My Boreal Homestead Life

If you would have told me 20+ years ago when I first started raising laying hens that eggs would be newsworthy, I would have laughed.  But here we are in 2025 and eggs are making headlines!  Go figure!  When I first started in the  egg laying business, it was simply for my  own use and to sell a few with the hopes of making a few dollars. But I was very laid back about it and basically set prices based on store bought prices, not really paying attention to my expenses.  They were great eggs and folks enjoyed them.  But a couple of years ago, I decided that enough was enough and I needed to know what these eggs were costing me and how much profit I was actually making.  It was time to treat this like a business!  It is time to get real!

The plan development

Over the years, I never knew exactly what I was spending or making on  egg sales until I completed my taxes.  With broilers, turkeys and layers on the place and feeding everything at times out of the same bag,  I had a “feeling” but it was always just a guesstimate and it certainly was not in any type of responsive way, as a business should be run.  I would periodically sit  down and calculate what I should be charging based on costs of the day but each time I had to ask myself if I was operating a business or just having a hobby that fed me too.

Finally, as I wanted it to be an egg business, at the beginning of 2023, I decided that I needed to start taking it seriously.  But in order to see what this egg business was dong, I needed to collect data on what I was feeding.in addition to keeping records of what I sold,   So a ledger was set up that allowed me to record data on how many “cans” of feed went to each bird grouping.  It soon developed into a ledger that contained data about multiple aged birds, types of birds, death's, additions and eggs gathered.  Nothing technical, that's for sure.

But it was not until late 2023 that I realized that I  was missing some information - how many eggs sold and how many I was loosing due to cracks caused by freezing, “partying in the nest”  or just poor management.  I had my ledger of customers and what each one bought, but I could not tell you how many made it through to “sale” by this ledger for use in a day  to day comparison.  So in late 2023, another ledger was set up to record the eggs available for sale and how many cracks I was able to salvage.

After a full year of collecting data about the turkeys, broilers, old laying hens, young hens and new hens, at the end of 2024 I had the data to run the analysis and find out the answers.  But entering it into a spreadsheet to do the analysis was going to take time.  Little by little, the data was keyed in and eventually it was ready for the analysis.  To do the analysis, I needed to list the questions I wanted answers for.  Namely,

1. How much feed does each bird group get?
2. How many eggs am I getting from each laying group?  What is my production rate?
3. Does bird age affect production rate?  Is my assumption from years of keeping birds correct that I loose money by keeping older birds?
4. How many eggs are making it through to sale?
5. What does each egg cost me to produce?
6. How much profit am I making on each egg?

But like all analysis of data, sometimes the answers one gets to the questions asked are not what we hope for and sometimes it is. Data can be confirming and data can be condemning.  This data and subsequent analysis was no exception.

Context

To fully appreciate what the data and subsequent analysis is telling me I need to set some context.

• Flocks were only included once they reached point of lay;
• Three flocks were analyzed - Older hens from pre-2023 hatch, New hens from 2023 hatch and newest hens from 2024 hatch;
• Unless work or life commitments prevent it, all hens are fed a 17% commercial ration twice a day with a total daily feeding not exceeding 100 - 150 grams (0.22 - 0.33 pounds) per day, adjusted by the previous days feedings;
• No additional protein supplement is fed other than the odd treat of boiled and smashed cracked eggs or soon to expire store bought milk.  During the summer they were fed daily with grass and garden supplies picked by myself and delivered to them.  During the winter, greens and spoiled garden produce are fed as it becomes available.  Double duty grit, a combination of stones and limestone, is fed free choice;
• During the summer months, water is present at all times.  It is only  during the winter months that I need to manage water due to freezing water.  Through a system of pans and multiple waterers that I can exchange for thawed ones, I do my best to ensure they at least are watered twice a day;
• Older hens, totaling about 45, are in a coop with minimal supplemental heat and spacing of about 5 sq ft (0.5 sq m) per bird;
• New hens, totaling about 160, are in a coop with no heat but have a spacing of about 2 sq ft (0.2 sq m) per bird;
• Newest hens, totaling about 60, are in an adjoining coop to the new hens with no heat and a spacing of about 5 sq ft (0.5 sq m) per bird;
• All coops receive 14 hours supplemental lighting from a 60 watt bulb and have windows.  There is differences of opinions on this one but in my books there are two reasons for running supplemental lights.  First, I am in the egg business and I want to have eggs year round; the supplemental light stimulates the pituitary glad which in turn releases hormones that trigger egg production.  Secondly, it is more convenient for me to do chores, especially during the winter when the sun is all but set by 5 pm and doesn't rise until almost 9 am;
• Included in cost of production is an hourly wage of 20.00 CDN (13.81 USD)/hour;
• I am in the egg business and so approximately 80% of my birds are production birds with the rest being dual purpose and heritage breeds;
• According to the farmer owned group, Nutri Group, and Egg Farmers of Canada, in Canada there are four main housing types for laying hens:
  1. Conventional housing - Hens are housed together in small groups with free access to food and water;
  2. Enriched colony housing - Hens are raised in groups and have access to perches, scratch mats and a nesting area; 
  3. Free-run housing - Chickens move freely around the poultry house and are given a nesting area and free access to food and water; 
  4. Free-range housing - Free-range poultry houses are similar to free-run poultry houses, while also offering outdoor access when the weather permits.

