free range egg prices

[cherokeefarms]

just wondering what everyone was chargeing for there eggs im selling mine for 3.00 a doz and cant keep up and the ones that dont want to pay that much i tell them to go to walmart and pay 3.08 i seen on rfd tv the other day some are getting as much as 8.00 a doz out in cali i could only wish i could get that hear in la because i think there worth that much

 

[Dingleberry]

the going rate in WA is 3.50 a doz.

 

[alicefelldown]

It's VERY dependent on what your market can support. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Do you sell in the middle class part of town? Do you sell eggs in a business park? What do people drive? How do they live? et cetera. ALL those factors should be taken into account - market research.

If you want to charge more than your local walmart you need to a) have clients that can afford to pay more, and b) educate them as to why your eggs are better than walmarts. (If walmart is all your clients can afford then you need to look for more affluent consumers. Put flyers in the upscale coffee shops or nice office buildings (with permission!))

* You have pasture/free ranged birds. They eat a healthier, more natural diet than their big box friends. They play in the sun, eat grass, and are not debeaked. Remind your potential customers that your hens are not crammed into tiny battery cages, they are living the best lives you can give them, with plenty of space to move around and be chickens.

* There are NO government regulations on the terms 'cage free' and 'free range' for eggs - although they do exist (with poor stipulations in my mind) for chicken meat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) requires that chickens raised for their meat have access to the outside in order to receive the free-range certification. There is no requirement for access to pasture, and there may be access to only dirt or gravel . Free-range chicken eggs, however, have no legal definition in the United States. Likewise, free-range egg producers have no common standard on what the term means. Many egg farmers sell their eggs as free range merely because their cages are two or three inches above average size, or because there is a window in the shed.

* Are you selling colored eggs? Try to go for a niche market, but please do not perpetuate the myths that brown eggs are healthier than white, or that blue eggs are lower in cholesterol than any others. The only difference in the inside of the eggs comes from the diet of the hen. Feed yours extra flax seeds for added Omegas. Go soymeal free. Cater to niche market and give yourself room to inflate your sales price.

Keep track of your expenses so you aren't selling eggs at a loss. Put pictures of your happy chickens on your ads, SHOW your potential customers WHY your eggs are better and you should have no trouble justifying a moderate price increase.

You mentioned the 8$ eggs on TV. I'm assuming you mean the Modern Marvels episode. Here's a write up I did after it aired - it isn't just some random person selling crazy expensive eggs, there are reasons behind the price differences that you see. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3563150#p3563150
Quote:
Not exactly.

There are three types of eggs available:
1 - Eggs from the Caged birds shown at Rose Acre Farms in Iowa, the overcrowded caged birds with floppy combs, ratty feathers, and that have been debeaked. These eggs are sold wholesale to your grocery stores and this particular farm houses up to 1.5 million hens, in their 6 barns. (~3$ per Modern Marvels - these may be less or even more in your individual markets)

2 - Eggs from the 'Cage Free' / 'Free Range' type shown at both Rose Acre Farms and Peteluma Farms in Northern Ca, who live in a large barn, are still debeaked, but are allowed to roost and dust bathe. These birds do not venture outside as the following category does. These eggs are sold wholesale to your grocery stores and the farms hold around 60,000 hens. (5$ per Modern Marvels - again, these may be less or even more in your individual markets)

3 - and Eggs from the Pastured type as shown at Eatwell Farms in Dixon, CA. These were the 8$ eggs - and the ones most comparable to the ones we ourselves produce. These birds go outside in the sun, eat grass and bugs, frolic and live happy lives. These can be wholesale if a big enough company, but are usually smaller productions that *can* supply local grocery stores. Eatwell says they have 20,000 hens but I believe only sell through their local CSA.

'Cage-free' as written on egg cartons in the stores come from the second category. There are NO government regulations on the terms 'cage free' and 'free range' for eggs - although they do exist (with poor stipulations in my mind) for chicken meat.

