PALM BAY, Fla. — The Palm Bay City Council is set to consider amending the code to double the amount of backyard chickens allowed.

Right now, four chickens are permitted on residential properties. If passed, that number would increase to eight.

Nationwide egg prices are falling, but many families are still considering putting up coops to produce their own eggs with backyard hens.

Steve Register’s backyard has gone to the birds — hens and a rooster, that is. Register wanted to put in a coop for quite some time.

About a year ago, he made that move.

“Finally, my wife gave me the OK, and we pulled the trigger,” Register said.

Not only does his family enjoy the farm fresh organic eggs the hens lay, he’s the hit of the neighborhood, handing out dozens more to neighbors.

“They enjoy the extra free eggs,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll just let them come over and pick them up themselves.”

Wholesale egg prices soared in 2024 into this year at more than $8 a dozen.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, over the past month, prices have plummeted for the third week in a row to a little more than $4 a dozen.

Officials attribute the dip in avian flu cases for the change, allowing production to ramp back up.

The Palm Bay City Council is weighing whether to change its Land Development Code to allow residents to have up to eight backyard chickens per half-acre single-family lot.

When Register began his chicken journey, he says he wasn’t satisfied with the quality of coops he found online.

He recently began selling custom coops, built by a friend in DeLand. His coop was the first one built.

Business is brisk, and if more chickens are allowed on residential properties in Palm Bay, he said he expects to get busier.

The council will vote on the backyard chicken measure at their meeting Thursday night.