Egg Prices

[Long Last Farm]

I get $2.00 per dozen. My hens are cage-free, can choose to go out in their pen, or can chose to free range on our 16 acres. They get good food and wholesome treats. They live in a secure coop that is large enough for them to get along without driving each other crazy. I sell them to coworkers and ladies at my gym. I cannot keep up with the demand. I will be getting more hens in the spring!

 

[Myabcs3]

We live in a rural area with several people selling eggs and those that aren't currently in the chicken business have been in the past, so they understand what it takes. With that said, I agree with most of the comments in this post. the Organic feed program is what is driving your cost. So start educating people on why being organic is important. It may not be the taste of the egg, but it may be the fact that traces of certain compounds, chemicals, etc. are NOT in your eggs. Most do not stop to consider what they are eating nor have paid much attention to studies around the benefits of organic. My suggestion is to educate and network. Find the group of people that want organic eggs. It will take a bit and along the way, you will enhance the understanding of those you touch. As has been pointed out, there is room for all different types of "eggs", you just have to work to find your niche.

 

[BitsyB]

The Trader Joe's and regular grocery store around here sell "Cage Free" eggs for close to $4.00 a dozen. Cage Free does not mean free range, just that the chickens are not squished into tiny little cages.

I think folks selling their free range eggs would do well to site studies that show pastured chickens (eating grass, weeds and bugs and worms) produce eggs that ARE healthier, with less of the bad cholesterol, more vitamin e, more of the Omega 3 fats we need for heart and brain health. Mother Earth news has had a few articles in the past about the studies, one of which I believe was done at Penn State.

Also there are people who are very williing to pay a little more to not suppport the factory farm type practices- they just like knowing that their food comes from animals that are humanely treated and have a natural life.

When I pay a little more for free range meat/poultry, and milk, cheese and yogurt from grass fed cows I consider it an investment in my family's health and a "contribution" towards a small farm farmer who's working hard to make a living and do the right thing by the animal world. The extra cost can more than be made up by not buying junk food and cooking from scratch at home instead of buying processed foods (and no doctor bills!)

 

[spartacus_63]

Hey Qi, We are neighbors!!

I am between State Center & Marshalltown.

After reading this thread it seems we all pretty much agree that it is less the product and more the market we sell to that dives the price.

I was out in Seattle last summer and stopped by Pike's Place Market. For those that have never been, it is kinda like a farmers market and a high end flea market rolled into one. They were getting $7.50/dozen. I figured, I could ship my eggs to my son and have him sell them for that price!!!

 

[gltrap54]

OP here.......... Thanks everyone for your insightful input on this topic! I feel better knowing that the pride I've taken in my egg producing endeavor is shared by a vast majority here on BYC! My 6 little red hens are my pets that just happen to produce a product I can sell (sometimes) to help offset my overhead. Ironically, just after posting this thread, two ladies stopped & bought all the eggs I had & were thrilled to get them for $3.00/Dzn. It proves that there ARE folks out there that recognize the extra effort that goes into a small operation such as mine!

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

I knew selling eggs in our small town would be difficult; found one ad in a small ag newspaper for $1/dozen eggs and the lady didn't even know what kind of chickens she had...just fed 'feed' from the store.

When I got ready to sell, I placed an ad in Craig's List for a city of about 100,000 with a university, where my DH works. Had DH check the prices of eggs in the grocery stores; found that large brown eggs from non-caged hens were selling for $4/dozen so I decided to sell for $3/dozen.

At the moment I have 4 customers...one gets 3 dozen every weeks (she thinks the eggs are WONDERFUL and BEAUTIFUL [her words]), another is director of a scholarship fund at the university and orders 2 dozen every week and thinks our eggs are GREAT! [again her words], another is a school teacher who orders at least 2 dozen/week and often some of the other teachers requests eggs, my first customer from the CL ad is a business owner...she orders two dozen every other week.

The girls have increased the # of larger eggs in the last few weeks so I need to find at least another customer or maybe two so placed another CL ad.

I will not give away my eggs for $1/dozen...cost more than that in feed...I will feed them back to the chickens if I have to go that low. And I tithe 10%+ to those in need each month; I want to share some food that I know is good with someone who might be having a hard time makings end meet.

 

[OverEggstended]

We are selling ours for $4 a dozen... but we cheated a bit. First, my sweety took in hardboiled eggs for snacking on at work, and let a few friends have one now and then. Word got out about how creamy the yolks were (not chalky and pale yellow). Then, when they asked about them, we gave my sweety's coworkers 3 of our eggs free and told them to simply scramble them and to scramble 3 storebought and then do a taste test with their family! They were MAJORLY impressed! We now have more requests then eggs (we could sell 6 dozen a week just to the "regular" buyers!). We do give them a discount if they bring back the carton, so they pay $3.50 if they swap an empty carton for a full one.

Our chickens are pasture raised with supplemented food (2 parts crumbles to one part scratch for winter) and fresh greens a few times a week (turnip, kale, collard... whatever is on sale at the grocery store for now. But once I get a cold frame next year... LOL). We also have pet parrots, and when we clean the cages we dump them in the enclosure, parrots waste a LOT of expensive food - but the chickens are more than happy to get us some of our money back!

 

[Prdtordude]

We are asking $3.50 a dozen, or 3.00 if you bring your own carton. The local vendors from the farmers markets keep trying to buy them for 2.50 and want us to include the carton so they can resell them as their own for 5.00.

 

[Char971]

Quote:
I am interested in this answer too. I didn't realized you needed to be certified if you are just selling some here and there and not a large operation???

x2!

I live in Maryland and am waiting to hear back from the MDA on whether or not I need to register to sell eggs to the public only. According to their website, if you sell to retail, wholesale or food service centers, you must register. BUT, further investigating on the website MENTIONS selling or donating to retail, wholesale, food service centers OR consumers. So, I'm a little in the dark right now until they get back to me. However, it is a free registration if "Producer/Packer with less than 3,000 chickens that only pack and sell eggs from their own flock." Brown eggs at our local Food Lion (which are VERY dark brown) are selling for $2.69 a dozen. I will be asking $3.00 per dozen.

I just received my permit to sell hatching eggs, chicks and/or operate a hatchery and am scheduled for my flock to be tested on Thursday, 12/16. I have a lot of people who are interested in buying baby chicks (so I got that part taken care of) and also eggs.

If anyone knows if you are required to register with MDA if you ONLY sell directly to consumers, please let me know! I will post an update once I hear back from them directly.

 

[7L Farm]

I had a guy pull in the farm yesterday he ask me if I had any eggs for sale I said yes his response How much? My answer 3 bucks. Guy started mumbling I told him go get ya some of those steroid eggs that have very little taste. He said ya give me a dozen. He'll be back. LOL. If they only new the cost of the coop, feed, & time & effort to maintain the chickens. Their are folks that say nothing about the price & are happy to get Farm Fresh Eggs.