7yo Son's egg business is off the ground!

[flyingtnh]

Our 7yo son's egg business is (just) off the ground. With us eating half of his production (until the next dozen hens start laying), it's a pretty small operation (some family and friends), but he's having a blast and it's great to see him working so hard at it. He decided on his own to donate part of his profits to relief programs in Haiti.

We just added a page for him to our webpage: http://flyingtnh.com/The_Flying_T_Ranch/Davids_Eggs.html

He also has a flyer he puts in the cartons that is similar text to the webpage, but adds:

"My chickens are free range. I don’t feed them any chemicals or other bad stuff, so their eggs taste great!

The chickens roam all around our farm (lots of times they follow me around wherever I go), so they get plenty of fresh air, exercise, and natural food.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed getting them for you!"

 

[I-Have-Happy-Hens]

how sweet!

Happy-Hens

 

[flyingtnh]

Update: November was the first full month of his business and last night after dinner I sat down with him as we tallied the numbers.

We cover electricity for the coop (negligible), and pay him at cost for eggs we use or give away (he takes the hit for eggs he gives away). He covers feed from his income. He has done a great job of marketing and has a handful of regular customers so he's selling them as fast as he can collect them at $3/dozen.

Rough stats for Nov:

21 dozen usable eggs (10 pullets laying)
6 eggs unusable (including a couple early eggs that were laid from the roost and then pounced upon by the young pullets I think)
~$25 in expenses (2 50lb bags of feed), so ~$1.25/dozen.
Income: ~$45 (including $15 from us for the 12 dozen we've used or donated)
Net profit: ~$20.

We've only got one rule for him to follow on using that money - at least 10% goes in his "giving" jar, and he always has to have enough in his "egg money jar" to cover the next bag of feed. He tends to put 25-50% of his profits as well as a huge portion of $ he makes in other activities into the giving jar. Even with money he's taken out for Sunday School giving, he is fast approaching his first $50. Every time he hits $50, he gets to choose where to send the money. His plan right now is for Haiti relief.

The next batch of pullets should start laying in a month or so, and it will be interesting to see how it goes when production doubles. His feed costs will go up a bit when they start laying, and as the Winter cuts both forage and production. Beyond the website, we're leaving marketing up to him. He's making signs this weekend (the materials for which he scrounged from one of his customers' scrap piles) and has already struck a deal with the grain store to buy any eggs he can't sell himself (though their buy price is only $1.50).

It has been great to watch and participate in this!

 

[cupman]

Heck $20 profit at age 7? Kids living it big. Also learning a valuable business lesson. Will be curious what kind of future he might have, maybe he'll make mom and dad rich!

 

[gritsar]

 

[flyingtnh]

Quote:
He's already made us rich... but if he wants to support us financially in our old age, we'd be good with that for sure!

 

[sheaviance1]

Good job kiddo!

I tell mine they can keep anything over their first million.....

 

[artsy1]

you are awesome parents, teaching him that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[spacecowgirl]

Wonderful! He seems very mature at the tender age of seven! Sounds like you've done a great job at parenting...also, how many seven year olds do you meet who opt to donate their money to a worthy cause rather than run out and buy themselves candy and toys?

That kid is going places!!

 

[EKC Farms in the desert]

That is very admirable of your son! I have a friend back in PA that has 6 hens (I think). She has a boy and a girl, who sell eggs to the neighbors and the hubby has a co-worker who wants 2 dozen at a time. She made the comment Monday on Facebook, that she was waiting for her chickens to lay eggs, so she could fix breakfast that morning. The kids have been selling eggs left and right.