In addition to these types of housing, in the homesteading community and some commercial operations pasture raised has become the norm.  In  pasture raised operations the birds live 24/7 on the pasture with portable housing to accommodate shelter, nesting boxes, feed and water.

Where I  live having a pasture raised operation would be difficult during the summer months due to ground and aerial predator pressure.  In lieu of pasture, my birds typically have a run that they can use for the warmer months.   It does not contain grass and is fixed but being that I bring greens to my birds each day, I would categorize my operation as Free-range, for the most part.  For some of my birds, they are strictly Free-run but they do get greens daily during the summer months.  Once it turns cold the entire operation turns into a Free-run housing operation.  In my climate, as I explored in Deep Bedding and Deep Litter Method in Cold Climates the open air housing that is  often taught to new chicken owners does not work due to frozen waterers, eggs, combs and feet.  Insulated coops with supplemental heat is favored, but not always possible and simple shelters must be utilized despite possible problems that may arise;

• According to Canadian Grade Compendium: Volume 5 – Eggs, there are four grades of eggs with the grade names Canada A, Canada B, Canada C and Canada Nest Run.  And as part of this standardized grading system, there are weights along with other conditions attached to most of the grades, with Canada A having six weight categories:
  • Jumbo Size being greater or equal to 70 g;
  • Extra Large Size being less than 70  g and greater than or equal to 63 g;
  • Large Size being less than 63 g and greater than or equal to 56 g;
  • Medium Size being less than 56 g and greater than or equal to 49 g;
  • Small Size being less than 49 g and greater than or equal to 42 g;
  • Peewee Size being less than 42 g.

Although I am aware of these standards, I decided that I would not be sorting my eggs according to grade standards with the exception of weight.  And that I would only apply weight to egg sorting when new birds come into lay and give me “pullet eggs” or the “first eggs”. These eggs are typically less than 49 grams and so I sort them off for donation to the local food bank.  All other eggs are packaged together and sold as Farm eggs;

• Eggs are typically gathered a minimum of twice per day, dependent on weather and whether an egg eater hen needs to be dealt with;
• All eggs are either hand washed or washed using The Little Egg Scrubber, a handy time saver.  After drying, all the eggs are candled, packaged and dated with date the eggs were gathered.  I go over why this is important and how I use a home-made egg candler in the blog post  How to candle farm fresh eggs with a homemade egg candler;
• Eggs are delivered in town to customers door two times per week, sometime more if I am going to town.  I will not make a special trip to deliver eggs.  Routes have been developed to eliminate back tracking and make most efficient use of time.  Average distance travelled once I get to town is about 20 km (12.4 miles) which would cost about $5.00 CDN ($3.46 USD) in fuel.  Fuel reimbursement is incorporated into current price of a dozen eggs;
• Current egg price is $4.50 CDN ($3.12 USD) per dozen;
• I reuse egg cartons for the most part although I do have to buy new a couple times a year.  Cost for 150 fibre cartons is $57.99 plus $40.80 shipping and taxes or $1.52 CDN per carton ($1.06 USD per carton).

The Analysis

After entering all the data and looking at the basic calculations I had set up to perform calculations like cost per egg, production by flock and eggs sold, I decided that the best way to represent the data was in three graphs using trendlines to remove any outliers in the data:

All birds combined - showing profit against production and amount of cracks

In this graph I was wanting to see how the production rate of all flocks combined would affect the gross profit of each egg. I include the graph below.

Each species of bird has a published minimum and maximum number of eggs it will produce in a given year.   And although that production will vary dependent on a number of factors such as day length, age and feed, to site a few examples, I wanted to see how my production was doing.  I was hoping for around a 60 - 70 % production rate.  To determine the production rate, the number of eggs produced daily applied against the total number of birds on that day would determine this number, converted to a percentage.  Included in the number of birds are the roosters that live with the flock.  So one could argue that the average daily production of 45.07% is artificially deflated, and they'd be right.  But at a ratio of 1 to 10 or 15 hens, I don't think it will be drastically different if the roosters were removed from the equation.

