SALISBURY, Md. -- Backyard chicken flocks are becoming more popular on the Eastern Shore as the price of eggs continues to rise. That's why it felt like a Black Friday sale at The Mill on Thursday.
All morning long, people were calling The Mill, an agriculture supply store in Salisbury. Seriously, the phones did not stop ringing, and many of them were calling to ask if the store had gotten its flock of live chicks in yet.
Unfortunately, every single time, the store had to say no and tell the potential customer the shop was still waiting on its shipment from the Post Office.
"It's actually, it's exciting but it's a little disappointing when you can't give them the product they want," said Store Manager Susan White. "Then they're disappointed, but they're coming back."
Then, around 1:30 p.m., everything changed, and a seemingly never-ending stream of ringing phones got drowned out by the chirping of baby chickens.
Within 20 minutes of being unloaded, the first customer walked through the door.
"You know, it's a hot commodity right now," said one customer.
Typically, The Mill sells chicks from March through July, but this year, the chicks will only be available in March. The store's first shipment was set to arrive on Wednesday night.
"This morning coming in, we had people actually waiting at our gate to see if we had gotten them in," said White.
Customers like Madison Hill, one of the people waiting outside at 7:30 a.m., had to wait. Hill was then the second customer to arrive after the chicks came in.
Sara Incendio also left the store disappointed after coming in to buy chicks around 11:30 a.m., only to return a few hours later to a nice surprise.
"I'm relieved that they're here," said Incendio. "I was like 'oh I'll stop by before I pick up my daughter from school, and they're here so we're good."
A morning filled with noisy landlines and disappointing phone calls paved the way for much more promising conversations. Customers were able to leave happy with chicks in hand, and by 4:00 p.m., The Mill had sold out of chicks.
The store expects its next shipment on Mar. 12th.