excellent idea, clocks into cash. These chickens are coming home to roost. Detailed story coming right up. [Music]
Not many people think, when I grow up, I'm gonna rent chickens to people. But hey, that's what Phil and Jen Tompkins are doing for their "Side Hustle," which now serves hundreds of households from their Pennsylvania headquarters and across the nation.
Let's start back at the hen house. Before they made a big lifestyle change, Phil and Jen lived on the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland. Phil was working in IT, Jen was working remotely for a research study, and when Phil was laid off, he started doing contract work. Once both of them didn't have to report to an office, they realized they could live anywhere. They chose to move to Western Pennsylvania to be closer to Jen's family.
That's where they had the idea to start what became an excellent side hustle, excellent, we're talking about chickens here today. The couple had been raising chickens in their own backyard for years, long before urban farming was trendy. They'd also seen friends and relatives try the same, but with less success. In fact, a host of unwanted chickens from city dwellers was becoming a major problem in cities across the country. You know how it is, your kid asks for a pet, and you're like, as long as you take care of it, and it doesn't always work so well.
So Phil and Jen thought, what if we could actually rent out chickens to people on a trial basis? And just imagine, you know, if hen curious customers discover after the fact that they are terrified of birds, which does happen, or if they decide a coop just doesn't match the rest of their backyard decor, I guess you could call it chickening out, then it would not be a problem at all as the birds are loners to be returned. No questions asked and with no penalties. And if the opposite happens, of course, if customers fall head over heels with their chickens, they decide they're ready for a lifelong commitment. They can opt to buy the chickens at the conclusion of the rental period.
You can just think of it as poultry layaway. This idea solves all kinds of problems, or at least they thought it would, but how would it all work? Well, it's like this, rent the chicken provides customers with two hens raised by the Tompkins, or one of their chicken renting affiliate partners. They get a portable coop, food and water dishes, enough feed to last through the rental period. They get delivery set up and a quick tutorial also included in the rental price.
When we first recorded this story, the standard rental packages started at $350. They don't actually sponsor the podcast, although I wish they would. I think the price may have gone up a bit since then, but for their side hustle, the startup costs were $2,000. That went toward buying the coops. That was their biggest expense.
And then they started ramping up. In 2014, they had 50 rentals. A few years later, they had more than 2,000 rentals, rental chickens, that is. Roosters are also available upon special request. Though note that in many cities, it is actually illegal to own a rooster.
The laws are less clear on rental roosters, but you better check that out first. In fact, maybe you better just start with the hens. And you might be thinking, well, these aren't rabbits. How do they multiply so fast? Like, how do they get so many chickens and how did they also work nationwide, as opposed to just in their area in Pennsylvania?
Well, Phil and Jen began franchising, and this is key, okay? 'Cause they've got their area in Pennsylvania on lockdown, but they can only be in one place at one time. They tried their best to fulfill requests to nearby states like New Jersey, Ohio, et cetera, but they had more business than they could handle. So they began working with local partners in different cities all across the US and Canada. That's why if you visit rentthechicken.com, you can sign up right there.
And Phil and Jen are not physically delivering each chicken. Instead, the local franchises handle that. Local franchises also keep most of the money. Phil and Jen take a cut. So that's how the business works.
With their partners out and about, as well as all the deliveries they manage themselves, it has in fact been a money-making chicken rental empire. Their coops are filled with stacks of cash. Actually, I just made that up. They do take credit cards. And they are indeed making a living renting out chickens throughout North America.
Pretty amazing story, right? When you're feeling lonesome and you need someone to keep you company, Rent the Chicken is at your service. [Music]
Rentthechicken.com still up and running. I took a look. They're offering services throughout a lot of different cities.
I don't know if it's every state. Maybe it looks like about half of the United States and several provinces in Canada as well. Pricing varies depending on your local area. It does look like it's gone up a bit since we first featured them, but still fairly reasonable. Hey, you get to rent chickens.
Can't complain about that. You get to hang out with chickens. You get to keep all the eggs. 12 to 21 eggs per week total, it looks like on one of the rental listings. That's for three almost ready to lay hens.
You also get a copy of Fresh Eggs Daily. How about that? Just all kinds of bonuses. Anyway, check it out or not. If you're not into renting chickens, I get it.
But the whole point is there's something you can do too. There's an idea that you can start and pursue something that you're into that can actually make money and make people happy and just give you more freedom, independence, all those good things. That's why we make the show. We've been making it for nine years and also the complete archives, as mentioned, available for download or streaming on the website. Take care of yourself out there.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
