Help! Someone Accused me of selling old eggs

[FlyingNunFarm]

In a very rural area of North Central Illinois, I get $2/dozen. I know some around me ask and get $3. Store egg prices are under $2 though. I know if you head just a little closer to the suburbs, $4 and up is common, more for each tag-line you add like organic/free range/non gmo/vegetarian/blessed by elves, etc...

Blessed by elves
I’ll have to add that to my cartons.

I don’t wash my eggs but refrigerate them. When people get their first dozen there is a note explaining my collection, dating, unwashed and storage process. I include a little info graph about how to float.
I would say most eggs leave my fridge in 2 to 3 weeks. I don’t have production breeds so my average 4 to 5 eggs a day means it takes me longer to get a dozen.
I will sell eggs with a little dirt on them. When it’s been rainy there isn’t much I can do about dirty eggs. Any funny looking or possibly poopy eggs are for house use.
Poopy eggs (or completely mud covered) are the only ones I wash before I use them.
I get $3 a doz and I deliver. Most eggs go to family or people where I work so delivery is easier.

 

[Blooie]

Took me mere seconds to write the date collected in pencil on the big end of the eggs when I collected them. It was the biggest plus point for the eggs I sold. Word of mouth got around quickly that the eggs I sold were clearly marked and people told me how much they appreciated knowing for sure.

My little granddaughter Katie was my best chicken sitter when we went out of town, and even she automatically dated each egg, even from the ripe old age of 8 until I had to rehome my chickens when she was 11. When a carton was full, I’d write (again, in pencil) 6/19 - 6/25 or whatever on the end of the carton so the dates on the eggs coincided with the dates on the cartons. When the carton was returned, I just erased the date and it was ready to reuse. My customers loved that - and it helped them rotate eggs from using oldest to freshest.

I figured I was asking them to trust me over all the other folks and markets selling eggs, and in today’s world where bywords are “fresh” and “picked at the peak of flavor” there was never a question in a single customer’s mind that if they were paying for fresh eggs, they got fresh eggs.

 

[rcoleman56]

In my research I have found that unwashed eggs can be kept on the counter for a few months and in the fridge up to 6 months. I tried washing one dz and put carton of them in fridge. After about 5 months, did the float test and about 1/2 floated. I broke open and poured egg out and washed out shell and then put in the microwave for 2 mins to kill any germs/bacteria that I heard about a long time ago. Then I can give back to my chickens. Faye July 3, 2018

 

[rcoleman56]

I have a question. I'm new at this. What happened to the old time way of the hen sitting on the eggs to hatch them? I don't have an incubator. I have a hen that doesn't want to get off the nest. When I let them out to do dust bath, etc. she sometimes gets off. She had 4 eggs under her on 6/03/18 and I scooped them up. She repeated the process of not budging off nest until 6/08 she came off nest to do dust bath and 13 eggs under her. I got them. On 6/11 I reached under her because she wouldn't budge and got 10 eggs. On 6/13 she had 3 eggs; on 6/18 she was on 11 eggs. Then, on 6/22 she had 9 eggs under her and I just left them because it seemed she was bound and determined to become a mama. As of now, 7/03 she has eggs coming out all around her. She comes off the nest briefly to eat and right back on. Yesterday, I think I counted 24 eggs. How long does it take for them to hatch this way. And, are the eggs ok this way? In the beginning, when I tried to get the eggs out from under her she would peck at me. I keep a bowl of water next to her because I didn't see her getting off the nest hardly at all and I didn't want her to dehydrate. I don't know what kind she is. She's a plump pretty golden colored. Her name is Mary Gold. Can anyone give me any input on my situation? Would like to get some of her chicks to give to my grand daughter if she ever has any. My other 4 hens are laying anywhere from 1-4 eggs total a day, mostly 1-2. I am giving them layer feed, too. Mary Gold seems to be manufacturing them. I did find an egg shell in the coop a few days ago. First one I've had. I don't know which one did it. They get fed like Queens and a King 2 times a day usually. Sometimes I give them an extra cold treat. I keep an ice bottle in their water bowls, switched out 2 times a day because it's so hot. Need advice. Thanks, Faye. 7/03/18 in Georgia.

 

[rcoleman56]

Faye again. I forgot to mention, when I retrieved some of Mary Gold's eggs and boiled them when I cracked them open, a few had yellow water at one end and tough and rubbery at the other end. I had cracked a few to scramble and some had a good bit of blood in them and one or two even looked like an embryo was developing. Wasted too many this way. That was another reason I just left the last batch under her for her to hatch. Is this normal? If not, what can I do differently? Thanks, Faye in Georgia

 

[Blooie]

First of all, you might want to edit your posts. It’s just not a good idea to broadcast your phone number on an open forum, and I’m not even sure it’s permitted.

Second, if you don’t have a rooster, and the eggs she’s trying to set aren’t fertilized, nothing is going to happen except a confused broody, a stressed out you, and eggs with questionable freshness.

This will continue until you either give her chicks to raise or eggs to hatch, or you break her of being broody. A better place to ask your question would probably be to start a new thread. I can’t recall the precise name of the forum and it’s too hard to look it up on my phone, but the forum is something like Egg Laying and Chicken Behaviors. Someone else may be able to post a link to that for you if you can’t find it under the Forums tab.

 

[rcoleman56]

First of all, you might want to edit your posts. It’s just not a good idea to broadcast your phone number on an open forum, and I’m not even sure it’s permitted.

Second, if you don’t have a rooster, and the eggs she’s trying to set aren’t fertilized, nothing is going to happen except a confused broody, a stressed out you, and eggs with questionable freshness.

This will continue until you either give her chicks to raise or eggs to hatch, or you break her of being broody. A better place to ask your question would probably be to start a new thread. I can’t recall the precise name of the forum and it’s too hard to look it up on my phone, but the forum is something like Egg Laying and Chicken Behaviors. Someone else may be able to post a link to that for you if you can’t find it under the Forums tab.

 

[rcoleman56]

Blooie, Thank you for your input to edit my post. I didn't know. Also, I do have a rooster for my 5 girls, and he is very active, lol. How do you break one from being broody if these eggs don't hatch? How long should it take for them to hatch if they are going to? Faye

 

[The Moonshiner]

I asked someone I know that sells a crap ton of eggs at farmers markets. In Missouri there's a little more involved in selling at them then out of ones house.
She says its a law that a producer has 30 days from date laid to store shelves then stores have 30 days from the day of delivery to have eggs sold.
She said it is perfectly acceptable to sell eggs that are 30 days old but she would not sell any over 21 days old herself.

 

[therustytractorfarm]

And while we’re on the subject I was wondering how much farm fresh eggs are sold for in your area. I was discussing how prices differ in different states in different areas with a friend. So I was just wondering what’s the average in your area?

Live in the piedmont area of NC, and I sell chicken eggs for $3 a dz, duck egss $5 a dz.