What I found interesting about the production (yellow  line) in comparison to it's trend line (blue dashed line) is how the summer production, from June to September, was lower than the trend.  I would have expected that in the summer the production would be higher.  This could be due to a  number of factors, not the least of which is the weather and that the birds, specifically the older birds, had a harder time with the heat/cold fluctuations we had in 2024.  The other possibility is that the birds went into a molt (loose old feathers and regrow new) after laying all winter which takes energy and so birds typically stop laying.  A molt typically lasts 6 weeks to two months. The other thing that I realized during this time is that my rooster to hen ratio was way to high and so it was around this time (spring) that I removed a bunch of the roosters to bring the ratio back into balance.  But as the temperatures cooled, the hens recovered from the constant harassment and the newest hens came into production,  the production  levels returned to levels reflectant of the start of 2024.  It will be interesting to see what the 2025 data analysis shows. Part and parcel to the production rate is the percent of cracks.

Cracked eggs can be caused by flighty hens that spin out on the eggs which throws them against a hard surface and thereby cracking or breaking the egg.  This activity can also make the egg susceptible to egg eating birds that will attack a broken egg with vengeance.  With yolk on the surrounding eggs, an egg eating hen can work on that egg until it too is consumed.  And with only a few shells remaining, it is all but impossible to determine how many eggs were lost that would have affected production rates. 

Another more frequent real cause of cracked eggs are frozen eggs.  Due to my winter temperatures, eggs can freeze in just a few hours if not gathered multiple times in a day.   Although the cracked percentage (blue line) stays relatively constant, not picking the eggs due to work and life commitments has a detrimental affect to production as indicated by the spikes (outliers) to the percent cracks.  The large dips in cracks from the trend line are a direct result of not gathering eggs the night before.  All in all, from the eggs that were gathered on a given day, only a portion of the eggs are cracked which is identified by candling.  The unsellable, but useable, cracked eggs totaled a staggering 10,741 or an average of 20.68% for 2024, a $4,028 CDN ($2,802.57 USD) hit to gross profit, at my  current $4.50/dozen price.  Although I have ways to use these cracked eggs as I explore in What to do with cracked eggs, I was surprised to see the total number of cracked eggs.  I knew I had some, but not to this extent.  It is a definite problem that will need to be addressed.

The profit per egg was calculated based upon my feed and labor cost combined and applied against the selling price of the non cracked eggs.  A positive price comparison (sold for more than it cost to produce) being a gross profit and a negative price comparison being a gross loss to profit.   The feed cost was calculated based on what I paid from the store.  Calculations revealed that a feed price of $0.00077 CDN per gram be applied to each gram of feed.  The labor was calculated based on $20.00 CDN ($13.92 USD) per hour applied to the daily average time spent feeding, watering and cleaning pens coupled with the time spent gathering, washing, candling and packaging the eggs. This equated to a $30.00 CDN ($20.78 USD) labor fee being added to each days determination of profit per egg.   This was converted on a daily basis into the cost per egg by dividing the total of feed and labor by the number of eggs.

As I was selling my eggs at $4.50 CDN ($3.12 USD) per dozen, the selling price per egg is $0.38 CDN.  The total profit per egg was then calculated by subtracting the selling price from the cost per egg. with  a negative equating to lost profit and a positive number meaning I made some money.  And this is where the huge surprise happened. This calculation revealed that for 2024 I had an average gross profit of $-0.16 CDN ($-0.11 USD) per egg!! What?!  I had done the calculations by hand some time ago and at that time included the labor costs and reimbursement of fuel, or thought I did.  But I either had made a calculation error or underestimated the amount of time I allocated. Just goes to show that a person should be more diligent about doing this types of reviews and certainly more frequently.

After I got over the shock of it all, and I gave it some thought, it was really not that surprising.  With lower than average production rates, discussed below, and higher than normal cracked eggs coupled with my flock dynamics the negative profit per egg was not really that much of a surprise.  What also jumps out at me is the the trend line reflects this with it's steady  decline.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this picture is certainly a cuff upside the head!

Then I wondered, and hoped, if the selling price per egg at the very least, would cover the feed costs.  So I ran the numbers again at a zero labor cost and I am happy to report that I showed a $0.08 CDN ($0.05 USD) profit per egg.  At least I got something for my  time and/or to put towards fuel!

