Does Having Backyard Chickens Actually Save You Money on Eggs?

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Black and white striped chicken walking with grass in the background.

When it comes to having backyard chickens, one of the questions that often comes to mind is whether or not you can actually save money on the eggs that you get from keeping your own chickens. And while I think that there are other benefits to having chickens besides just the eggs that they produce, the number of eggs that you get and whether or not those eggs are cost effective might be a factor for some people for deciding if they want to keep their own chickens or not. And even if you already have your own chickens, you might be curious to know if you are saving money on the eggs your chickens lay or not.

The question of whether having backyard chickens will save you money on eggs is actually a fairly complicated question and there are a lot of factors involved that will affect how much the eggs from your chickens will save you or cost you. So there's really no simple yes or no answer for this question. There are several different factors that will make a difference in how much money you could potentially save on eggs, so I am going to list out all of the ones that I could think of here, and hopefully thinking through some of these things can help you to figure out if it would be possible for you to save money on eggs or not.

Even though there's no quick yes or no answer to this question, I will say, though, that the general consensus that I have heard (and that I have found to be true in my own experience, too) is that having backyard chickens typically doesn't really save you money on eggs. That's not to say that it isn't possible to raise chickens in such a way that you could save money on the eggs that you collect, but for most backyard chicken owners it's probably not very likely that you would be able to raise your own egg laying chickens for cheaper than you can buy eggs at the grocery store, even for the higher-priced, good quality eggs. With larger farms being able to save money on doing everything in bulk on a larger scale, I think it would be hard for most people to try to replicate that in a backyard setting.

But taking a look at some of these factors can still help you to find ways that you could reduce the cost on the eggs from your backyard chickens, and, if you combined all of these different factors together in just the right way, you might even find that it's possible for you to save money on eggs.

One-Time Expenses

There are some expenses that are ones you would have to make initially to get ready for having chickens, but then you wouldn't have to keep buying those things on a regular basis. In this category I would include the chicken coop and any other costs associated with that such as fencing, and I would also include supplies that should last for a decent while even if you have to replace them eventually such as feeders, waterers, etc. Whether or not you choose to include these one-time expenses will make a big difference in whether or not you will save money on eggs because the initial costs for keeping chickens are usually the highest

The Cost of Your Coop

First off, the initial cost of getting a chicken coop could potentially be the biggest expense you might have with getting backyard chickens, so it will be a big factor in whether or not you would actually save any money on eggs. You could spend anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand dollars on a store bought or custom-built coop, and there is a huge variety of different coops ranging from very simple, small coops to huge, fancy coops.

Or, you might have the skills to be able to build a coop yourself, in which case you would just have to factor in the cost of lumber and materials. Building your own coop would probably be cheaper than buying one, but it would still be a cost to keep in mind when it comes to saving money on eggs (or not.)

Or you might also be able to find a used coop that you could get for very cheap or even for free from someone who doesn't need it anymore. You might have to do a bit of fixing up the coop with a used one (which would require a small cost for materials), but this would be the cheapest option of the three.

Supplies for Your Chickens

There are also supplies that you would need to buy when you are first getting chickens that you wouldn't need to buy again unless you had to replace them in the future. But generally these would be infrequent costs and not regular expenses such as chicken feed. Some supplies that you might need would be feeders, waterers, and a brooder setup if you are starting with baby chicks. All of these items can have a wide range of prices and there are even ways to DIY some of these things, too if you search for ideas online.

Recurring Costs

These recurring costs are the ones that you would have on a regular basis, and they would be the most relevant to figuring out the overall cost of your eggs because you would need to keep purchasing these things month after month.

Feed

There are many different types of feed that you can get for your chickens, and many different price points for the feed as well. You could get the cheapest feed you can find or you could get organic, non-GMO, soy-free feed, etc. And there is a wide range of different feed types in-between. So the cost of the feed that you choose to give your chickens will make a big difference in the overall cost of your eggs because feed is one of the largest recurring expenses that you would have.

Treats and Supplements

Another thing to factor into the cost would be any treats that you decide to feed your chickens. If you want to give them scratch grains or black soldier fly larvae, or mealworms, etc. then that would be another expense to include when you figure out if you are able to save money on eggs or not. And another small cost would be supplements such as grit and oyster shell for calcium. The grit and oyster shell tend to be fairly inexpensive and they last for a pretty long while, but they are still another factor to include.

Misc. Expenses

Under the miscellaneous category I would include other supplies such as bedding for the coop and nest boxes, any medical supplies you might need if you end up having to deal with any medical issues with your chickens and also any permit expenses if you have to pay fees to get a permit to have chickens where you live.

