Egg Price Profiteering Where You Live Due To Coronovirus?

[droy1028]

My birds get choice feed and grit. They prefer to forage though so a 50 lb bag lasts me a couple weeks with my laying hens. The young birds eat more feed due to diet and quarantine protocol to maintain biosecurity.

Even with a family of five my birds supply us enough eggs that we use a few everyday, be it for food, baking, etc., and I still have leftover eggs.

I can't justify at this time selling eggs because the money i put into my birds is so low. I have friends that aren't as fortunate as I am, who need to feed their family's. So I'm still giving extra eggs away. I see eggs as a gift from my birds for providing then a good life and I enjoy sharing that gift with my close family and friends.

 

[LalahCatlady]

Where I live, the "normal" "pre-Coronavirus" price for a dozen white eggs at the big box stores was less than $1.00. I never decided to have a small backyard flock to save money on eggs. Things have really changed around here in many ways, but also with respect to egg availability at our stores (which I don't understand). Our local stores ran out of eggs, doubled the price per dozen, and limit one dozen per purchase so everyone has a better chance to get some eggs.

Anyway, Dear Wife has been previously selling our excess brown eggs to friends of the family for $2.00 per dozen, which was a good deal for me (they were excess eggs for us), but also for our friends as the pre-Coronavirus price of brown eggs was about $2.50 - $6.00 per dozen, depending on the label. Now, we still sell the eggs for $2.00 per dozen but only to our friends that were buying before this Coronavirus situation. With only 10 hens, it's not like we can supply too many families with eggs.

Somebody explain to me how in the world the price of eggs can double in the big box stores in the last couple of weeks when I have yet to hear of any chicken die off affecting availability? Are these eggs being stock piled somewhere to create an artificial shortage and drive prices up? The price of my grains and feed has not changed, so it costs me the same to feed my flock. OK, I don't need the $2.00 per dozen for my financial well being, but it helps pay for the chicken feed and my little "hobby" does not cost anything out of pocket.

I have decided not to raise my egg prices due to the Coronavirus situation, but I am sure I could get more for my eggs now that the big box store shelves are empty. Just wondering what other people with small flocks and selling eggs are doing in these times, if you are seeing egg shortages at your local big box stores, and if you have raised your egg prices in response. I'm not trying to pass judgement on anyone, and understand the price of eggs varies from region to region, but it would be interesting to hear from others who sell their eggs to family and friends how they are working through these times. Thanks for any feedback.

T

That's what I have decided, too. If feed costs go up, I'll reconsider my asking price for eggs. But not until then.

 

[gtaus]

I don’t know what eggs in the store cost or if the price has changed. I did notice they were out last time I went shopping.
There is definitely some hoarding of odd products. No milk last time either.
I did see one report that since more people are stuck at home, they are baking.
I dropped off four dozen eggs at the food bank on Thursday. I usually give them to friends, but I may stick with the food bank from here on out.

Whether or not you give eggs to friends or the food bank, I sure hope those eggs are appreciated. I went into town today and stopped by the Dollar Tree. They have a limit of 1 dozen eggs per customer, but it did not matter as they had no eggs to sell. The shelf was empty.

 

[gtaus]

I can't justify at this time selling eggs because the money i put into my birds is so low. I have friends that aren't as fortunate as I am, who need to feed their family's. So I'm still giving extra eggs away. I see eggs as a gift from my birds for providing then a good life and I enjoy sharing that gift with my close family and friends.

It's great that you can gift eggs to your close family and friends. Everyone is a different situation, but it's great to read that so many people are helping out others in these times.

 

[gtaus]

It’s kinda funny how you mentioned the stores went up in price.
I actually posted an add only because of the coronavirus. I figured maybe some people didn’t want to go to the store. So I am asking $2 a dozen for eggs during the quarantine period. Yes that includes the carton. Am I making money?? Heck no. Never got into chickens to make money so why start now.

That's what I get, $2.00 per dozen. That's what I was asking before the pandemic and I have continued to sell to our pre-pandemic customers for the same price. It was a good deal for them before, and even more so now that egg shelves are empty. My regular customers return egg cartons, which helps, or I would have to charge another 50 cents for the cartons where I live.