I found it interesting to compare how production rates and percent cracks affected the gross profit per egg as shown in this graph. Although maybe not easily seen in the day to day profits (blue line), the trend line (red dotted line) in both graphs definitely shows a steady decline in profit over the year.  It certainly shows how the bird age, production and  and management can affect the bottom line. Although a little nicer picture, still a cuff upside the head.

Comparison of multi aged birds production rate by flock

Over my many years of keeping hens I have noticed that the longer the birds went past two years of age, the more fussy  they became, the softer the shells became and the fewer eggs I would get.  Although there is some thought that the heritage breeds will live longer and produce eggs longer, the fact is that whether it is a heritage breed of chicken or a production breed, the hen has a finite number of eggs she will produce in her lifetime. How you get those eggs will be dependent on what you ask of her.  In the first year after point of lay is reached, all chickens will produce their maximum number of eggs and then in each years following, the number of eggs will decline proportional to their breed, age and day length.  Commercial breeds are less susceptible to this decline in year two, or so I felt. With a year's worth of data in hand,  I wanted to see if it would confirm my  suspicions, and if so, I wondered how much they were affected by age.

As I mentioned above I have three different flocks - older hens from pre-2023 hatch, new hens from 2023 hatch and newest hens from 2024 hatch.  As each of these flocks have specific data that would allow me to calculate production rates, I thought the comparison would be interesting.  The graph included below shows some interesting findings.  On the graph you  will notice some spikes in data.  To clarify the positive and negative spikes in production, the spikes of increased production have an equal and opposite negative spike the day before due to a management issue.  Namely, I was unable to gather eggs the day before due to work or life commitments.  But what else did the graph show me?

The older birds (green line), comprised of mainly heritage and dual purpose birds with a few commercial breeds in there, had been laying for over a year by the time this analysis started so it was interesting to see how much of a jump they made in production once spring arrived. And that, despite supplemental lighting and minimal heat in their coop, that the production started to drop around August until it reached lows  in the fall and  early winter that mimicked the production rates pre spring.  This production cycle averaged out to an annual average of 30.69%.  

But of equal interest is the trend line for the older birds (blue line) that shows a slow but steady decline.  A decline that is not evident in the new birds, represented by the black trend line.  And if one looks at the data for the new birds (grey lines), comprised of dual purpose breeds with majority being commercial breeds, although there are highs and lows in production, the overall production is pretty constant. Chickens will molt, but not typically all at once,  and they generally lay eggs for three days and then take one off, so this peak and valley production is not unexpected given the number of birds I have. The average production rate for the new birds averaged 42.62%. Still low, but better than the older birds.

What I found interesting with the newest birds is that although they did not come into lay till October 1 as planned to ensure winter production, their production steadily increased to where it similarly matches the production of the new birds on January 1 at the start of the data range.  Their production rate averaged 25.78% by the end of December.  Although they share a larger unheated coop with the newer birds and a flock of roosters whom all have their own pens, the newest hen's pen is larger and so I did notice that they spent more time huddling during the cold weather than the newer flock.  This would  have also affected their production as they spent more energy keeping warm rather than laying eggs.

Comparison of production cost (by egg) for each flock.

With this final comparison I was hoping to see how much  the age of the  flock affected my feed costs to produce the eggs laid by each flock.  To examine this, the daily feed cost was determined and then divided by the number of eggs gathered on the same day, I was able to determine what each egg cost me to produce.  No labor was included in this costing.  As I mentioned earlier, with a lower than average production percent, it is expected that my cost to produce each physical egg would be higher than if the hens were laying optimally.  But the information this graph, supplied below, provides will be valuable.

But first, the spikes on the newest birds (green line) needs to be addressed.  If you recall, the newest birds started laying on October 1 and so all the feed costs for that day were applied to the one egg I gathered on that day, resulting in a very high cost for that egg.  In the days that followed, with limited number of eggs being produced the cost per egg were artificially  inflated.    But as the graph clearly shows, those costs came into alignment with the two other flocks about the middle of October.

Although not surprising, it was interesting to see the older birds (blue line) above normal feed costs at each end of the year.  A trend that was also evident in their production figures.   Arguably breed can affect this, but I think this also shows how age can affect these production figures. How the older birds come into alignment with the relatively steady production cost  of the new birds (orange line) during the summer months confirms in my mind the “fussy” nature of birds older than two years.

The cost of production graph also illustrates how the average cost of producing one egg is so much higher in the older and younger birds ($0.49/egg and $0.66/egg respectively) but is relatively constant for the new birds at an average of $0.30 CDN ($0.21 USD) per egg. Although costing is about the same during the summer months for all the flocks, it is certainly amplified once days start getting shorter. 

But what it clearly shows in relation to  the other two graphs I have discussed is that I have two major issues ultimately affecting my gross profit, production cost and production rates.

