Filed under: News & Resources
We figure our backyard chicken eggs cost us 4-6 cents per egg. At the grocery store, eggs equivalent to ours (pastured eggs) cost $2.79 for 6 eggs (that’s 46.5 cents per egg)!
Here’s the math if anyone is curious:
Average of 15 eggs per week for 18 weeks (4 months at 4 weeks per month) = 240 eggs. We are low-balling this number. On many days of the week the chickens are laying 3 eggs per day, not 2.
$12 (the cost of feed for 3 chickens for about 4 months) divided by 240 eggs = 5 cents per egg.
*There were some initial startup costs not included in the above figures, mostly related to the coop/run – which we didn’t do right the first time. If we count the cost of our mistake-coop, then initial startup was about $130. If we only count the cost of the coop we got right, then initial startup totaled about $60 ($16 for waterer and feeder, $3 for 3 chicks, $10 for a tarp, $18 for 6 months of chick/pullet feed, and some add’l dollars for miscl materials like zip ties).
We either already had the other necessary materials (like a light bulb and extension cord to keep the chicks warm), or created free work-arounds (like using shredded paper for bedding instead of pine shavings).
