- Needs To Exist
- Posts
- Idea Of The Day - Build the Service That Lets Suburban Families Rent Backyard Chickens
Idea Of The Day - Build the Service That Lets Suburban Families Rent Backyard Chickens
GM. This is Needs to Exist (aka NTE), delivering you a quirky startup idea that lets you rent chickens for fresh backyard eggs without the long-term commitment.
Unlock 5,000+ wild startup ideas inside NTE Pro, one click could spark your next big move.
Turn any idea into a real product, NTE Zero to One gives you the playbook, coaching, and tools to launch fast.
Check out all the past newsletters here
Here’s what we’ve got for you today.
Daily Idea - Eggs Without Commitment
The Barnyard Shark Tank

Backyard farming, minus the mess

Inspired by the MFM Podcast
The One Liner
Fresh eggs, zero chicken baggage.
The 140 character tweet (or X) version
Backyard eggs without a decade-long chicken commitment. Rent chickens + a coop for the season. Farm-to-table, no strings attached.
The Longer Story Version
The Problem
Backyard farming feels romantic until you do the math. Chickens live 8–10 years. You need a coop, feed, predator-proofing, and a plan for vacations. Most families want the fun and fresh eggs without the full-time poultry lifestyle. Buying in is too big a leap, so most never try.
The Solution
“Rent a Chicken” makes it easy. For one season, everything shows up at your door: chickens, coop, feed, and instructions. You collect eggs, take the Instagram photos, and live out the farm-to-table dream.
At the end, you either keep the birds or send them back like library books. It’s quirky, family-friendly, and surprisingly practical, part subscription, part lifestyle experiment, part conversation starter.
How We’d Build It
Stage 1: Backyard Hustle
Tech: Simple site with Stripe checkout.
Ops: Partner with local farms to supply chickens + coops.
GTM: Target suburbs via Facebook groups, local parenting blogs, and sustainability forums.
Stage 2: Regional Expansion
Tech: Lightweight marketplace (Sharetribe, Softr, or a custom no-code stack).
Ops: Franchise model and train other farmers to run rentals locally.
GTM: PR play: morning news spots, quirky lifestyle TikToks, Instagram reels of kids grabbing eggs.
Why It Needs to Exist
Because it’s funny and useful. It taps into trends like sustainability, local food, and “try before you buy.” It’s not a billion-dollar unicorn, but it doesn’t need to be and it sparks conversation, creates shareable moments, and makes backyard farming feel attainable for anyone curious enough to try.
How to Sniff Out Demand Before You Buy a Coop
A Message From Our Partner
Before you drop money on chickens, coops, and a TikTok campaign, you want to know one thing: do people actually want this? Here’s how to get proof without guessing:
Eavesdrop Where People Complain
Hop into Reddit threads like r/backyardchickens or r/homesteading. Are people saying “I wish I could try this before committing”? That’s your demand signal.Find the Obsessions, Not Just Mentions
With a tool like GummySearch, you can go deeper: pull every Reddit or niche-forum thread where suburban parents, hobby farmers, or sustainability nerds are already talking about chickens. You’ll spot patterns fast, what they’re scared of, what they want, what makes them laugh.Steal the Exact Language
Forget guessing copy. When someone writes “I don’t want to be stuck with chickens for 10 years,” that’s headline gold. Put that exact line on your site and watch it resonate.Apply the Same Playbook Anywhere
Even if chickens aren’t your jam, the method works. Whether it’s “rent a beehive,” “lease a goat,” or your next AI SaaS, the play is the same: listen where real people talk, steal their words, and build something that feels like you read their diary.
The best founders don’t just invent in their heads, they mine the internet’s group chats. Tools like GummySearch make that 10x faster.
The Barnyard Shark Tank

Imagine Shark Tank, but forget Cuban and Mr. Wonderful. The judges here are a pig, a goat, and a cat who acts like they run a hedge fund. The pitch? “Rent a Chicken”, a service that delivers chickens and coops to suburban families so they can live the farm dream without the lifetime poultry contract.
The Pig is the first to speak. He’s all in.
“Look, I respect this. People want fresh eggs. They want to feel close to their food. But they don’t want to buy 50 pounds of feed every month or figure out how to predator-proof a coop. This lowers the barrier. It’s Costco samples for farming. Genius.”
The Goat butts in (literally).
“Hold up. Have you met humans? They’ll think chickens are Instagram props. Day one, they’re excited. Day seven, they forget to refill the water. Day 14, they’re Googling ‘what happens if chickens starve.’ This isn’t farm-to-table, this is animal gig economy. We’re turning livestock into disposable Airbnbs.”
The Pig shrugs.
“Yeah, but people rent dogs, don’t they? Daycare, foster programs, even goat yoga. This is the same play, experience without ownership. And if it nudges more families toward backyard farming long-term, that’s a net positive.”
Then the Cat clears its throat all smug, polished, sipping a metaphorical martini.
“You’re both missing the point. This isn’t about eggs or ethics. It’s about attention. The novelty of renting chickens prints clicks. Every parent blog, every morning show, every TikTok influencer with a farmhouse filter will feature this. And once people are laughing, some will actually try it. As a brand, it’s sticky. As a venture? Niche, sure, but niches can be profitable.”
The Goat snorts.
“Yeah, until the first lawsuit when a suburban raccoon jailbreaks the coop.”
The Cat waves a paw.
“That’s just risk management. Get the right liability insurance and keep the margins fat. Remember: weird ideas don’t need to be unicorns to work. They just need to be memorable enough to sell themselves. This has that energy.”
The Pig nods, already counting eggs.
“So what’s the verdict? I’m in.”
The Goat frowns.
“I’m out. Too messy.”
The Cat smiles.
“I’ll invest… but only if you let me short it too.”
And there you have it: in the Barnyard Tank, the chickens walk away with a term sheet, but also a reminder that not every idea is about scale. Some are just about being so odd, so visual, and so conversation-worthy that people can’t help but talk about them.
The Heist Board
Picture the corkboard: faded Polaroids, red string crisscrossing, a map with circles and scribbles. Three jobs are on the table:
The Funeral Paperwork Job — Crack the vault of red tape and turn grief into push-button simplicity.
The Influencer Factory Job — Build the machine that manufactures micro-celebrities faster than TikTok can crown them.
The Anti-Slack Off Job — Create the app that fines you every time you ghost your own goals.
Each one is a score waiting to happen. But the real haul? That’s just the surface.
Assemble your crew. Crack open the rest inside NTE Pro.
One More Meme
