Backyard chickens boom again as eggs get cheaper, joy stays high

Retail eggs averaged $2.50 a dozen in the latest CPI report, down 58% from a year earlier, even as searches for backyard chickens and how to build a chicken coop climbed again in 2026.

Texas A&M AgriLife economist David Anderson said the rebound in egg supplies was underway because avian influenza slowed and producers had time to rebuild flocks. Texas A&M AgriLife pegged U.S. table-egg layer numbers at 292 million in March 2025 and about 308 million in March 2026, and the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service put egg-laying hens at 315 million on March 1, 2026, up 8% from a year earlier. Wholesale large Grade A eggs had already fallen from more than $8 a dozen last winter to below $1 earlier in 2026 before ticking up ahead of Easter demand.

Texas A&M AgriLife said in March 2025 that raising backyard chickens takes significant time and money, with feed, coop materials, bedding and medical costs all adding up. A modest setup can still run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars once the coop, feeders, bedding and replacement birds are counted.

In a 2014 University of California, Davis survey of 1,487 backyard flock owners, 95% said home food production was a reason for keeping chickens, 63% called them gardening partners and 57% kept them as pets. The same survey found the biggest headaches were predation, cited by 49% of respondents, followed by feed costs at 28%, soil management at 25% and zoning regulations at 23%.

A 2024 study of non-commercial chicken care found largely positive attitudes toward chickens, a personal human-chicken relationship and that most carers still ate chicken meat and eggs.

The American Pet Products Association said backyard chicken ownership rose 28% in its 2025 State of the Industry Report, alongside 94 million U.S. pet-owning households and $152 billion in pet spending in 2024.