How breed selection affects profitability

As I think this analysis clearly shows, gross profit is directly attributable to the production costs and production rates. But whether a person supplies supplemental lighting and/or heated coops, there is another factor that I would be remiss in not discussing.  And that is how breed selection can also affect the gross profit.

When I was choosing breeds initially, in addition to cold tolerance, durability and temperament, rate of lay was also a consideration.  I research each breed and decide if their rate of lay will fit with the plan and okay, some were just because they are cool and/or endangered. After all, a nice looking flock is nice too. But is it profitable?

At that time I was, and still am, considering hatching out my own replacements and so being able to have the pure breeds seemed to be important. After all, if I want a sex-a-link brown AKA ISA Brown hen, I simply put a Rhode Island Red Rooster and a Leghorn hen together and the resulting chicks will be an ISA brown. I can do the same with Barred Rock hen and a Rhode Island Red rooster to get a Red Rock chick. However, what to do with the roosters was, and still is, a stopping point despite the added savings of chick purchases.

Obviously being in the egg sale business and wanting to put food on my table at a reasonable price, rate of lay should factor in.  I think it is commonly known that commercial farms raise sex-a-link and leghorn because they have great rates of lay of up to 300 - 320 eggs per year. So although I have those breeds in my flock, I wondered how do my other birds compare. Well, according to the research, not great.

• Sex-a-link    260    - 300 eggs per year;
• White Leghorn    280    - 320 eggs per year;
• Speckled Sussex    150 - 240 eggs per year;
• Columbian Rock    200    - 250 eggs per year;
• Golden Wyandotte    180 - 260 eggs per year;
• Plymouth Rock    200    - 280 eggs per year;
• Americana    240    - 250 eggs per year;
• Buff Orpington 200 - 250 eggs per year;
• Rhode Island Red    250    - 300 eggs per year.

"So what" you might be saying. It makes for pretty egg cartons and pretty flocks. And although that may be true, based on the estimated numbers of each breed I have I should have produced 63,290 eggs at minimum and 75,920 eggs at maximum. The 48,163 eggs I did produce in 2024 were an average 12.90% shortfall over the minimum published egg  production. 

So I wondered if I were to have the same number of birds and the same cost of production but with only the higher end producers of Leghorns, Rhode Island and Sex-a-link with a few Americana thrown in for fun, what would that do to the production. As it would turn out the minimum egg production would go up to 72,420 and a maximum of 83,350 eggs per year. A difference from the actual flock demographic minimum production of 9,130 eggs per year.  In terms of gross profit, a leading commercial breed composition would translate into an additional $730.00 CDN ($505.69 USD) of gross profit at my current profit average of $0.08/egg. It also bears mentioning that some breeds have better feed conversion than others so cost of production could conceivably go down from using less feed.

Although this would suggest that a flock of commercial breeds would ensure lower food costs and increased profits, I also realize that each person's goals are different and there is zero fault or shame in that.  I am simply suggesting that it might be worth having a few of them in your flock.  For me, although my flocks will be commercial breed heavy as egg production is key, there will always be room for heritage and/or dual purpose birds in the flock.
 

 Lesson's learned

Having gone through this process of data collection and analysis, there are a number of area's where my  suspicions were confirmed and/or things were brought to my attention. Namely,