Other Important Factors to Consider

Will Your Chickens Free Range

Another thing that will affect how much chicken feed your chickens eat (as well as how much money your eggs will end up saving you or costing you) is whether your chickens will be free ranging or if they will be in an enclosed run all day long. If your chickens have access to grass, bugs, weeds, etc. in your yard for part of the day or all day then they will forage for some of their food and won't eat quite as much of their regular chicken feed. But if your chickens are in an enclosed run all day long then they will mostly just be eating their chicken feed and maybe a few bugs they might find in the run, so you would end up buying more chicken feed overall.

How Many Eggs Will Your Specific Breed of Chickens Lay?

Each individual chicken will lay a unique number of eggs, and you can't necessarily count on generalizations to know exactly how many eggs your particular chickens will lay in a year's time. You can usually find out an approximate range, though, by researching the breeds of chickens that you get to see if they are considered to be good layers or not. Some breeds lay a lot of eggs and some breeds lay less eggs, so it's a good idea to choose breeds that are usually known to be good layers if you are trying to save money on eggs.

My Speckled Sussex chicken, for example laid 166 eggs her first year of laying, and my Barred Rock chicken laid 246 eggs. So the Barred Rock chicken laid 80 more eggs in a year and probably ate around the same amount of feed. That doesn't necessarily mean that all Speckled Sussex chickens will lay less eggs and all Barred Rocks will lay more, and there are a lot of other factors that come into play when deciding which chickens breeds are a good fit for you, but breed can definitely be a big consideration as far as trying to save money on eggs.

Are You Getting Your Chickens as Baby Chicks or as Started Pullets?

It will also make a difference whether or not you are getting baby chicks or pullets that are almost old enough to lay eggs. If you get baby chicks, the cost per chick is usually pretty cheap, but you will be taking care of them for longer and spending more money on supplies and feed, etc. (I've gotten babies twice now, and they are so adorable and I like having them get used to being near me at a young age, so I personally like getting babies even though it might be an added cost as far as feed and brooder supplies.)

If you get started pullets that are almost at egg-laying age then you will probably have to pay more per bird to get them, but you won't have to spend quite as much money on feed and you won't need a brooder setup if they are old enough to go straight into the coop without needing supplemental heat.

Will You Sell Any Eggs?

If you have enough chickens laying eggs that you have extra and are able to sell some eggs then that could help to offset the costs of keeping chickens and ultimately save you some money on the cost of your own eggs. Depending on where you live, though, there might be rules or restrictions about whether you are allowed to sell eggs or requirements for selling them, etc.

Will You Use Any Chicken Manure as Fertilizer?

Using some of your chicken's manure as fertilizer for your garden might seem unrelated to the cost of their eggs, but if you would have spent money on fertilizer and you are able to save that money by using chicken manure for some of your fertilizer instead than you could factor that into the overall cost or savings of the eggs that your chickens lay.

What Type of Eggs Are Your Comparing Your Own Eggs To?

And another really big factor to consider is what type of eggs are you going to use for comparing the price with the eggs from your own chickens? There's a wide range of prices from the cheapest store brand of eggs to the most expensive organic and pasture-raised eggs. For example, if your chickens are eating an organic and non-GMO feed and they have access to pasture for part of the day then it would be the most accurate to use the price of store bought pasture-raised and/or organic eggs to figure out whether you would save money on the eggs from your own chickens.

If you compared your pasture-raised eggs to the cheapest eggs you can find at the store then of course you wouldn't even come close to saving money on your own eggs, but it wouldn't really be a fair comparison since your own backyard eggs would be much higher quality than the cheapest eggs from the store.

How to Figure Out If You Would Save Money or Not

To accurately figure out if you would be able to save money on eggs or not you would have to keep track of how much money you spend on feed, supplies, etc. and then also keep track of how many eggs your chickens lay for the same period of time. If you decided to use a year as the time frame then you would have to keep count of the number of total eggs laid during that year and each expense for feeding the chickens and taking care of them. And then you would have to pick a grocery store egg brand that you feel is equivalent to the same quality as the eggs from your own chickens and use that price to compare the cost per egg of the store bought eggs to the cost of your own eggs.

For me personally with my chickens, I haven't done out all of the math to figure this out in exact detail, but I've done approximate estimations, and for the first year that I had my chickens their eggs did not end up being cheaper than getting eggs of a similar quality from the store. If they had had less treats and if they were all breeds that were really productive layers then I think their eggs would have been closer to being as cheap or cheaper than getting eggs from the store.

So, in my experience, if your only reason for wanting backyard chickens is to be able to save money on eggs then you would probably be better off just getting cheaper eggs from the grocery store. But if you want to be able to enjoy having chickens in your backyard and get the freshest eggs possible and know exactly where those eggs came from and what feed your chickens are eating, etc. then having egg-laying chickens might still be worth it to you even if you don't end up saving money on eggs.