The Problem With Chickens

Mariana Greene, a columnist for the Dallas Morning News, regularly writes a charming article in the Guide section regarding her gardens, and, more specifically, her chickens! She owns an ample amount of chickens in which she refers to as “city chickens” due to the fact that they are raised in the midst of Dallas. She tells of the trials of each chicken, referring to them not as “the chickens” but by their cute little names and describing each one’s distinct personalities and interactions with one another. Her latest article revolves around a certain olive-green egg that she can’t seem to identify whom it belongs to, but what caught my eye was not the “case of the olive-green egg”, but a different point she brings up regarding her chickens. She mentions that her chickens are laying eggs faster than her family can consume them. They lay every single day, some of them even laying two eggs in one day! In terms of economics, at this rate, supply is exceeding demand. Not only does this represent the elasticity of supply, but it also deals with diminishing marginal returns. She mentions in the article that, while they have three nesting boxes for the hens, it can take a hen up to an hour to deposit an egg, and a line begins to build around the nest of “layers”. Diminishing marginal returns has a negative impact on labor. After a certain point where the benefits of specialization end, each worker hired (or hen) increases the output at a decreasing rate due to the fact that there is an excess amount of workers and not enough capital (or nests) to produce goods efficiently, thus, labor begins slowing. Of course, one can lay off a worker to solve this problem, or in other words…chicken for dinner!?

--Allie Armstrong