1. Although throughout the winter I was noticing the cracked eggs come in, it was not until I did this analysis that I realized the magnitude of the problem. And to that end, this summer I will be repairing and upgrading the hen house to allow me to better keep the coop warm so as to prevent eggs from freezing;
2. Related to the freezing of the eggs is also the cracks that arise from hens tossing the eggs.  To address this issue,  I am going to get rid of my communal nests and replace them with single nesting boxes.  I am also considering  roll-away nesting boxes which will also help prevent the egg eating.  Roll-away  nesting boxes are a communal nesting box but the floor is built at a slight angle so that when a hen lays an egg it immediately rolls down hill into a covered collection chamber.  Alternative breeds that are less flighty will also be considered;
3. Gather the eggs at multiple intervals during the day so as to prevent freezing and/or egg eaters from doing damage;
4. I need to work at getting the production rates higher.   Although there are a number of things that could be causing the lower production rates, I have a feeling I have more egg eaters in the flock than I thought.   Egg eating is a learned behavior and so it can spread quickly through a flock without me even knowing it. Although I feel that changing out the nesting boxes in favor of single nests or roll-away boxes will have a direct impact, getting things cleaned up, repaired and warmed up will have an even larger impact on my production rates;
5. I will be looking into buying grain direct from a farmer so as reduce my input costs;
6. Although maybe not evident in the graphs, the data also showed me that removing roosters as soon as they are identifiable as a rooster is important to egg production. Keep the roosters at a stocking rate of 1 to 10 or 1 to 15 but get the rest of them out of there.  Raising them up for meat is a good way to supplement the food budget as they are great canned, slow cooked, ground or made into stock;
7. I need to stop ordering unsexed chicks to save a few cents.  I will be spending the money to get only pullets, whenever possible, and try not to think about the cockerels I could be “saving”;
8. After going through this analysis and due in part to the price of heritage and/or dual purpose chicks, this year I will be ordering only commercial breed pullets.  I will be maintaining my current flock of heritage and dual purpose birds with plans of hatching out replacements in the up coming years. And maybe another money generating venture in selling hatching eggs;
9. Frequent review of the selling price of a dozen eggs is extremely  important.  When collecting this much data, be sure to input and analyze it multiple times a year.  It not only shows you problems before they become out of control, it saves days of entry at the end  of the focus period.  Now that my spreadsheet is set up it should be easier to see the trends as they develop;
10. I need to improve how I feed so as to decrease wastage.  I realized through this analysis that even a ½ can of wasted feed per day will create a yearly loss of $254.96 CDN ($176.62 USD);
11. The biggest confirmation I could get from this data is to have two aged flocks to ensure egg production throughout the year.  I was of this opinion, my Dad (a big poultry farmer in the day) confirmed this, but now I have the data to show it.  To that end, I will need to build another coop.

Is Selling eggs profitable?

One would think that based on the above graphs and an average profit to cover feed and labor, that a $-0.16 CDN ($-0.11 USD) profit would mean I take my flock and get rid of it.  However, in combination with the other graphs what it actually shows is that there are problems.  This is reinforced by the $0.08 CDN ($0.055 USD) profit I made when only the feed is considered.  Based on the 3118.5 dozen eggs I sold, this profit per egg would translate into a $249.48 CDN ($172.82 USD) cash flow for labor, a 1.7% gross profit margin or $0.46 CDN ($0.32 USD) per hour calculated based on 1.5 hours per day.  If I were to do nothing else but eliminate the cracked eggs I would realize an additional cash flow increase of $859.28 CDN ($595.24 USD).  As I have shown above, the feed only cost per egg is directly proportional to the number of eggs produced in relation to the feed given.  If I was to continue to feed a store bought feed but implemented some of the other lessons learned and managed to get my current flock dynamic to produce to the minimum published production levels of 63290 eggs per year on the same amount of feed,  I would realize a lowering of my cost per egg to $0.22 CDN ($0.15 USD).  At the current price of $4.50 CDN ($3.16 USD) per dozen, this would result in an average per egg profit of $0.16 CDN ($0.11 USD) or a realized 2024 cash flow after feed of $10,126.40 CDN ($7,014.76 USD).  This translates into a 42.7% gross profit margin or $18.50 CDN ($12.82 USD) per hour based on an average 1.5 hours per day.  

As I mentioned earlier, flock breed dynamics can also have a direct impact on profit.  If I was to implement the breed dynamics of being commercial breeds leading as I discussed earlier, and I was to achieve minimum published production rates of 72,420 eggs on the same amount of feed, my feed cost per egg drops to $0.19 CDN ($0.13 USD), a gross per egg profit of $0.19 CDN ($0.13 USD) at current per dozen prices.  This increased profit after the feed costs were covered would have translated into a $13,759.80 CDN ($9,531.69 USD) cash flow for 2024, a 50.7% gross profit margin.  This profit would have meant a wage increase to $25.13 CDN ($17.41 USD) based on an average 1.5 hours per day.

Based on the data that I have shared, it would make one think that selling chicken eggs would not be a profitable venture, at least not the way things are.  But with some improvements, there is certainly the potential to make a  profit depending on what is included for expenses.  But I was curious what other producers were claiming they were making for a profit.  A google search of expected gross profit margins from selling chicken eggs reveals that a 10 - 30% gross profit margin is being achieved, depending on location, size of operation, whether the eggs are organically raised or not and what the producer expects to make on the eggs.  A deep dive into how the published gross profit margin is calculated revealed that the Cost of Good Sold (COGS), including feed, chicks, veterinary care, etc. is removed from the income made from selling eggs and the resulting answer is then divided by the income, converted to a percentage.  By these calculations my gross profit recalculated to include buying the chicks and feeding them up to point of lay and beyond, my gross profit would be an alarming -17.2%.  However, implementing the lesson's learned to get to a minimum production level for the laying flock as it exists now would bring my gross profit margin to 30.7%.

