How Much Should You Charge for your chicken's eggs?

If you are still charging $2-$3 per dozen eggs-you are losing money. See our tips for calculating how much you should charge and watch the video on how to make money raising egg laying hens. The cost of eggs is going up, just look in your local supermarket to determine how much you should charge if you want to remain competitive. Your egg price should be comparable. You need to calculate your costs to take care of your chickens to determine accurately what you should charge for them. Commercial egg producers have lower feed and maintenance costs than backyard chicken farmers do because they buy their feed and poultry supplies in bulk which means they pay less for the same supplies the backyard chickens are getting.  If you are raising or thinking about raising backyard chickens to make a lot of money that most likely will not happen unless you expand your operation but selling your extra eggs can help you pay for what your chickens need.

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Adding up What it costs to produce your eggs

Most backyard chicken farms will not be profitable, however selling your extra eggs can help cover your chicken's feed and maintenance costs. You should calculate your costs to produce your eggs by the week or the month depending on when you regularly purchase feed. Keep a record of these costs that you can refer to when you need them.  If you want to find out how much it is actually costing you to produce your eggs you will need to add up all costs of supplies, equipment, bird purchases, feed, employee wages, etc.
Costs that should be included in your egg price calculations are:
Cost of feed per month
Cost of water used per month
Nesting materials
Bedding
​Egg cartons
Overhead costs-Examples: electricity, heating, lighting, and cooling 
Employee's-If you are paying someone to help you their wages need to be figured into the production costs.
Commercial egg producers must figure into the price of cleaning, grading, sizing, and cartoning the eggs. 
Costs that can be but shouldn't be included in your monthly egg price calculations but can be:
Once your initial startup costs of coops, nest boxes, supplies, and birds are all in place, you won't need to calculate them into your egg price cost unless you are still making payments on them. You should include these calculations in your overall production costs. 
Cost of Chicken Coop or runs
Cost of Nest boxes
Cost of medications
Cost of equipment
Cost of purchasing birds
Cost of supplies
Cost of utilities such as electricity, gas used for operation

Important Note: If your Chickens Have Been Medicated-Don't Sell Their Eggs Until Medication is clear from their system

If your chickens have been sick and you have treated them with Coccidiosis, Mareks medications, antibiotics or other applications you will need to discard the eggs produced during the time the birds were treated and depending on the medication you may need to discard the eggs for 7-24 days. 

Hot Topics About Selling Eggs

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References:
1. Calculation Tool | REDO Watersystems. (2018). Redowater.com. Retrieved 8 February 2018, from http://www.redowater.com/special-layer-farming/calculation-tool/
2. How To Make Money Raising Egg Laying Chickens. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 8 February 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9WLlhRrUp8