Egg Sellers--How's Your Business?

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thats just wrong man.......

I posted this be for but in the wrong place I think
If you get to many eggs cook them and feed them to the chickens what comes out goes back in

try selling your eggs on craigslist.com place an add for your area and you should get the phone ringing.

Hi,

I don't know if you figured out anything about your situation as I didn't have time to read all the posts, but I thought I would mention a few things.

When I lived in Michigan I used to buy eggs occasionally from a farm that was a few miles out of town. The eggs were great, but I never actually made a special trip for them. We just stopped there if we happened by. As a side note - that farm had quite an odor and I found it to be a turn off.

After I moved here (SD) I bought some eggs at the farmers market. Some were of a weird consistency (really runny) and absolutely gagged me. We threw those out, and never bought any there again.

Also, I've had friends who have bought eggs from people who don't believe in washing eggs - they were absolutely covered in manure. I don't understand that as it doesn't take much straw in the nests to keep the eggs clean.

So my advice would be: keep your yard and chicken pens clean and low odor. Also, make sure your birds look healthy. I also agree with the others about charging a bit more - people who just want regular old eggs will buy them at the store. Others who know the value of a farm fresh egg will pay for it.

If I ever sell eggs I will make sure to sell only the freshest and will possibly candle them to make sure there isn't anything funky going on. For now we are only giving away eggs to family and friends and I'm amazed at the number of people who have objections to fertilized eggs (not that they even know what to look for.)

Good luck!

Natalie

With only 3 chickens, I don't sell eggs but I do give 1/2 dozen away to neighbors, friends.

My most common recipients are my immediate next door neighbors and my family. To keep reusing egg cartons, I've asked them to get one set of plastic ones. I'll write their name on the cartons, and we can pass them back and forth repeatedly. It's their job to wash the cartons to their own specifications before passing them back to me.

This thread has been the most informative out of the whole forum. I purchased 50 Silver Laced Wyandottes at the beginning of March with the intention of selling the majority of the eggs. I figured it would be a nice side-business. I am really hoping it will turn into a profitable business one day.
I will be using several of the ideas posted, especially the one with the chicken profiles (really classy). I may even have to buy a couple of small egg layers for the 'free dozen' idea.

Overall, all on this thread keep up with the super ideas!

I have been self employed for 14 years, my wife and I own and run 2 small non farming businesses, being a small business owner I run everything like a business, I know exactly where the money goes, I am constantly keeping profit and loss tallys in my head, you have to.

When I decided to have chickens and sell chicken eggs I thought of the 2 roads I could travel.
Road 1: Edible eggs, people stop by and buy a dozen or two for 2-3 bucks, not a bad way to pay for feed.

Road 2: Develop a flock of chickens that you can breed, instead of selling the eggs for 2-3 bucks a dozen you are now in the 15-25 bucks a dozen range, you could also hatch out the chicks and sell them for market price which is 36-48 bucks a dozen.

I decided to follow road 2. So I collected and culled a select flock of birds, selecting only the best for the breeding flock, then did some test hatches for fertility and then developed a website and found out about several farmer's auctions and placed may adds on craigslist to sell the eggs/chicks. Ok so now I have 37 hens and 7 roosters, now what? Slowly at first the orders started trickling in, the website was working, the craigslist was working. The orders came in at a quickened pace and I had to start back ordering and keeping long lists. Slowly everything worked out, I bought a second sportsman incubator and a hatcher and am currently working on my hatch rate, as of now all of the eggs my hens can produce are sold out until mid May and orders are still coming in. In 3 years the chickens have paid for themselves, their food, their coop, the fencing, the 2 sportsman incubators and hatcher, help around the coop, and so on and so on. I haven't had a farm fresh egg from my flock since mid February, I can't afford to, I buy them from my neighbor who sell em to me for $ 1.50 a dozen. I will hatch every egg I can get from my flock and sell them online and locally until they stop selling, which I don't see happening anytime soon.

Imagine how busy my incubators would be if I sold a bird that the hatcheries didn't have? Hmmm...
Peace,
Dave

Don't lower your prices! We are still getting $3.50/dozen for our eggs, and they are mixed size (but we pull smalls out and eat them ourselves). We give back 25 cents for each carton returned, so most established customers are paying 3.25.

I agree with everyone else that perception is everything, and if you charge more, the eggs will seem worth more. Also, I've noticed that Craig's List is not the place to sell premium eggs. Too many people on there who will undercut your price. Have you listed with Local Harvest? I get customers from there. Also, develop a relationship with a local chef. Take them a sample of your eggs, along with a carton of something "premium" like Egglands Best. Bring along a little skillet. Cook one of each for them, then leave the eggs. You might get a very loyal, if demanding, customer.

We've noticed that we get a ton of customers until Christmas, then it slows to a bare trickle until spring, when demand jumps back up. I think people eat fewer egg meals in winter--quiche is a very summer food. That works out OK for us because demand drops right when we have fewer eggs anyway.

Our girls are just ramping back up. I've been turning people away for weeks. I'm a little worried some won't come back. But if you don't have eggs, you don't have eggs.

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Dave, Thanks for sharing that. I'm just now getting into the selling egg side of it but working on building out my flocks to have certain breeds that were not available. I'm definitely going to continue down road 2 after reading what you wrote.