Greetings from a budding egg farm in Pullman, Chicago

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Welcome, glad you joined us.

Until you get the egg selling started, consider egg gifts to get folks hooked on the fresh eggs. We don't sell ours, but cook some of the excess to treat the hens and give others to friends. Anyone who has experience the better eggs likely will be asking to buy. There are several threads on selling eggs, take a look at those. Seems to me most don't look at the price of cartons into the issue..if you could get some regular customers let them supply the cartons?
 
MeepBeep said:
As drumstick diva suggest, the Windy City Machine and Crook County probably have 101 stupid rules or ordinances you have to follow if they don't flat out outlaw selling or mandate a license... You will have to look up those laws based on your actual address, both municipal and county...
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I know it's not fashionable to hold this opinion, but the city's animal regulations struck me as really sensible. Like I said, one writer of the latest law told me that they're mostly concerned with preventing nuisances from poorly managed animals, and protecting the responsible farmer from local busybodies. But for back yard egg flocks, at least until something poses a problem, there's nothing on the books at all, and the city actually wants to encourage more of this sort of thing.

When I asked here for "tips for handling that", what I really had in mind was something more like dealing with the mechanics of being a small-time egg farmer. Storage, pricing, packaging, customer service, issues that "nobody thinks of in advance," the sort of things any small business needs to keep in mind.
 
sunflour said:
Until you get the egg selling started, consider egg gifts to get folks hooked on the fresh eggs.
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Yep, that's actually how all this came about. Initially the birds were just for me, my friends and my garden -- eggs for us, manure for the plants, excess veg for the girls, all that shortening-the-cycle hippie jazz. But word has gotten around, and yeah, a stack of used cartons has been piling up for a while, or was, until eggs from the Australorps started churning through them...

I went looking for egg selling threads and didn't turn up any on my first search, but I'll try again. Thanks.
 
Chek this one: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/917239/how-do-i-get-started-on-selling-eggs

haven't read all post but may help.

When I got my 6 chicks, we started saving grocery cartons, washed in dishwasher, was quite a stack as well. But as you said, went thru those quickly. We bought some from TSC but at about $ 0.50 apiece. We have only a few friends we share with, bought some plastic, reusable ones on line for each of them, ? a nutrena product I think . For those we share with, they have to wash and give cartons back if they want any more eggs. But to sell is different. If you think you can supply enough to justify, there are many website poultry suppliers that sell in quantity.

It has been decades ago, but my mom used to buy eggs from a local backyard chicken owner. When eggs were available, they placed a sign in the yard, and folks who knew about it stopped in with their own cartons. Good luck, it would be nice to get $ to help with your flock.

One more thought .. a local Publix grocery here has a bin at the entrance to "recycle egg cartons"…I have had to overcome my instinct to try to reach in and grab some. If your local groceries does this, they might be generous? Doesn't hurt to ask. It's just trash to them.
 
twork said:
But for back yard egg flocks, at least until something poses a problem, there's nothing on the books at all, and the city actually wants to encourage more of this sort of thing.
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It's my understanding that Chicago flat out forbids raising for slaughter and slaughter, so for those into eggs it might not be a problem but does prevent those that want to raise meat birds legally...

Storage, pricing, packaging, customer service, issues that "nobody thinks of in advance," the sort of things any small business needs to keep in mind.
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Get a second fridge (even a small apartment one) and if possible put it close to your door or in the garage if that works... When dealing with the pubic you are going to have some people that insist on 'looking' over your eggs and picking the dozen they want, or worse... Having a separate fridge gives you this ability without further conflict or having to invite people into your kitchen... And regardless of them not needing refrigeration in the US it's pretty much a given to the public that they should be refrigerated...

Date collection times on the carton, if you want use a coded date, this way you can monitor their age and provide a specific day to the customer when they ask, and some will, or worse, just wait until someone shows up with a glass of water to test your eggs for freshness...

As for pricing you won't make any real money, but you can pay for the feed... I like to get $5 per dozen but generally take $4 plus a carton in return... If people gripe over the $3 or $4 you want to charge point them towards the nearest grocery store and tell them they sell theirs cheaper and you won't feel bad if they go there instead...

Egg cartons cost upwards of 50¢ make sure you have this factored in...

Customer service is always tricky, may I suggest you print up a page that explains the differences between 'fresh' eggs and commercial eggs... Make sure that paper touches upon cleaned and sanitized eggs and your fresh natural eggs... Also very important make sure they are aware of 'blood spots' the public has become so sanitized to natural that most will freak out when they encounter a blood spot...

Now you of course live in the city where it's different from the burbs, but I have seen many small egg farms with a fridge outside (under a roof or what not) and they let their normal buyers just swing by and get their own eggs and just slip the money into a slotted lock box... Saves a lot of hassle...

Anyway way good luck on your venture...
 

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