The University of Maryland Extension ran the full budget on a 10-bird backyard layer flock and came out with $3.37 per dozen eggs over a three-year production period. That number gets quoted everywhere, and it is a good anchor, but it hides the shape of the cost. Year one is expensive. Year two is cheap. The feed is always the biggest line. So let me rebuild the math for the flock most people actually keep: six hens, one backyard, no research budget.
Six decent layers each produce about 250 eggs a year. That is 1,500 eggs, or 125 dozen, annually. Now the costs. Feed first, because it is 60 to 70% of everything: six hens eat roughly a quarter pound each per day, 1.5 pounds a day for the flock, about 45 pounds a month. A 50-pound bag of layer feed runs $20 to $25, so figure one bag a month, $240 to $300 a year. Call it $270 at $22.50 a bag. Bedding, grit, oyster shell, and the odd repair run about $110 a year for a small flock. Total upkeep: roughly $380 a year, and the feed is $270 of it.
Divide $380 by 125 dozen and you get $3.04 a dozen in year two and beyond, once the coop is paid for. That is the number that matters for the "is it worth it" question. Year one is a different story: add a $1,000 coop, run, feeder, and waterer setup, and the same 125 dozen cost ($1,380 / 125) about $11.04 a dozen. Nobody starts chickens to save money in month three. The payback starts in year two and compounds every year after, because the coop is a one-time cost and the hens keep laying.
Now strip it down to feed alone, since feed is the question people are really asking. Six hens at 1.5 pounds a day eat about 547 pounds a year. At $0.44 a pound ($22 for 50 pounds), that is $241 in feed for 125 dozen eggs: $1.93 a dozen. A hen converts roughly 4.2 pounds of feed into a dozen eggs at normal production. Every other cost, bedding, cartons, the waterer you replaced, sits on top of that $1.93, which is why the all-in number lands near $3 while the feed number stays under $2. If someone tells you their eggs cost $1.50 a dozen, they are quoting feed and forgetting everything else.
What a dozen backyard eggs costs vs the store in 2026
Store prices are the moving target. Grade A large eggs averaged about $4.25 a dozen in 2025 and hit a record $6.23 in March 2025, when backyard eggs looked like a steal. Then prices fell to about $2.30 a dozen on average from January to September 2026, and the USDA expects retail egg prices to fall nearly 30% for the year. At $2.30, conventional store eggs are cheaper than your $3.04 backyard dozen. That stings until you compare against what backyard eggs actually replace: pastured and organic eggs, which still cost more than $3.04 in most stores. You are not competing with the factory egg. You are competing with the $6 farmers market dozen.
There is also the part the spreadsheet misses, and I will say it plainly because the extension bulletins will not: the eggs are better, the yolks stand up, and the birds eat your ticks. Mother Earth News testing found pastured eggs with a third less cholesterol, twice the omega-3s, and seven times the beta-carotene of conventional eggs. None of that has a dollar value. People keep chickens through the $11.04 year-one math anyway.
Remember the $3.37 from the top? That was the University of Maryland's all-in number for ten birds over three years, and notice how close it sits to our $3.04. Different flock, different state, same answer: three dollars and change per dozen once the setup is behind you. The feed-only number is under $2, the year-one number is over $11, and the truth is all three at once. If you want to push the $3.04 down, feed is the lever: cut waste with a no-spill feeder, buy in bulk, and stop letting a 50-pound bag sit open in the rain. Our feed cost cutting guide and the 50-pound bag breakdown cover the tactics, and the monthly cost guide has the per-bird numbers.
Calculate your flock's feed cost with our free calculator
Frequently asked questions
How much feed goes into a dozen eggs?
About 4 to 4.5 pounds. A hen eats roughly a quarter pound a day and lays around 5 eggs a week, so a dozen eggs represents about 4.2 pounds of feed at normal production.
Is raising chickens cheaper than buying eggs?
Not in year one, when a $1,000 setup pushes the cost past $11 a dozen. From year two, at about $3 a dozen, backyard eggs beat pastured and organic store eggs, though not always conventional ones.
What is the biggest cost?
Feed, 60 to 70% of ongoing costs. One 50-pound bag a month at $20 to $25 covers six hens. See how long a bag lasts for your flock size.
What do backyard eggs cost in feed alone?
Under $2 a dozen: about $1.93 for six hens at $22 per 50-pound bag. Everything else, bedding, cartons, repairs, sits on top.
Do falling store prices change the math?
Relatively. Your costs are fixed while store prices move. At 2026's $2.30 conventional average, store eggs win on price, but backyard eggs still undercut pastured and organic ones.
Sources: University of Maryland Extension, "Backyard Layer Flock Economics" (FS-2025-0783), $3.37/dozen over 3 years; CoopEDU, "Backyard Chicken Egg Production and Cost Statistics (2026)"; Bureau of Labor Statistics egg price data via CoopEDU. Worked example uses six hens at 250 eggs/year and $22.50 per 50-lb bag. Verified October 2026.