But here's the thing with how the industry calculates their profit margins.  By their standards, I am failing miserably.  And in some ways I would agree.  Although I could agree that the consumer price should include the expenses for feed, labor and grit once they reach a point of lay and beyond, I struggle with charging all the other expenses that are typically incorporated into the price.  I can't help but think that coop costs along with the labor and feed for the birds before they come into lay should not be off loaded onto the consumer.  It should be covered by me, the owner, out of my wages.  The reason being that if I stopped selling eggs tomorrow, I would still have the coops, the birds, the land, etc. for which there is value.  It feels a bit like “double dipping” to offset those costs on a consumer.  Granted, as I  have shared I am currently  not able to pay myself much of a wage, but I don't see that as the customer's problem.  I know it is a different way of looking at things, that's for sure. 

But putting my struggles aside and continuing with the current industry norm for calculations of profit margin, a further deep dive into how the Net profit margin is calculated reveals that it is at this point that all associated costs of the operation including labor, housing, etc are removed from the income.  Although I did not include the  cost of land, power, taxes, etc. the list of expenses to calculate the net profit would be as follows:

• Cost of building coop amortized over15 years  = $333.33/year CDN;
• Cost of replacing 184 commercial birds in my current flock = $966 CDN, amortized over 2 years equals $483 CDN/year;
• Feed costs for 184 chicks based on 2024 chick feed costs = $2,886.50 CDN amortized over 2 years equals $1,443.25 CDN/year;
• Labor cost for caring for 184 chicks to point of lay at $20.00/hour = $625 CDN amortized over 2 years equals $312.50 CDN/year;
• Grit cost of 12 bags = $120.00 CDN/year;
• Egg cartons = $197.58;
• 2024 feed costs for egg producing hens = $14,037.73 CDN;
• 2024 labor costs for egg producing hens = $10,980.00 CDN.

Total minimum expenses from start to finish for establishing and maintaining my current flock dynamics is $27,907.39 CDN ($19,332.01 USD) per year. 

And this is where the math gets interesting and somewhat alarming.  Current published net profit margin is typically 10% or less depending on scale, location, whether the eggs are organically raised or not and what the producer expects to make on the eggs  Based on what I have compared thus far, I won't even calculate the percentage as I know my current net profit margin would be real bad.  But I will say that if I maintained status quo and only got 3,118.5 dozen eggs to sell each year, I would need to be charging a minimum of $8.95 CDN ($6.20 USD) per dozen to break even.  However, if I do nothing other than fix the cracked egg problem, I would have 4,013 dozen eggs available for sale each year and would need to be charging $6.95 CDN ($4.81 USD) per dozen just to break even.  And if I implement all the lessons learned and achieved a minimum documented production rate of 5,274 dozen, I would still need to be charging $5.29 CDN ($3.66 USD) just to break even.  Based on these calculations, I would certainly be in the “less” category by definition. 

So is selling chicken eggs profitable?  Like so many things, I think it safe to say that at my scale and with my thought process, it depends.  This exercise and analysis has certainly been a worthwhile process in that it has shown areas I need to improve on.  I realize that there will be those that will look at these numbers and emphatically state to close the doors.  And to be honest, on one hand, I can't really disagree.  But I also think it depends on how I want to look at it.  As I think I have illustrated, there is potential for profit, a decent profit,  and it will boil down to whether I think I can turn things around.  Besides, I don't give up easily. 

This operation may not be a typical business model and I may not be able to, or want to, compare to how everyone else is doing it for an apple to apple comparison, but I could also ask why does that matter.  I am covering my laying flock feed costs and providing healthy food to the community.  There is value in that too.

Is raising chickens for eggs worth it?

Although this level of analysis may not be something most folks with a small flock of laying hens would do, I feel there is great value in knowing how much it costs to put food on the table.  Like this project has done for me, it will highlight problems that I had just gotten used to.

Eggs are often sold as lost leaders in stores and at farmer's markets and many a report I  have read asserts that the margins on eggs are small.  As this analysis shows, I would say that it is true.  As a result, many a farmer will state that raising chickens for eggs are just not worth it, even at my scale.  But as my Dad, a big egg producer back in the day, often says, “You will always have money in your wallet”.   But from a business perspective, is that enough I wonder?  As I think is painfully evident, this analysis has highlighted some major problems I have to address.  In so doing I feel I can turn things around fairly quickly so that the net profit margin is in the published range of expected net profit margin or at least in a range that I am comfortable with. And in so doing, make laying hens worth the time and effort as an on farm income source.