Yeah, selling our excess eggs is not making us any money (only 10 hens), but it pays for the commercial feed and so I figure Dear Wife and I get our fresh eggs for free. It's a win-win for everybody.

 

[gtaus]

People are cooking more at home which translates into using more eggs. Restaurants use different sources than grocery stores so stores are selling out and raising prices. I'm very glad that we got our first chickens at the end of 2018.

I just got my 10 hens last year, and timing could not have been better given the pandemic egg shortages. At least that is one item we do not have to panic buy when available at the stores.

 

[gtaus]

As to why the selves are bare. Many people were buying excess before the stores put a limit on them. You may see the selves start to fill back up soon. I know I've been seeing an uptick. I check local prices here for "store bought" eggs now just to see trends. Before I had no reason to. My next door neighbor gave me $10 dollars the other day. Her parents have chickens. I asked her why she wasn't getting eggs from them. She said she is staying home as much as she can. Her parents are older. So I'm keeping track of her money. I charge $2.50 across the board. I was selling to a small local mom and pop store that had a small diner. Now that all eateries, here in Maine, are closed to sit down customers she is no longer buying my eggs. But over the last few months she has given my so many cartons I am all set. I found another small grocery store (M&P) to sell to and she gave me a bunch more cartons. I sold 2 dozen (16 chickens) last Sunday. I will have a dozen tomorrow. I have sold 3 dozen this week to neighbors. This store has plenty of "store bought" they are selling for $4.99. WOW that's too much. Feed is not too expensive, since I got rid of 3 freeloaders. LOL

We have a limit on eggs at the local stores, but the real problem is the bare shelves so you cannot even buy 1 dozen eggs unless you are there when they stock the shelves. And when they have eggs, they are selling for double price, or more, from pre-pandemic norms.

 

[gtaus]

I live in N E Pa in Wayne county. I started raising chickens as a hobby last April with my first 18 chicks. I ended up with 4 roosters and 14 chickens. I ha e w roosters to a Mennonite family and lost 2 chickens to a Redtail hawk. My current status is 12 laying hens and 2 roosters. I collect on average 8 to 10 Brown eggs daily. My egg count has been steady all winter from 8 Asian Blue and 4 white rock chickens. I give eggs to my close family and I sell some to a few neighbors. My price has always been $3.00 for a dozen large and $4.00 for a dozen X large. I also sell half dozen cartons of X large for $2.00. Like other areas our stores are depleted of eggs also. Too compair store eggs to free range eggs, just place one of each next to each other and scramble them with a fork. Case closed!!!

I also started with my chicks last April, but I only got 10 hens. Actually, I was only going to buy 6 chicks, but chicken math got the better of me. Anyway, I'm glad I got the extra hens because we have more people asking for eggs then we could possibly deliver. Dear Wife and I eat the small and medium sized eggs and sell the large and extra large eggs to friends. That pays for the feed costs and my "chicken hobby" is not costing us anything extra beyond my initial expenses of setting up the coop and run.

 

[gtaus]

I sell my duck eggs for $5 a dozen and that's a deal, if you can even find them in the stores. A lot of people who are allergic to chicken eggs can eat duck eggs, also many Asian people who grew up eating them prefer them to chicken eggs. All my eggs are spoken for for weeks ahead of time. A few people request 4 and 5 dozen at a time, which in the past I would allow, but then the folks who just want a dozen or two have to wait and wait, so I think I will put a limit on them so more people can get them sooner. I've also gotten many offers to buy my ducks and chickens! There has been eggs here at the store most of the time, but less than usual. I'm in SE Iowa.

Dear Wife is selling my eggs to her friends. Sometimes they want to buy 3 or 4 dozen eggs, but with only 10 hens, we just cannot fill an order like that and still have eggs for all our other regular customers. So Dear Wife thanks them, but asks if they can get maybe 2 dozen instead so our other friends can also have some fresh eggs. So far, everyone has been very good about it.

 

[Rammy]

I get 30 plus eggs daily from my hens and not ONE person has emailed me about buying my eggs from my CL ad. I cant even give some away it seems. I did take about 8 doz to work and a few paid me, others didnt. It didnt matter to me. I cant tell you how many dozen eggs Ive just thrown in the burn pile or cooked up and given to my hens so this price gouging cant find eggs in the store crap mystifies me when I cant even give them away. Maybe its where I live.