What’s the Real Cost of Raising Your Own Chickens for Eggs?

With the way the cost of eggs has fluctuated over the last couple years, we’ve run into a lot of people that are considering or are already getting started raising their own chickens. The majority of first timers are under the impression that it’s the more cost-effective option. Most recently, high egg prices and supply shortages over the last few months has led to a resurgence in owning your own flock. But can we truly raise our own eggs on a small backyard scale for less than the commercial giants like Cal-Maine Foods, Rose Acres Farms or Daybreak Foods?

The short answer is: there is no short answer. For every person that raises laying hens, there is a different way to do it. Let’s do our best “chicken math” and, for sake of the argument, select husbandry options that cover the most basic ways we see our clients’ keeping hens. All of the calculations below will be based on a family of 4 with 6 high production chickens at prime laying age.

Coop:

High End coops are around $5,000-$6,000, middle-of-the-road coops are $1,000-$3,000, and smaller, simpler coops can be found at some of the box stores for as low as $650. All of these will comfortably hold 6 chickens, a feeder and waterer, nesting box and roosts. The more you spend, we tend to see a correlation with quality, hen safety, longevity and durability. For the sake of the blog, let’s select a $1,500 coop.

Coop Pricing Reference: Chicken Coops | Leominster, MA

Run:

If your coop doesn’t come with a run, and often that run is very small even when it does, you’ll have to add some additional space for your hens to run so they can be happy, healthy and playful while foraging (their favorite). Let’s budget on the low end and say for 6 chickens we’ll add 120 sq ft of run for around $500 (assuming the “chicken tender” is doing the labor involved with installation).

Chickens:

This one’s easy: $5 a chick at 6 chicks - $30.

Brooder:

Don’t buy a big tub like they sell at Tractor Supply. Brood them in the new coop you bought! Lights, chick food for the first 8 weeks, feeder, waterer - we’ll low ball it at $250.

Monthly Feed:

On average, we expect our flock to eat 5oz of feed per day per hen. 30oz of feed for your girls each day comes to a little more than one 50lb bag of feed per month. If we buy the cheapest feed (NOT organic) we can expect to pay about $25/month on feed.

Now, time to raise your girls for 5-6 months or more before you get your first teeny tiny pullet egg. Another month before they give you your first real eggs and now you’re getting about 5 eggs per day. Each week you should have about 2.5 dozen eggs. How much are they per dozen? Let’s crunch those numbers:

$1,500 for the coop.

$500 for the run (optional)

$30 for the chicks

$250 for supplies

$125 for feed

We’re into it for $2,405 and you just got your first egg. At 2.5 dozen eggs per week thereafter, you’re looking at $18.50 per dozen your first year. Now remember: we have not factored in your time, electric bill, water bill if you have one, time spent driving to get feed or any of the million snacks we end up buying to spoil the ladies with. Also keep in mind: here in the northeast, our hens often stop laying in November and don’t start back up until March when the daylight hours reach 12+ again. So for about 4 months you can expect almost ZERO eggs. We also have not factored in age of your hens and after about 16 months of laying, egg production drops significantly and to keep up with your family’s needs, you’ll need to buy more hens at some point.

Now, you can do it for less if you’re willing to get creative and put in some good old fashioned elbow grease. For instance, buy pullets that are almost or already laying, add lots of yours and your neighborhood’s kitchen scraps to their daily diet, buy the used coop off FB Marketplace (careful for parasites and pathogens on this one) or build your own, and research other clever ways to cut costs. It is possible to net down that per dozen price, but it’s not easy or necessarily glamorous.

Here’s the important part:

Now just wait a minute, hopefully you’re still reading. Do not be discouraged. After all the math, we will always advise you to GO FOR IT! This is simply to help you manage your expectations. Nothing makes this undertaking harder than being surprised at the bill, especially to get started.

What really matters most is getting started and discovering the joy of having chickens, the food security you’ll establish for your family, and a new appreciation for where your food comes from. With all of the instability we’ve seen due to avian influenza, increased market demand, and low availability for quite some time, you have an opportunity to take control of what you eat. Here are some links to some great Chickens for Beginners videos to get started with:

Justin Rhodes: How to Get Started with Chickens: Everything you need to know

Joel Salatin: Raising Pastured Laying Chickens 101: Biggest Problems | Joel Salatin

How to Raise Egg Laying Hens on Pasture Masterclass (Teaser Trailer #2) | Joel Salatin