When Francine Bradley, Poultry Specialist from UC Davis said:

In terms of nutritional value, there is no nutritional difference, so the egg laid by a hen who is maintained in a cage is going to be the same as the nutritional value from an egg laid by a hen that was on the ground.

She is comparing category 1, the caged birds, to category 2, the 'free range/cage free' birds. These birds both consume the same type of feed, in the same type of environment, although category 2 is much better off. This is further reinforced as the footage in the episode cuts from the caged birds at Rose Acre to the 'cage free' barn birds (again at Rose Acre or Peteluma Farms) and not the pastured birds shown at Eatwell Farms who are scratching in the grass. (Not to mention that Eatwell feds theirs on actual grains in addition to natural foraging, whereas both Rose Acre and Peteluma freed powdered all purpose 'vegeterian' mixes.)

It's easy to assume that large scale producers of 'cage free' eggs are claiming they have better eggs than actual pastured or backyard eggs, but you have to look at their exact wording. They know they can't compare with the lovely golden yolks we get - taste or nutrition wise. So they stick with being *better* than the caged birds in category 1 and prey on the same philosophical reasons that Francine Bradley mentioned:

I know people who pay several dollars more a dozen for the eggs because they don't want to buy eggs from hens who were kept in cages; that's a philosophical decision, and they have the ability to pay more for it, and I think that great.
​

 

[eKo_birdies]

i sell mine for $3.50 a dozen. that's for pasture raised supplemented w/ cert. organic feed.

 

[Milliemay]

Here is southwest Wisconsin, I am surrounded by organic egg farms, and Amish, so all I charge is a $1.00/dozen to cover my feed costs. Mainly it is just family and friends that buy them. Too much competition from my neighbors....

 

[Rosebud 18]

I can't sell mine for a $1.00 per dozen. I live in the country where everyone has chickens anyway. I have offered to give them away and people ask if I will bring the eggs to them. The same for fresh veggies from my garden. If I lived in town I'm sure it would be different. I feel if they want them they can come and get them.

 

[Lbrad7]

Quote:

Maggie, please forgive me but I find your post painfully hilarious!!!! I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. I have a garden that people will ask if they can have some tomatoes and when I tell them they can have all they can pick, they look at me like I have lost my mind! Now I'm sure that all of you know just how easy it is to pick freaking tomatoes...its not like I am telling them to have at the okra. Picking tomatoes as easy as it gets and people some people still won't do it.

I offer them the chance to pic veggies and sell my eggs for 3.00 a doz. If they don't like it they can help themselves to the crap at the grocery store.

 

[kichohana]

Quote:

Maggie, please forgive me but I find your post painfully hilarious!!!! I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. I have a garden that people will ask if they can have some tomatoes and when I tell them they can have all they can pick, they look at me like I have lost my mind! Now I'm sure that all of you know just how easy it is to pick freaking tomatoes...its not like I am telling them to have at the okra. Picking tomatoes as easy as it gets and people some people still won't do it.

I offer them the chance to pic veggies and sell my eggs for 3.00 a doz. If they don't like it they can help themselves to the crap at the grocery store.

HA HA HA HA HA!

i couldn't agree more!

 

[Gwen]

I sell my eggs for $4 for large/x-large and $3 for medium. The local stores here sell for anywhere from $4 - $5.79. These are for organic eggs. We feed our chicken organic feed, scratch, and all organic treats (ex popcorn which is not organic). Everything in our yard that they free range on is organic as well in that we don't spray or use any pesticides. At the farmer's markets, most are selling for anywhere from $5 - $5 a dozen. I think I'm the only person (aside from the store) that weighs and sells according to weight.

I do not deliver! Unless I happen to be going over to the person's house or it's someone I work with or something like that.

I don't sell a lot but then I don't have a lot either.

 

[Mother of All]

I sell mine for 1.50 and thinking about going to 2.00 I had only 12 layers and now I have 25 layers with more to come around Oct. I hope I'm going to be able to raise them.