Is it just me or are some people taking advantage of this new trend?

[iajewel]

Years ago health food stores were getting around 15.00 a dozen for green and blue eggs.. they were selling them as being more healthy.. Im sure that ment they were free range however that was not the direct message. They twisted it to imply that the green/blue eggs were healthier. Now days of course people have become more educated. We know that shell color doesn't mean better eggs. You can have a white egg that is healthy. Still, brown eggs even here in farm country will bring more then a white egg.. its all about what people THINK they are getting.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I sell mine here for $4/dozen, matching what the feed/health food store sells them for. But a new greenhouse/farmer's Market place just went up in town, and he is charging $5/dozen and is always sold out. I sell my eggs to him for the $4 I get from my regulars (a few long-time and devoted customers still get them for $3.50.) and he turns around and sells them for $5. He flat out told me that I hadn't done my math, and that anything less than that and I was losing money. But then, he buys cartons to put his label on, and has a lot more overhead than I do. I use clean recycled cartons, and it at least pays for the feed. I'm not out to get rich, just have a little extra "egg money". But I can't help but think that maybe I'm not charging enough, either.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I think eating organic right now is the latest "fad". You will of course always have the people who want to eat healthier, but right now there are a bunch of other people that have jumped on the bandwagon.

It's supply and demand really. There's more people wanting them and not as many providing them. I have no problem with that. The second the fad is over, the price will go back down.

Around here, brown eggs at the grocery store go for $3.49 (not organic, just brown eggs). Cage free is higher, and organic is about $5 a dozen. I charge $3 as I feel that is reasonable, and I just want to pay for feed/maintenance. I have no intention of getting money back on the coops I have built.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Yep. There are people who are trying to take advantage of the new trend. I'm one of them.

I charge as much as I think I can get customers to pay on a repeat basis. Which in my area is about $3.00 a dozen for pastured, but not organic eggs.

Three dollars a dozen though does not work out to all that much when you consider the cost of feed and infrastructure. It covers all of that but leaves only a little left over for the time and effort I put into the whole thing never mind an actual profit.

If that fellow can get five dollars a dozen I say go for it. I'd do it myself if I could get enough repeat customers. If I lived closer to Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville or some other large metropolitan area I probably could. Of course chances are it would cost more to produce the eggs there too so it may not be as big a gain as it first appears.

If this trend continues you can be sure of one thing. More and more people will get into the business which in turn will drive down prices to the point that very few will be able to make enough to continue with it which is when the market will begin to shake out. Rather like the poultry industry as we have it today. Fewer and fewer producers but each one has to have more and more birds to make enough to stay in the business.

Once you have more than a relative handful of birds you either start treating it like the real business it should be or you eventually find yourself burned out and frustrated.

 

[minifarmgurl1]

WOW sounds like you'd better set up at farmers market and sell eggs for like $3.00 a dz..hahahaha they'd be mad!

 

[EggSpudition]

I think the whole "green living" trend will continue to be a moneymaker until we are able to break the myth that only those well to do really need to worry about living green. I just last weekend ate at a locavore type restaurant that claims to only prepare locally provided food. Then someone ordered clams... now I have living in Idaho all my life and have yet to ever hear about a 'clam farm'.

As long as those willing to pay the high prices get some feeling of saving the world it will continue. Meanwhile those of us who have chosen this way of life do so not only because it is healthier it is also economically viable and important to us.

I would try to do what you can to educate people. I prefer to buy my eggs from a farmer where the hens were not stacked 8 cages high, each cage containing 7-8 chickens. I prefer the eggs I get to be from hens who have seen sunlight. I prefer my chickens to not come for sunless grow houses when they lay in their own feces being crushed by the weight from their hormone and steroid injected bodies.

But of course you can only get veg- free roaming chickens at $8 a pound in the grocery store.

I always tell people they should watch the documentary Food Inc. Anyone else seen this?

 

[chikadeedoodah]

Quote:
Yup! Lifestyle changer. Also read the Ominvore's Dilemma. Terrible state the food industry is in. Just terrible. I'm just glad I raise my own hens. My small backyard flock is just what I need. However, I need to find a place to buy chicken meat, I just can't raise them for meat quite yet.

 

[pwappers]

wow, $5 is crazy! I sell mine for $3 a dozen but I also do free delivery, which is the only reason I charge $3 instead of $2. I have a couple regular customers and it evens out to pay for feed and supplies. I don't make a profit, but is enough just to be able to have fresh eggs that I know everything about.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

I take it that a dozen eggs doesn't go for $2.50 to $5+ dollars in the GROCERY store where you are? Because in San Diego, that's the typical egg range from factory to organic. Even the factory eggs seldon cost under $2.00 per dozen unless there is a sale.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
About the free delivery... it's costing you gas money to do it, unless you just happen to be out and about for something else. Here, gas is $3.71/gallon... I get about 20 miles to the gallon in my truck, so if I have to drive 20 miles round trip into town to deliver eggs, then I just killed any gain on the eggs. I try to combine my trips, but I couldn't afford the free delivery.