Selling Eggs?

[Rebecka]

I am actually selling eggs! 5 dozen in two days!!! My sign is not very pretty. Just white with black lettering. So, I pulled a few hay bails out of the barn, a few pumpkins out of the garden, an armful of cornstalks and that seems to get folks attention. Thanks for all the advice guys. There is actually some room in my fridge now!

 

[BeccaOH]

I can't keep eggs in stock and my sign hasn't been up for over 2 weeks. Friends and neighbors call and have me hold whatever I can for them. I'm still selling chicken for $2 and duck for $3 per dozen. Our local feed store raised her egg price from $1.25 to $1.75 and can't keep them stocked.

My label says "Backyard Eggs." My hens rarely get free range time due to my dogs and neighbor dogs and coyotes and hawks and so forth. They do have large yards and get plenty of greens and other treats factory birds never have.

I've had calls too from people wanting to buy hens. I let my neighbor talk me out of 2 hens. I told her I'd do $7 on each of them as I can't guarantee either is laying yet. Then I decided to calculate if a hen gave me 200 eggs in a year that is around 16 dozen. At $2 per dozen, her yearly value is around $32 (not counting her feed costs). What was I thinking selling hens for $7 when they are worth at least $16? Grrr

 

[fancy]

I paid $20 dollars each for my first 2 hens with no idea about their age. It was worth every penny!

Bless you for being so kind to her.

 

[ALANB.]

Rebbeca ; You Silly GIRL . try and re-coup your feed expense !!! The local feed store sells for $2.50 a dozen . I sell mine for $5.00 in 18 count cartons , less work and six more Eggs just looks better to the customer . I pack the clean ones and keep the un-clean for myself . The most demand is for the Easter Egg's , Araucanas !! If I run out I just mix what I have ............ ALANB.

 

[ALANB.]

BRUCE ; Old California LAW , still on the books !!! we can sell anything we raise on the Farm site . but not to a restaurant , Then you get into a never ending jackpot of inspections etc: better to stay away . If you have a good product , just like food , The people will find you .......... ALANB.

 

[Rebecka]

I'm getting more per dozen than most everyone else around here. I had intended on pricing $1.50 per dozen but the wonderful folks around here talk me out of it, and it's a darned good thing too!

 

[reinbeau]

I don't wash the eggs unless they're obviously dirty, and then with just warm water and a washcloth, only on the dirt. I don't want to wash off the protective coating at all. I 'grade' my eggs in that they start largest on the left hand side of the carton and smallest on the right, and I do refrigerate the eggs the day they're gathered - and I gather several times a day. Any cracked or extremely thin shelled eggs (I have one girl who has this problem) I keep for myself. I get $3 a dozen, but I don't have enough hens to supply all those who want my eggs (I have a built in clientele in my Pilates students).

 

[freemotion]

BRUCE ; Old California LAW , still on the books !!! we can sell anything we raise on the Farm site . but not to a restaurant , Then you get into a never ending jackpot of inspections etc: better to stay away . If you have a good product , just like food , The people will find you .......... ALANB.

Soooo.....what are you getting? You go, girl! When I first priced my eggs at $2, my dad pointed out to me that I had to raise up the chicks and also that I kept the hens through the winter and through their molts, not sending them to the canner like the commercial farms, so I needed to add that in, too. Especially since that was a feature that the people I sold to appreciated, so they needed to pay for it, not me.

I soon learned that even at $3, I could've sold 20 dozen a week after the initial effort of getting the word out. I never had more than 5 dozen to sell, but I had people clammering for them. I had one woman pay me $4 so she could always be at the top of the list. She was. If she valued them that much, she got 'em!

This was all before the recent contamination scare.

 

[Rebecka]

Well, the sign says 2.50 but I think I might change it. A guy that bought a dozen two days ago just came back and bought 3 dozen and insisted we take 3.00 per. He brought us two big bags of cartons. He wanted to make sure it was okay with us that he was selling him to his daughters customers ( she moved) and he was planning on charging them 4.00 He says he has heard "nothing but fussing' since she left and that our eggs 'weren't none of that underfed dirty old hen *beep*'

All of this while he was holding one of my friendlier hens who snuggled in and went to sleep while we were talking.

We are getting about 2 dozen a day now. Today will be a light egg day because we culled more roosters and added 5 young turkeys to their yard yesterday. However, whenever we cull , two days after we get a jump in production.

The guy also brought us a gallon of some stuff called Egg Wash. I am leery at best. He says his daughter got it, never used it and theres tons of it in the barn if we want it, he will be happy to bring it by. Anyone familiar with this ? I know the 'to wash or not to wash' can be a tough topic. We are currently doing what reinbeau is, only washing off any dirty spots.

 

[me&thegals]

The guy also brought us a gallon of some stuff called Egg Wash. I am leery at best. He says his daughter got it, never used it and theres tons of it in the barn if we want it, he will be happy to bring it by. Anyone familiar with this ? I know the 'to wash or not to wash' can be a tough topic. We are currently doing what reinbeau is, only washing off any dirty spots.

Do you know the law regarding this for your state? I would start there...