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The primary purpose of chickens is something that can shift over time. The primary purpose of dogs a thousand years ago was to defend homesteads and herd animals. Secondarily, they were eaten as food in tough times. Those are not the primary purposes of dogs today. The vast majority of dogs are purchases as pets and companions.
The primary purpose of most chickens is to produce meat and eggs. But, if those were the only purposes we would have very few chicken breeds today. Few ancient breeds are as efficient or productive as modern commercial hybrids. The reason beautiful chicken breeds continue to exist is because they add visual drama and entertainment to our lives. And, I guess, a few eggs, but even their eggs have visual drama. People don't buy marans because they want just another egg. They buy them because they want an egg that glows with a lustrous deep brown color. They want them because a certain segment of society always gravitates toward what is beautiful and fascinating and rare. And, they are confident enough in their own judgment to state that they are drawn to chickens because they are utterly beautiful and compelling, and not primarily because they produce an egg that can be purchased at a supermarket for a couple of dimes.
There is no rational justification to raise chickens in your backyard if you're doing it solely for the purpose of producing eggs for consumption. You will always lose money raising chickens if you decide you're going to compete in the marketplace against huge commercial egg producers. Their economies of scale will crush you every time. And, if you factor in the real costs of raising chickens the eggs you buy at the supermarket will always be less expensive than the costs of producing your own. So, if you're selling the concept of chicken ownership on purely a financial argument, I would respectfully suggest that no rational person should own chickens.
But, owning chickens for the backyard hobbyist is not about the economies of egg production. It's about those huge intangibles that define us as individuals. I read about a nun who once attended a circus, and she was so overwhelmed by the sight of the big cats that she quit her convent and became a lion tamer. There are people who, for whatever reason, feel the same way about chickens. We need to wake up to that fact and accord these birds the value they deserve. Constantly arguing for ridiculously low prices does them a disservice.
I'll never get back all the money or paid for the time I've got invested in my birds, but that's ok since bottom line that isn't why I have them. I wish we could price them accordingly, but unfortunately if I priced them to be paid back a profit over what I've got invested I'd never sell any and I'd end up feeding them forever. I'm terribly jealous when I see someone getting 4 or 5 bucks for a dozen eating eggs...here I'd never sell any if I put them at even $2. In the rural area that I live in chickens are chickens and eggs are eggs....people for the most part could care less about what the birds look like.
BTW....I dream of getting some of your Jubilee orps.
