Is it Illegal to Sell Chicken Eggs?

[Contrary]

That just drives me nuts. It's not like I'm washing salad greens in the sink. I'm washing manure off of the eggs into the sink, but I'm supposed to have a separate sink to wash my hands?

Fortunately you can buy these stainless steel hand washing units complete with shipping for about $70 on ebay.

The drying, oiling and packaging of the eggs is supposed to take place in the same facility. Clean hands are important, but I have difficulty understanding why you can't use the same sink you use for washing eggs. Dairy farmers are required to have a hand washing station in their milk room, but few use that sink for that purpose.

Furthermore, the license in Michigan costs $75 per year. That makes it difficult for a hobbyist or small farmer to justify the expense if they want to sell eggs to a store or restaurant.

 

[itsren]

It deepens on where you are as everyone says. Just look up your local agricultural dept. In wa, you can sell as many eggs as you want as long as you are selling off your property and not "marketing" them. I doubt anything legal will happen to you if you are only selling like 10 dz a week.

I'm guessing it comes down to city codes, too. I'm in WA, but my city designates that lots smaller than 1 acre can only have chickens to lay eggs for personal use. I'm not allowed to sell. My land isn't big enough (I'm on 1/4 acre).

I have a neighbor who asked me if she could buy eggs and I told her I couldn't sell them, but I'd be happy to give her some. She said that would be great, and she'd happily pay my children a $2.00/dozen delivery fee to walk them over to her. Works for me!

 

[Whittni]

I have 4 hens and 4 roos - according to the forum. They weren't sexed as chicks, so it was a gamble - I started out in May with 12 and only have 8 left. (predators took out 4.) They are all about 4 months old and are all "mutts." I love'em anyway, I am still hoping that a friend of mine will trade me a hen for two of my roos (I know I have too many roos vs. hens)

I'm not one to "sell" anything to family, I will probably end up giving them eggs if they ask in the future. We mainly wanted eggs for ourselves, but I was just curious about the laws if any - I couldn't find anything online, that says that it's legal or illegal to sell eggs.

If the government says it's okay to sell eggs, why is it illegal (in most states) to sell milk or meat from your other farm animals?

I'm not trying to start any type of debate by this thread, I'm truly baffled why eggs would be okay and the others are not... I'm just trying to further educate myself in the small farm world.

Our dream is to one day get a family cow, a couple of calves, goats and other farm animals - we want to live a simpler life. We want to become more self-suffcient and less dependent on Wal-Mart.

About the home milk: the government would be okay with it if you had a regular inspection for all the diseases that are normally tested in large farms, small farms usually don't make enough profit or aren't willing to spend the money to do these tests because they can run a high price, I'm assuming.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Fortunately you can buy these stainless steel hand washing units complete with shipping for about $70 on ebay.

Then you still have to have a place to hang it and have to plumb it.

We have 2500 hens and the eggs are sent to a plant for off-site processing and retail packaging. We have a large egg room and walk in cooler attached to the hen house where we pack and store eggs in bulk for delivery to the plant. I looked into the permits required for local sales, but never proceeded with the permitting process. Most of our local sales are from the farm anyways. I do some deliveries, but don't worry about the permit. At worst they are just going to tell me to stop.

I laugh every time I think about having to add a hand washing sink. Most of the eggs packed for local sales I don't even wash, as I'm not required to wash or sanitize them if they are already clean. I wash a few dozen of the dirtiest eggs each day in the sink and at the end of the process there is manure laying in the bottom of the sink. I look at it and think "I'm not supposed to wash my hands into the sink that is full of crap?".

While we have an egg washing sink in the egg room, we don't have sewer lines out there. The sink drains into a mop bucket that we empty outside the door each day. Requiring sanitary sewer for small scale operations is ridiculous. The only thing that goes down the sink is water, manure, and a squirt of hand soap each day. To say that is not OK to empty a bucket of water and manure onto the ground is ridiculous. With 2500 hens there is already plenty of water and manure on the ground.

 

[Contrary]

While we have an egg washing sink in the egg room, we don't have sewer lines out there. The sink drains into a mop bucket that we empty outside the door each day. Requiring sanitary sewer for small scale operations is ridiculous. The only thing that goes down the sink is water, manure, and a squirt of hand soap each day. To say that is not OK to empty a bucket of water and manure onto the ground is ridiculous. With 2500 hens there is already plenty of water and manure on the ground.

I can't understand why a small operation can't dump the waste water out on pasture either. In my case, there are bits of straw that can go down the drain if I'm not careful because straw is used in the nest boxes. This can screw up a septic in no time.

 

[lyonsden25]

Hi, I am new to this chicken raising, egg laying hobby. What do I need to do to make sure that there aren't any surprises in the eggs, we have 1 rooster and 18 hens, eggs are picked up within the hour of laying, do I need to buy something to look at them or what do I do, I give them to friends but I am worried about the eggs not being perfect, how do reassure myself that there won't be any surprises? I enjoy having the Rooster in the yard with all his ladies. Thank you, any chit chat would be appreciated.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Hi Lyonsden25, welcome to the club.

This thread is five years old and has been resurrected a few times, but I noticed your new post here today.

If you really want to make sure there aren't any surprises in the eggs you can candle them with a strong light. Holding the egg to a bright flashlight in a dimly lit area will allow you to inspect the interior of the egg, but after you've done a number of times you'll probably get bored of it. In reality, if you pick up the eggs often and discard the ones where you aren't sure of the age of (perhaps ones you find in areas that you don't check very often) then you really won't find any surprises. It takes several days at the right temperatures for anything visible to start developing.

Don't worry about the eggs being perfect. Tell your friends they may run across an occasional blood or meat spot. It's a good idea to always crack them into a separate cup or a bowl before adding them them a recipe to check for blood or meat spots.

 

[dbounds10]

I just checked into this on the Texas Dept of Ag. It is not illegal and you do not need a license if you are selling from your backyard flock.

http://texasagriculture.gov/RegulatoryPrograms/EggQualityProgram.aspx

Who does NOT need an Egg License from TDA? ​

​

• Retailers
  A person or business that sells eggs directly to consumers, unless the eggs are sold for personal benefit.
• Restaurants
• Individuals
  Individuals who sell un-graded eggs from a personal flock. If you sell graded eggs from a personal flock, then you DO need an Egg License.

 

[CCsChickens]

I'm in a similar situation would anyone have an info on this but for Australia? Preferably South Australia... I cant find any sites to help me out on this one and if I ring up the local council it sounds pretty vague :/ as I'm doing this for a senior school project I want to make sure its legal as its being assessed etc. so I'd like to ideally go beyond friends and family and be able to put up signs etc

 

[aart]

I'm in a similar situation would anyone have an info on this but for Australia? Preferably South Australia... I cant find any sites to help me out on this one and if I ring up the local council it sounds pretty vague :/ as I'm doing this for a senior school project I want to make sure its legal as its being assessed etc. so I'd like to ideally go beyond friends and family and be able to put up signs etc

I'd start by asking in this thread to find someone local to you who can point you in the right direction.:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/598568/australia-six-states-and-that-funny-little-island

Hope that helps.