How to Price Eggs?

[downriverchicks]

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but I'm perplexed!

We are getting enough eggs from our 37 6-7 month old pullets to do small-scale sales. Most of our eggs go to the family and to our chicken start-up investor, who takes a share of 4 dozen a week in repayment. We spend $300-400 in organic feed every 2-3 months, about $5 in feed per bird per month, I believe - I'm not sure what's average. We hadn't been washing eggs until use, because we counter-keep them, but aren't sure about the added time/labor cost of washing for wider sale. For pastured, organic eggs we see them going for $8 in the grocery store, $2-4 in the backcountry around our metro area at roadsides and on craigslist, $6 at market. For now we're just considering direct sales. We'd like to make a little profit on top of recouping costs if possible, to allow us to continue to grow, but also want to be fair to customers who are also mostly our friends.

Thanks!

 

[lazy gardener]

I would say that you should test the market. Take your expenses for feed into account. Start competitive with what you see for organic at the stores, and reduce from there if you need to. I sell for $3/doz for full sized eggs. I'm in a rural area, and that seems to be the going road side price. My customers are hooked on my eggs b/c the girls get FF. There is a subtle, but discernible difference in flavor, IMO. I do realize that eggs can be bought at discount in grocery stores for about 1/2 of that price. But, I'll not apologize for my price, nor will I reduce price. I would most likely start feeding them to the dog or back to the chickens than to drop price to match the ancient flavorless offerings from Wally World.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I agree with @lazy gardener - you'll want to calculate your costs (including labor) as well as determine what the market will bear. I'm also in a rural area and I sell my eggs from pastured chickens who eat fermented non-GMO supplemental feed for $3.50/dozen. They sell for $4/dozen at local farmer's markets, and for as low as $2/doz on CL. A note about CL - the cheap eggs I've seen are not fed a non-GMO diet and aren't pastured; these prices tend to be posted by hobbyists who have a few dozen "extra" eggs they want to offload. I sell my eggs to customers who appreciate quality, nutritious eggs from chickens with a good quality of life. They don't bat an eye at the price because they understand that what they're getting isn't old eggs from battery cage hens that have been discounted by retailers so they're actually losing money on the eggs (they have a strategy: they make up their money on accompaniments like bacon). Aside from the ethical piece, my customers love the taste -discriminating palates appreciate the difference. I'm not trying to get people who have a "fast food mentality" to buy my eggs...and I can eat a lot of eggs.

Re price: you're better off pricing your eggs higher initially and slightly decreasing the price (if needed) than the reverse.

 

[bigfoot11]

I would say that you should test the market. Take your expenses for feed into account. Start competitive with what you see for organic at the stores, and reduce from there if you need to. I sell for $3/doz for full sized eggs. I'm in a rural area, and that seems to be the going road side price. My customers are hooked on my eggs b/c the girls get FF. There is a subtle, but discernible difference in flavor, IMO. I do realize that eggs can be bought at discount in grocery stores for about 1/2 of that price. But, I'll not apologize for my price, nor will I reduce price. I would most likely start feeding them to the dog or back to the chickens than to drop price to match the ancient flavorless offerings from Wally World.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. Here in MN I sell mine for $3/doz also. Any higher and I got that sour look and the "Maybe nextime" any lower and it seems like I would break even or lose out a little.

 

[Keeber]

Although I only have a baker's dozen hens, I still end up with 5-6 dozen eggs a week. I sell them for $4 a dozen easily while I have a coworker with chickens that has trouble selling hers for more than $3. Although her chickens are producing Jumbo sized eggs, I think I have more appeal as mine do free range and the colors vary from white and pinkish brown on through the green blue spectrum. I am definitely not trying to make money on the eggs, but rather offset feed costs and make sure I have all the eggs I want. Beyond feed, the surplus money from eggs goes back into the homestead.

As far as your question, I think it has been well answered with figuring in expenses. You may never "re-coop" all your expenses on your chickens, but if you price your eggs correctly you can definitely offset the cost of feed and the monthly expenditures become neutral. I know my free chickens cost me about $400 after my coop and run were finished, but I overbuilt for strength and room to grow my flock.

 

[karenej]

I sell mine to academic types for $5/dozen. All depends on what your base is willing to pay for quality eggs.

 

[JimmyG632]

Does anybody know if I should price my game gen eggs more than my regular laying hens eggs. Please help.

 

[NatJ]

Jimmy, if the eggs are being sold to eat, I'd price them the same no matter what kind of hen they come from--unless people think there's something special about them (If you've got someone asking specially for the game hen eggs, that's when I'd suggest pricing them higher.) Of course, if you're selling eggs for hatching, then base it on what's normal for your breed--but for eating, most people don't care what breed of chicken the egg came from.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Where I live everyone sells eggs. I sell mine $2/dz or my refrigerator will overlow.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Current usual average price for non-chain supermarket/local large eggs for consumption around DFW is $4/dozen. Some sell easily at $5.50/dz, some have trouble selling at $3/dz, per their reports.

I don't expect to be selling eggs before next spring, but I've been keeping an eye on eggs prices and sales for over a year. I already did research and polled folks both selling and buying eggs at the local sales venues in my area, as well as answering posts asking for eggs locally so I could ask what exactly they were looking for and willing to pay. My results might be helpful no matter your location.

• Many would/do pay a premium for humane treatment, organic, free-range, cage-free, non-GMO, antibiotic free, hormone free, higher omega3, and/or colors other than white (!).
• Most acknowledged that those local, non-factory eggs might not look perfect and were OK with slight to moderate inconsistency.
• All wanted "clean" eggs.
• They preferred delivery, or a pickup locations conveniently near their home/work/school/usual errand locations.
• Most wanted a routine weekly purchase amount that could be canceled for things like vacation time, or increased during the holiday baking time.
• Most preferred size large eggs.
• Most preferred chicken eggs, though a very few wished they could get turkey, duck, or quail eggs.
• All the professional chefs I spoke with wanted to be able to inspect the birds, their diet, and their housing personally, or by one of their staff. A few of the non-chef consumers also expressed this desire.
• All expressed the desire to be able to refuse delivery of products they deemed sub-par.
• Interestingly, not one person I spoke with expressed concern over disease related to purchased local eggs, or asked anything about health certification.
• One person asked if my eggs were going to be gluten free. Yes, really.