I think it depends very heavily on how you raise the chickens. And what you value - nutritional value or raw cost.
For example, if you compost all your house and garden scraps (veg scraps, clippings, bread, grains, pet food leftovers, pretty much any household biodegradable scrap) and let the chickens access the pile to dig out goodies they want to eat and scratch bugs out of? Healthy chickens, minimal feed cost through whatever months they have access to bugs and scraps, and their nitrogen rich waste enhances the compost to help it break down faster and make veg growing more efficient. Feed is more of a supplement then, and the chickens give you more than just super healthy nutrient rich eggs (plus you can eat them when they can’t lay anymore which you don’t get out of the raw price of eggs). If you can work it out so they always have access to a pile warm enough to not freeze or let the bugs die off, with enough fresh material (maybe from neighbors in exchange for some eggs here and there if you don’t produce enough on your own), that really can make up a substantial part of the diet, reducing the break even point by a lot.
Sure, it’s probably not going to be outright cheaper food, unless you have solar for coop heat and can source cheap feed (spent grain from a brewery, for example). But it is more efficient and more nutritious food, and a lot more humane than most factory farming. Plus being even partially self sustaining really does help reduce the hold corps have on us, which is always a win.
I think it depends very heavily on how you raise the chickens. And what you value - nutritional value or raw cost.
For example, if you compost all your house and garden scraps (veg scraps, clippings, bread, grains, pet food leftovers, pretty much any household biodegradable scrap) and let the chickens access the pile to dig out goodies they want to eat and scratch bugs out of? Healthy chickens, minimal feed cost through whatever months they have access to bugs and scraps, and their nitrogen rich waste enhances the compost to help it break down faster and make veg growing more efficient. Feed is more of a supplement then, and the chickens give you more than just super healthy nutrient rich eggs (plus you can eat them when they can’t lay anymore which you don’t get out of the raw price of eggs). If you can work it out so they always have access to a pile warm enough to not freeze or let the bugs die off, with enough fresh material (maybe from neighbors in exchange for some eggs here and there if you don’t produce enough on your own), that really can make up a substantial part of the diet, reducing the break even point by a lot.
Sure, it’s probably not going to be outright cheaper food, unless you have solar for coop heat and can source cheap feed (spent grain from a brewery, for example). But it is more efficient and more nutritious food, and a lot more humane than most factory farming. Plus being even partially self sustaining really does help reduce the hold corps have on us, which is always a win.