Egg Sellers--How's Your Business?

[crazy huhn]

People love my green and blue EE and Ameraucaner eggs. I have a waiting list for at least 2 weeks ahead and I sell them for $ 0.35 per egg / $ 4.20 a dozen. With Easter coming up, my waiting list is growing.....

 

[chicksgalore]

Thanks for all the encouragement--I really needed it. At the end of fall last year, I had a waiting list too, but now I'm the one waiting!!

I am going to do several things: put fliers up in local stores, especially whole/organic food markets, take the price off my sign (maybe eventually I won't need the sign--someone said about having all kinds of people stop for eggs and I admit, I'm not crazy about that either), and raise my price and hope things get better over spring. I may offer a free first dozen. And I'm going to talk them up more. My DH would be great at that--he loves them.

My girls are penned up this year because we have a garden in so I can't call them free-range but they're in a pretty big fenced-in area, so I can definitely call them cage-free.

We've also talked about getting a small fridge to put in the front porch so they're self-serve but then again, you have people stopping in /around your house at any time.

Thanks again for all the tips/encouragement!!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Under those conditions they would certainly be "cage-free". There's some other terms I've seen, like "hand-gathered" and "nest-laying". Technically, you might be able to call them "free-range" since they do have a large pen in which to range freely. Most of us who free-range our flocks still have limits as to where they can go, free is relative.

I included in my flyers "...from pampered hens known by name, not by number..."

If you want to still provide a variety of greens & goodies for them to eat in their pen, you can cut/dig up weeds & grass & other plants and toss them in their pen. It'll help satisfy their cravings and make their eggs taste better too.

 

[cmom]

Most people I deal with want brown eggs. I also sell eggs to local markets. You have to check you local laws for this as I have to sanitise any eggs I sell to a retailer. If one of their customers got sick from any of my eggs the market could be sued as well as I could be sued too as the supplier. I get $1.50 a doz that I sell to the markets. Everyone else pays $2.00 a doz. When I have small pullet eggs, I pack them in 18 packs and sell them for the same price as the dozen prices. I supply the cartons. The eggs I sell to the markets are in new cartons. My business is word of mouth. I have never advertised. My demand is more than my supply so I will be increasing my flock soon, again. I was going to build a new coop but for now will be putting an addition on the old coop and converting the shed back into a nursery coop. I have four months to get it fininshed. My coop is moveable currently. The next move will be in it's permanent place and raised off the ground. I will post pics on my BYC Page.

 

[TechEdFireman]

I started with putting a sign up in the faculty room at school about 2 months now. I have a waiting list for my eggs, I am getting 28 more chickens at the beginning of May from Ideal. I also starting raising quail a few weeks ago, I will probably be able to keep those eggs sold as well. I am charging right now 2.00/dz some people say they buy them for 3.00/dz in the store so thats what they give me. I figured my costs out my monthly costs with my 15 now here in winter and I make $25 a month. My profits will go up during the summer since they won't be eating as much feed during the month.

 

[ODS-n-ENS FARM]

Quote:
Free range is a vague term, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has no standards,The USDA requires that “free-range” animals have access to outdoor areas, but there is no provision for how long they must spend or how much room they must have outside. The Associated Press reported that the USDA’s regulations don’t “require the birds to actually spend time outdoors, only to have access.”(3) Even if a farmer opened the door to a coop with thousands of birds inside and then closed it before any chickens went outside, he would still be able to use the free-range label. So if your hens can go out when they please....they are fee range eggs.

 

[PeeperKeeper]

I have 40 laying hens. I get $1.50 a doz. Some weeks I sell everything I have and the next week nothing! I think I might start freezing some for my own use when the girls decide to moult.

 

[kaya's farm]

I find the ee eggs sell like crazy and ups the word of mouth. I have been selling a doz for 3$ and i to have a list of people that are steady weekly or bi weekly buyers. Thats my goal to find people who want a steady flow of eggs an i know they are always sold.
I call them a rainbow dozen and include all colors. Each month I throw a bantam egg in a dozen and the buyer who has that dozen gets a free one! Teachers seem to be good egg buyers do you have kids in school?

I wish you luck and im sure business will pick up.

 

[vermontgal]

I don't sell my eggs because I only have 3 chickens. When I give my eggs to family / friends / neighbors, I write the name of the chicken who laid the egg on the bottom of the egg. (I know who lays which egg.) The chickens names also go on my homemade egg carton sticker.

In VT it is similar to NH - local farm eggs sell for $4-5 in the stores. At the farmers' market, you can get eggs for $3 direct, but that person sells out all the time.

chicksgalore, if you want to sell your eggs for $1.50 or $2.00 you should raise your prices before you do your advertising. People won't like it if you raise prices on them. I'd do your advertising with the price you intend to charge.

 

[Wifezilla]

tboneranch is right. Perceived value is very important. I also like the marketing ideas that have been posted here. Writing down who laid what, using terms like hand-gathered, focusing on colored eggs people CAN NOT get at the stores... all great ideas.