How Much Can I Sell My Chicken Eggs For?

Raising backyard chickens and selling their eggs can be a great way to earn some extra income. However determining the right price to sell your eggs at can be tricky. You want to make sure you are pricing your eggs fairly based on your costs and time but also competitively so people will buy them. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through all the factors to consider when pricing your backyard chicken eggs for sale.

Calculating Your Costs

The first step is to calculate your costs associated with raising chickens and producing eggs. This will give you a baseline price that you need to at least break even. Here are some of the main costs to factor in:

• Chicken Feed – The biggest ongoing cost for egg production is feed. Assume each chicken eats about 1/2 pound of feed per day. At $15 for a 50 lb bag, that’s around $0.30 per day per chicken. For 200 eggs a year, that’s $0.15 feed cost per egg.

• Buying or building a chicken coop and run costs money all at once. Budget at least $5 per chicken.

• Equipment – Items like feeders, waterers, nesting boxes. Allow another $5 per bird.

• Chick Purchase – Expect to pay $3-5 per chick

• Healthcare – Cost of vaccines, medications, supplies for keeping chickens healthy. Budget $5-10 annually per bird.

• Egg Cartons – Styrofoam cartons cost 20-30 cents each and can be reused a few times

• Utilities – Electricity or gas if you provide heat and lighting in the coop.

• Labor – Your time spent caring for the chickens and collecting eggs.

When you add up all these costs and divide by the number of eggs, you arrive at a break-even price per egg to cover your expenses. This is the minimum you’ll need to charge. For example, if your annual costs for a 5 bird flock totals $475, you’ll need to charge at least $0.95 per egg ($475 / 200 eggs / 5 chickens).

Compare Market Egg Prices

Once you know your base cost, compare that to store-bought egg prices in your area. Organic, free-range, pasture-raised eggs tend to cost between $4-6 per dozen retail. Local farm eggs often go for $2-4 per dozen. It makes sense to price your backyard eggs competitively within this range based on their quality and freshness.

You can also check prices that other backyard chicken owners charge for eggs in your area. Search online sales forums and community groups to see what the going rate is. Price your eggs in line with the broader backyard egg market in your locality.

Factors That Could Allow a Premium Price

Certain attributes of your eggs may allow you to charge a premium well above mass-produced egg prices:

• Breeds – Heritage breeds like Ameraucanas, Marans, Welsummers that lay colorful blue, green, or chocolate eggs.

• Feed – Documented all-organic, non-GMO, soy-free feed diet.

• Housing – Mobile coops allowing chickens to access fresh pasture daily.

• Farm Practices – Demonstrated humane, ethical treatment of chickens and sustainable practices.

• Certifications – Official organic, animal welfare, or other eco-friendly certifications.

• Rarity – Rare chicken breeds.

• Extra Large – Eggs weighing 2.5 ounces or more.

• Extreme Freshness – Eggs sold within hours of being laid.

• Farm Pickup – The convenience of customers picking up at your farm.

• Farm Experience – Providing an engaging farm tour or chicken meet-and-greet.

• Packaging – Unique, eco-friendly, or decorative egg cartons.

The more unique your eggs are, the more you can charge more for them than plain white eggs from factory hens that are kept in cages.

Pricing Strategies

Once you’ve analyzed your costs and the market, here are some pricing strategies and examples you can consider:

• Cost Plus Pricing – Take your break-even cost per egg and add a fixed markup percentage to achieve your target profit. For instance, if your cost is 95¢ per egg, marking up 35% would bring the retail price to $1.28 per egg.

• Value-Based Pricing: You should charge as much as your customers think your eggs are worth because of things like being local, free-range, etc. This is often 50-100% above commercial egg prices.

• Price Skimming – Start high, at say $5 per dozen, then gradually drop the price until you reach optimal sales velocity. Useful for gauging maximum pricing tolerance.

• Price Lining – Offer a range of options at different price points – standard, organic, soy-free, pastured, etc.

• Volume Discounts – Offer progressively lower unit pricing for larger egg purchases – e.g. $5/dozen, 5 dozens for $22, 10 dozens $42. Incentivizes bulk purchases.

• Putting eggs in a box with other farm products like honey, jam, etc. can save you money. for an appealing all-in-one price.

• Price Matching – Match competitors’ prices if they are lower than yours.

• Odd Pricing – Set prices at uneven amounts like $5.95/dozen instead of $6.00 to seem like a better deal.

Determining how much to sell your backyard chicken eggs for requires looking at your production costs, comparing local market egg prices, and evaluating any special qualities that enable pricing premiums. Most small backyard flocks can profitably sell eggs in the $3-5 per dozen range by highlighting freshness, farm practices, and uniqueness. As you build up loyal customers, you’ll gain flexibility on pricing according to demand and may be able to charge premium prices for truly differentiated eggs. With the right pricing strategy, your homegrown eggs can become a steady revenue stream and provide community members with a local, healthy food source.