But at the end of the day, regardless of an egg selling business or not, having egg laying chickens is something I will always have. They are worth it!  Although I am reliant to some degree on the feed store for the birds feed, I am not reliant on the grocery store for something as basic as eggs and am certainly  not at the grocery store's mercy for availability and price, as we are  seeing now in parts of the world.  As a food source, I also feel you can't beat a fresh egg I raised myself.  I know what the birds ate and therefore the eggs are much better tasting and healthier. In addition, once their time is up the birds also serve one last proof of their worthiness as another food source when I process them for ground meat, can the meat or simply as chicken stock. 

Final thoughts

With all the talk these days about the price of eggs, I can't help but wonder if it is simply a case of compounding inflation from the supply and demand model of price setting.  Everyone along the “food chain” from the hatching egg supplier, to the hatchery, to the feed mill and even the egg producer wants to make a buck, myself included. But if everyone is maximizing what the market will bear through the supply and demand model, pretty soon the prices of the end product, in my case eggs, are out of reach.  But do they have to be?

I talked a lot about profit, but at the end of the day I can't help but wonder if the supply and demand model that is customary to use is the right measure of profit.  Sure it gives you a tangible figure that most folks can wrap their head around and allows you to compare yourself to others. A “Keeping up with the Jone's” mentality.  In simplest of terms, profit is the amount of money you made on a particular venture.  It could be $1.00  or it might be a $10,000.  Sure we all want to make the bigger profit, but perhaps that level of profit desire is where the problem arises.  I know for myself when my eggs have been cheaper than conventional eggs in the store, I have immediately increased my prices to achieve that extra profit on my eggs.  Justifying it by stating that they are cheaper than the organic, free run and free range eggs.  But is that just good marketing?  I find some of it funny because how can you have free range or pasture raised eggs in this country when its -40.  But people buy them.  I know because I get their cartons to use for my free run/free range farm fresh eggs.  Although I am appreciative for the opportunity to save some money and save another carton from the dump, it makes me smile.  The marketing campaign has the consumer liking the convenience of one stop shop and paying more for something that has the right advertising but yet, they will complain that I am asking too much.  Or, as I have  reluctantly shown, I have to wonder if I am charging enough and my prices should be closer to Free-range prices and simply up my marketing game.  Two can play  that game.

But regardless, in thinking about it, have I morally gone wrong.  I live this way of life so that I know what is in my food, I can save money by growing my own food and by association believe that all folks should have access to this same type of food.  So why would I increase my prices so that my egg price inches towards the higher profit margin then? Folks these days are used to instant gratification and I would suggest that it has carried over to the food industry and in some ways to my life.  Yes, I have bills to pay and things I would like to own for which the profits from the egg sales could help achieve.  But I have to wonder, do I have to have it right now by generating enough profit from what the market will bear as is perpetuated by big business.  Or, can I take the time by making less profit while blessing someone with minimum profit margins.  And perhaps in doing so, prevent a baker who buys my eggs to not have to increase their prices and therefore compound inflation.

Although it is a struggle for me, I do recognize from this analysis that I have problems.  But I am also of the opinion that the customer should not have to pay for my lack of proper management and penny pinching.  So I will not be increasing my prices to compensate for that.  I will be addressing  the lessons learned soonest so that I can realize better profits and hopefully realize the wage I thought I was getting.  With a little left over for the business perhaps. That being said though, I picked up feed on March 11, 2025 and it has gone up again.  It is now $15.95 CDN ($11.05 USD) per 20 Kg (44 pound) bag, an increase of $0.0000275 per gram which translate to an increase in 2025 of $532.06 CDN ($308.57 USD) based on 2024 feed consumption.

Based on the information presented, do you think I should just pull the plug on this?  Would you implement the lesson's learned and see where you're at in a year?  Or?  What would you  do? 

I hope you found this deep dive into my egg laying business of interest and that it gives you some food for thought.  If you did enjoy it, please consider joining the My Boreal Homestead Life Community.  By supplying your email address at the bottom of the page and hitting "sign up" or by clicking Join the community, you will ensure you get an email notification when I post new blogs to the My Boreal Homestead Life site.

Thank you for joining me on the front porch of My Boreal Homestead Life as we explore this Homegrown, Homestead life, In a Modern World.

Additional Resources

• Breaking Down The Cost Of Chickens For Eggs - From Scratch Homestead
• From Hobby to Business: How to Make Money From Chickens - Brown's Family Homestead
• How to Make Money From Your Homestead - Homesteading Family
• Egg Production: What You Need to Do and Charge to Make It Pay - On Pasture
• The SHOCKING Truth Behind 2025 Egg Price Crisis! - Dust'er Mud Podcast