There’s been a whole lot of clucking about egg prices recently — and some real estate agents are using that as a marketing tool.
Instead of just touting a property’s expansive pool, new hardwood floors, chef’s kitchen or home gym, a new amenity is making its way into some listing descriptions: the chicken coop.
An exclusive analysis of listings on Homes.com found that between March 2020 and March 2025, the use of that “chicken verbiage” — including phrases such as "chicken coop," "henhouse" or "chicken house" — increased 78%.
“Start your day with fresh eggs courtesy of Henrietta and the girls from the chicken coop,” one listing in Pennsylvania says.
The tactic has been on the rise with the growing interest in homesteading and living a life of self-sufficiency. It got an extra boost earlier this year when the price of eggs soared and grocery shelves emptied amid an ongoing outbreak of bird flu. Some agents have used that as a draw in their listing descriptions.
“No longer pay a fortune for eggs with this oversized chick coop ready to go,” reads one listing description for a home in Minnesota.
“If you are worried about the price of eggs, there is a built-in chicken coop that stays,” another property in Texas boasts.
The real cost of raising chickens
As nice as it sounds to help yourself to fresh eggs each morning, raising chickens and maintaining a coop may not be for everyone.
"They're not cheap," said Jeanne Leombruno, a real estate agent in Boston. She's owned chickens for about 10 years, and her backyard coop currently houses 11 of the birds.
"The food is fairly expensive, and you do need to clean the coop," Leombruno said in an interview.
In fact, an analysis from Alliant Credit Union found that for a homeowner to start a chicken coop from the ground up, they'd be looking at about $600 in expenses, and that doesn't include the monthly payments associated with feed and other items for the animals.
Even so, there’s been an uptick in interest among homebuyers interested in producing their own food and goods, according to Molly Thompson, an agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty. That’s also influenced how agents market their properties.
Take Thompson’s listing at 12161 Cannes St in Jacksonville, Florida, for example. Sure, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house is minutes from the beach and has an open floor plan, but it also has a “state-of-the-art chicken coop.”
“You know how much eggs cost,” Thompson wrote in her listing description, “now you can have your own chickens and save more money.”
Thompson said she’s marketing the property toward first-time buyers who are looking to be cost-efficient and empty nesters who may have more time on their hands to spend outside.
“The chicken coop is pretty new, and it currently houses three gorgeous chickens that lay beautiful brown eggs,” she said in an interview. “And we do have buyers who are out there looking for that lifestyle.”
All told, for homebuyers and owners who are interested in a more outdoorsy lifestyle, and not just cost savings, investing in chickens and a coop might be worth the investment, according to Leombruno.
"They're like a gateway drug to outdoor living and clean living," she said.