[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hello! Mark and Theresa here. We've been stuck in the city and are moving back to the country next month! We are making plans for what else but chickens!! We are researching breeds because we want to have egg layers for sales but want to start breeding our own lines for resale.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Do any of you sell your eggs? What can you tell me about it? Pros and cons?[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Do any of you breed for resale? What can you tell me about that? lol[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Can't wait to meet you all![/FONT]
I started selling eggs but a TON of people wanted to buy them and they wanted the colorful eggs. I only have one Americauna hen so it was hard to give everyone a blue egg in their carton. Also sometimes the payment comes really late. I only had six hens back then and everybody wanted a dozen or more so I just couldn't keep up with the orders. I might try selling again when my pullets start laying. I guess that if you have a lot of chickens and live in an area that doesn't produce fresh eggs locally like I do then it's a really good way to earn some cash but it's hard if you don't have a lot of hens. Good luck!
Hello and welcome to BYC I started selling my extra eggs when I only had a few hens and once people heard I have fresh, free range eggs (wasn't available where I lived at the time) I couldn't keep up. I ended up with more than 50 hens and I still couldn't keep up! The best advice I can give you is to figure out how many eggs you get in a day, say you get ± 24. Get fixed orders for 18 eggs a day. Always keep a dozen in the fridge to help you fill an order when needed and for people who drop in and replace that dozen with a fresh one every day. The most frustrating thing for me was people who didn't understand that my hens were not vending machines and didn't lay on demand. I had one customer that would drop in and get so "funny" when I didn't magic up 18 eggs for him every time. So do fixed orders and fill them, keeping some for your own use and for "just in case". The reason for this is that you cannot count on getting the correct number of eggs daily and the customers can get a bit unhappy when you can't fill their orders. If possible also keep a customer or 2 on a "waiting list", should one of your regulars not take eggs for a week or 2, so you don't sit with a pile of eggs. I found that people can be unreliable sometimes, so I pinned them down with fixed orders after I once got stuck with 5 doz eggs! I mean, you can't exactly run to the coop and say "O.K. girls, enough already, stop laying for a bit, I need to sell these eggs first!" Also, ask everyone you know to save you clean, undamaged egg cartons. I started collecting cartons while my hens were still chicks and I never ran out. Restaurants, boarding schools and other places that uses lots of eggs will be a good bet if you needs lots. You can always thank them/bribe them with a few eggs. Also ask your customers to return the cartons to you. Chicken feed is expensive, so save money where you can!
Greetings from Kansas, Mark and Theresa, and ! Happy you joined us! I sell surplus with no problem. I have found, for my situation I limit it to one or two steady customers - that way I know I can count on them and I never "run out" of eggs for them because I sold to someone else. Don't spread yourself too thin! Good luck to you as you start out and Happy New Year!
Thank you all! I guess it's all about finding the happy medium between hobby and "factory" lol I will definitely check into colored egg layers! I have a really awesome idea for selling but my biggest fears are of course not enough customers to buy the eggs/ not enough eggs to supply the customer/ or too many eggs
Congrats on moving back to the country! I'm sorry I can't really offer advice on the subject of selling eggs or breeding, but you've come to the right place for info!
