How to calculate how much eggs are costing?

[Lazy Farmer]

A= # of Chickens.
B= Cost of conventional grains.
C= Cost of supplements.
D= Time frame.
E= # of Eggs.
F= Bums

B + C = cost divided by "E".
"D"= consumption period, or whenever when you started your records.
"A" is a factor that comes into play if one would try to reduce purchasing "B' & "C" for chickens whom are no longer providing additional numbers to "E". Those are "F".
Remove those F's from the equation. Roosters are also included in the "F" category.

Other Eggs or no Eggs factors:

• Change of season/molt/weather/day light hours will constantly fluctuate your costs.
• Change of diet/brand of feed will have short period effects on egg production.
• Stress & wellness will also effect your bottom line.

 

[lazy gardener]

Connie, you gave me a headache. This is a headache that is secondary to the headache that I got up with, and that has been pounding around in my head all day.

Me, I'll never recoup the cost of my coop. (I slay me. Get it?.. Recoup the cost of the coop!!! ) I'm happy if my girls buy their feed over the course of the year. Occasional sale of chicks and pullets helps with the bottom line here. In the winter, I take a loss re: feed costing more than egg sales. Spring and summer turn a profit.

Things that help my bottom line: Supplemental lighting, fermented feed, sprouting. I only buy shavings when brooding chicks. All other bedding is scavenged from my land or is brought in by the truck load: leaves collected and horded in the fall, wood chips from town compost area. I process extra cockerels. Birds get extra garden produce. I consider DLM to be a huge benefit to my bottom line.

Unseen benefits: Exercise: I get a full body work out without paying a gym membership or using any gas to get to the gym. Mental well being: Watching and interacting with the flock is a great stress buster. Nutrition and overall health: Fresh eggs, lots of vitamin D from extra outdoor time. Free organic compost.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Connie, you gave me a headache.

 

[K813ZRA]

How does one make money if the eggs cost them $2/dozen to produce and sells them for $2/dozen?

I don't, that was poor wording before having my coffee. Basically how it works out is that I make just enough money off of selling eggs that I can pay for the feed of my chickens and my ducks.

 

[CuzChickens]

I seriously need to keep better track of my costs. I keep chickens. I sell the eggs. The end lol. I can sell non gmo pasture raised eggs for $6-7 per dozen at a farmers market an hour from my house, but where I live I can only sell them for $4 per dozen. I told a friend that and he flipped. He went on about how my eggs are good, but they "really don't taste much better than storebought eggs". I think the contrary, and refuse to eat storebought eggs cuz they are gu-rose.

 

[K813ZRA]

I seriously need to keep better track of my costs. I keep chickens. I sell the eggs. The end lol. I can sell non gmo pasture raised eggs for $6-7 per dozen at a farmers market an hour from my house, but where I live I can only sell them for $4 per dozen. I told a friend that and he flipped. He went on about how my eggs are good, but they "really don't taste much better than storebought eggs". I think the contrary, and refuse to eat storebought eggs cuz they are gu-rose.

I am lucky that I can get $2 a dozen here. On my way to the feed mill there are at least 20 signs for fresh brown eggs. I just got lucky, the Amish buy them off of me in bulk. Nobody wants duck eggs around here, nobody.

I don't actually care though. I keep chickens because I like chickens.

 

[CuzChickens]

I am lucky that I can get $2 a dozen here. On my way to the feed mill there are at least 20 signs for fresh brown eggs. I just got lucky, the Amish buy them off of me in bulk. Nobody wants duck eggs around here, nobody.

I don't actually care though. I keep chickens because I like chickens.

I'm the same way, I don't want to profit, I just want to at least break even so I can keep doing what I love.

 

[Joeschooks]

I calculated my egg cost on consumables (feed, treats, straw, shavings etc) and it worked out similar to free range eggs from the supermarket at about 18 pence. I didn’t include the set up costs/coop etc. If I do each egg probably costs me £1!! But I just put the set-up costs down to the enjoyment of keeping them. If I didn’t keep chickens for a hobby I’d probably go back to archery which also has equipment costs, club membership fees etc.

 

[lazy gardener]

Feast or famine here. I can't produce enough eggs for my customers, then I have 14 dozen eggs taking up space in my fridge. Some how, it usually works out. I expect that I'll be selling a few hens this spring, to make room for the new hatchlings. And the cycle continues.

 

[Russ in Tuscany]

This is an excellent question. My answer is that to be honest I don't know. I can calculate how much we spend on feed pretty easily but there are a lot of hidden costs, such as our time in keeping the ladies (and our cockerel Mario) clean and happy.
Plus the significant cost of me building their ridiculously over-engineered coop 4 years ago from scratch. I spent far too much money on it in terms of timber, super-max level fencing and roofing materials. But Building it probably saved me a lot of money on therapy, pottery classes, whisky or yoga due to a toxic work situation at the time (since more than resolved b.t.w.). So the capital expenditure was either very expensive or profitable, according to how much therapists cost.
And the eggs. You can't buy eggs in the shops like we get from our free ranging ladies. So it's difficult to put a price on them.