Egg cost calculator — what a dozen actually costs you
Feed, bedding, and the birds themselves, divided by the eggs you actually get. Most gate-price maths counts the feed and forgets the rest, then assumes an egg a day per hen — which no flock sustains across a year.
Feed is 70% of it. If that share is much below two thirds, something else in the list is too high — or the lay rate you entered is optimistic.
Log eggs as you collect them and feed as you buy it, and the app works this out from what actually happened rather than from an estimate — including the months the flock moults and lays nothing. Free while in early access.
Create your free accountLay rate is the number people get wrong
A hen in her first laying year at the peak of her cycle will lay at 90% or better — nine eggs in ten days. Across a whole year, counting the winter slowdown and the autumn moult, a good backyard flock averages nearer 65%. Point-of-lay pullets bought in spring will flatter you for one season and then show you the real number.
If you are pricing eggs to sell, price on the annual average, not on the June figure. The June figure is why so many gate-price flocks quietly lose money from October.
Typical lay rates
| Situation | Lay rate | Eggs per hen per year |
|---|---|---|
| Hybrid layer, first year, peak | 90% | ~300 at peak rate |
| Hybrid layer, first year, annual average | 75–80% | 270–290 |
| Heritage breed, annual average | 50–60% | 180–220 |
| Second laying year | ~80% of year one | — |
| Quail (Coturnix), in lay | 75–85% | 250–300 |
The costs that get left out
Feed is usually two thirds to three quarters of the true cost, so a feed-only figure is not wildly wrong — but the missing quarter is what turns a small margin into none. The usual omissions are bedding, the point-of-lay price of the birds spread over their laying life, and the eggs you eat yourself, which are a cost of production the moment you are pricing to sell.
Not included here, deliberately: your time. Once you put a wage in, almost no backyard flock covers it, and that is fine — it is not why most people keep hens. It is worth knowing rather than discovering.
Work from what happened, not from an estimate. Farm Planner counts the eggs you actually collected against the feed you actually bought, including the moult, and shows the cost per dozen moving month by month. Free while in early access. Create your free account
Note: figures are typical values for small flocks and vary with breed, age, season, daylight and feed quality. Currency is whatever you enter — this page does no conversion and assumes nothing about your local feed prices.