How did you find your egg customers?

[rolffamily]

I'm not pushy, so how do you get people to buy your eggs?

 

[Little_Rooster66]

Once the word was out we had chickens they came to us.

BTW they haven't even started laying yet!

 

[LoreenH]

I have been asking co-workers to save their egg cartons for me; I have two customers lined up so far. My 5 pullets are only 13 weeks so we have a few months to go before they start laying.

 

[33yardbirds]

Friends would visit, send them home with a free dozen. Then they would buy for themselves and their friends who now stop to get their own. Folks that live on the road saw chickens, would stop and ask if I had any extra eggs to sell. No sign out front, just word of mouth.

 

[CarolJ]

Are you able to actually make money selling eggs? How many hens would you have to keep to make it profitable? I only have 7 - and they haven't started laying yet. However, wouldn't you have to have a LOT of hens to make anything more than enough to pay for the feed?

And I already have several people who want eggs once mine start laying. I don't think I'll have trouble getting customers.

 

[Totes Quackers]

I only have 6 chooks but they lay 6 eggs everyday.. as much as we love eggs we don't eat that many! I give away 25-35 eggs a week to family and friends, some insist on paying me for them. I sometimes end up with enough money at the end of the month to buy a bag of feed and some bags of straw. (about $22-$25AU) Nothing profitable but thats not why I got my chooks. Plus everyone is enjoying the eggs which is why I got them!

 

[chichick]

My neighbor was asking what was crowing over at my house, I told him I have chickens now and he said he would buy some and he knows peoplewho want some too.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
You make a profit by selling the eggs for more than your expenses, which would be a certain percentage of your gross regardless of the number of hens.

The number of hens doesn't have a lot to do with it, except that there are economies of scale, if you have a large number of birds you can buy feed in bulk at a cheaper cost and housing costs might be slightly cheaper.

Let's say you are raising your own chicks, feed is $15 for 50 lbs, and (for the sake of this exercise) you expect hens to be replaced after one year of laying.

Chick: $2
Feed to 18 weeks: $5


Chick cost per dozen (for 24 dozen salable eggs in one year) $0.30
Feed per dozen (.25 lbs per day for 14 days) $1.05
Plus any repairs, utilities, consumables you use: $0.25 ??

Coop and equipment costs don't really figure into expenses as they are assets. If you keep them in general repair they are generally worth what you paid for them and they could possibly be sold for that much.

So by my numbers, expenses are $1.60 per dozen. Selling at $2/dz you net $0.40. At $3.00 per dozen you net $1.40.

You can make a profit with one hen... At $3.00 a dozen there would be a profit of $34 over the course of a year with one hen.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
We put a sign in the front yard for the first summer we were selling. After we had a good base of regular customers we took down the sign, although we still pick up a new customer every now and again by word of mouth.

My wife also has a regular sales route. A few years ago she went around to local businesses in a nearby city and asked at the front desk if anybody there would be interested in farm fresh, organic eggs. Some of the owners or secretaries bought eggs, some the secretaries/clerks placed orders for any employees that were interested, some of the them just told her to get bent and never come back...

She established a regular route where she knows people are interested in buying eggs and they are expecting her to stop by. She does the sales route every two weeks selling 40-50 dozen eggs each time.

 

[M.sue]

Don't have eggs yet but my husband and I have a business, I'm also a hairstylist. Both occupations require customers/clientel. Based on our past experience and what I learned in my Marketing/Management classes......"Word of Mouth" is your BEST form of advertisement!!! Good luck and let everyone know you'll be having eggs!!