Legalities aside, there are lots of good reasons to keep chickens beyond the current cost of eggs. They can be engaging pets and owners control what they ingest and by extension, the quality of the eggs they produce. Eggs from a backyard coup are not a money-saving proposition however.

As the steward of four sweet but dimwitted birds who comprise the egg factory in my backyard, it’s not as cheap as you’d think. But with egg prices as high as a buck an egg in some places, it’s at least worth considering.