Bee~ Journal of then...

[me&thegals]

Hey, Bee--What do you charge? That's wonderful you are finding people who appreciate your eggs! I've been glad to find folks around here, too, who really appreciate fresh colorful eggs.

Here might be a good place for this: How You Know if You're a Country Gal:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=152230

 

[Beekissed]

I'm only charging $2 a doz. and it seems to be just the right price, but I sell out pretty quickly at that price right now. At first I got a lot of comments about how high that was but that was usually from the uninformed....they changed their minds pretty quickly and now I don't have enough eggs for the demand. Sure wish I had about 6 extra laying hens right now!

 

[Farmfresh]

We had another round of the old "if it is a brown egg at the grocery store they must be healthy" discussion at work yesterday. People are SO uninformed. I spend a lot of time just educating the populace.

Those in the know are CONSTANTLY asking me for eggs, which due to my small lot size I can not produce for them. I even have the kids at school asking for eggs!

A while back I brought some boiled eggs to have for lunches (we have a refrigerator and I bring lunch fixings for several days all at once). The kids (mostly kindergarten age) wanted to see my "blue eggs" because one of the other teachers mentioned them to them. I ended up sharing slices of the "blue" egg and then we all made deviled eggs with the rest of my lunch! Now I get pestered to "bring more eggs!" from those kids. Seems even they can taste the difference! I am promised to bring some tomorrow.

 

[freemotion]

It is time to raise your prices.....supply and demand!! I couldn't sell any until I educated people, now I get $3 with a long waiting list, and one lady put herself at the top of the list by giving me $4. Go up to at least $2.50, or say $3 for a dozen and $5 for two dozen to save yourself some work in the actual selling. JMHO. You deserve it. Go look at the price of Eggland's Best (not on sale, that doesn't count) at the grocery store! Yours should sell for at least as much, but I think they should sell for more. Your hens are also raised cruelty-free, which is a huge selling point.

 

[me&thegals]

Seems even they can taste the difference! I am promised to bring some tomorrow.

I'm finding it's the kids who can tell the best! My parents claim no taste difference while my customer's kids say "Yuck!" when they have to eat storebought and other customers buy them since they're the only eggs their kids will eat Go, kids!

I agree about raising the price, although it's a tough thing to do. If people are able to pay more, they really ARE getting a higher quality, fresher, "guilt-free" product from you! That's worth a lot.

 

[ticks]

Hey Beekissed.
Hows it going?
my birds are doing great, my Pheasants have not started laying yet and they are driving me crazy. Here is TIMMAH!! my rooster, I kept him becasue he was the best quality, and was the dominant rooster

My ducks started laying as well:

I also heard you wanted geese as well. What kidn do you want to get?

 

[lorihadams]

Oh Ticks, he is beautiful!

Bee, about the dog, we had a friend that got one of our puppies and little Charlie was quite the trouble maker. He ate through 2 sofas, a rug, a door, and lots of shoes. One day they came home from work and there sits Charlie in the middle of the floor, scared to death, and refusing to move. The reason why, you ask??? He had gotten his head stuck inside a box of Goldfish crackers and couldn't get it off. Scared the poor dog to death. After that they started leaving him on the porch during the day and he chewed through a PLUGGED IN power cord to their extra fridge. He was one cute dog though!

 

[Beekissed]

Ticks, that pheasant doesn't even look real, he's so perfect!!! Do you sell and make money off this bird breeding business of yours? I know the folks in this state sell theirs to hunters to repopulate their grassland hunting preserves and it sounds like they might be a pretty good business prospect. Not everyone is successful at raising game birds, so kudos to you!!

Free, I know I should be charging more...and I may do so later on when selling to tourists, but, if I sold each dozen I produce for only $2 ea., I'm still making a whopping big profit over my expenses. I know in the more populated areas, you'ins can charge a lot more and folks are happy to get them, but around here its a harder sell. I might raise them next year to $2.50 for the locals and go from there.

I want to establish a loyal customer base first and I don't feel like they would trust me if I suddenly jumped the price because of supply and demand purposes. I know I got pretty ticked off when my local hardware guy raised the price on my dog's collar batteries just because I told him they were more expensive somewhere else.....I felt like he was gouging me!

When I asked him if he raised the prices because of what I told him, he just blushed and looked at the floor! If he was making a profit at the old price and only raised it because he found out he could get more, I call that gouging.... could be why the small town stores go out of business.

I don't want to be to cheap but I don't want to gouge just because I can, so I'll raise prices slowly and if I need to do so to be able to keep the chickens, ya know?

 

[freemotion]

Hey, Bee, have you heard of felted soap, using wool? Stumbled across this....a little strange, maybe, but tourists might love it! http://video.about.com/candleandsoap/How-to-Felt-Soap-With-Wool.htm

 

[ticks]

Hey Bee.