ZEELAND, Mich. – Things are just now returning to normal at a Michigan chick hatchery keeping layers in production like a slot machine to meet skyrocketing demand brought on by COVID-19.

Much of the increase for orders was from individuals wanting to make sure they could put food on the table because of shortages at grocery stores early in the pandemic.

John Geerlings, president of Townline Poultry Farm, Inc., said chick sales, normally highest in March, seemed just as high during the summer when business usually tapers off dramatically. “It was crazy busy,” he said.

Geerlings said the huge uptick in sales began in mid-April when shortages in grocery stores began emerging from panic stricken consumers stocking up and large meat processors temporarily closing because of outbreaks of the virus.

Geerlings said direct orders from individuals raising chicks for meat and eggs were about 400 percent more than a typical May, June and July. He expects the total number of chicks sold this year to be 70 percent above a normal 12-month period because of the extended peak in sales directly to customers.

About 75 percent of the chicks at the hatchery outside Zeeland in the southwest part of the state are sold to farm stores like Tractor Supply.

When farm stores began running out of chicks, direct orders from people wanting to increase their flocks on hobby farms or backyards large enough to give it a try shot up.

As a result, the hatchery relied more heavily on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the chicks in ventilated boxes.

Kaydee Geerlings, executive coordinator at the fourth generation owned family farm, said some orders were for 1,000 or more chicks.

She said anywhere from 15 to 100 chicks are placed into a single custom made package designed for ventilation and to trap body heat to keep the chicks warm during shipment.

More than 98 percent of the deliveries are made in two days so the chicks, after given milk once hatched, don’t go hungry before arriving, she said.

Kaydee Geerlings said the hatchery at least once before experienced a surge in business during the recession in 2008 but the increase then was more gradual compared to what just happened.

“It was almost overnight. I’ve never seen anything like it to be honest,” she said.

The hatchery produces about 5 million chicks annually from about 50,000 birds, including turkeys and ducks. Additional layers were not brought in to keep up with the demand.

Instead, the young breeding stock was kept in production several months longer than usual and orders were not filled for weeks to give the birds and incubators time to build adequate supplies.

Seasonal workers normally with other jobs to go to during the summer were also kept on.

John Geerlings said he’s not sure if business will be as strong next year but even if the pandemic is over he doesn’t expect sales to totally level off. He feels there will be enough people with lingering fears about the supply chain to keep orders above what they were prior to COVID-19.

“They really like security knowing that they can produce their own eggs or they have their own chicken in the freezer. They don’t have to depend on if one of the big processing plants closes because of COVID,” he said.