How much are you charging/where do you live?

[CARS]

South Central MN surrounded by corn, beans, wheat, and alfalfa hay. Meaning that my feed costs are quite low compared to most of the BYCer's. Buying 18% layer by the ton is equaling around $6.50 for 50lbs.

I am selling my assorted eggs (brown, white, green) for $1.00 a dozen. Not making ends meet at the moment, not because I am too cheap but right now the old hens aren't laying well and the adolescent hens are laying medium/maybe large eggs. Once they are laying a larger egg I am going to up my price to $1.50.

Prices in the store are $2.00+ for a dozen large white eggs. Can't say I would even know where to look for a source of "organic" eggs. It really isn't a fad that has caught on around here although I do explain why my yolks are richer than a store bought egg. Maybe mentioning that my chickens eat bugs isn't a good thing for sales

 

[technodoll]

$5 a dozen here (large to jumbo brown eggs, free-ranged and organic...)

I need more hens, I can't fulfill all the orders pouring in.

We hardly get any eggs for US!

Location: Quebec, Canada just north of the Vermont border

 

[Kim_NC]

Quote:
It seems there are a lot of myths surrounding the economic realities of keeping backyard chickens. When I first started folks would say to me "Gee, you're going to save a TON of money on groceries!!" not realizing how much it costs to house & raise a flock to POL, and the expenses that continue. Other folks get all excited at the thought of marketing their pet chickens' eggs, maybe a friend or colleague expresses an interest in buying some and they add a bunch of new layers to the yard, only to find there really isn't much of a market for fresh eggs elsewhere in their area.

I agree that it is possible to have a worthwhile enterprise selling eggs but the conditions must be right. Not every chicken owner will find themselves in those happy circumstances, so it would be best to research first before committing to more hens than you wish to keep.

Also, in order to make money I imagine you cannot keep many unproductive layers. Kim, how often do you cull your older layers to keep your flock productive? What do you do with them? Right now I have a dilemma with many older hens, some from our original flock, all with names & histories & fan bases, that aren't laying very often. No one wants to get rid of them, so here they stay, not laying enough to pay for the feed they are still eating.

My solution probably won't help, because our chickens are not pets. Although we treat our animals well and they have a good life here, they are still livestock and expected to turn a profit.

I cull all hens that do not lay at least 5 eggs/week during the favorable Summer conditions - because if they can't lay that many in Summer, they won't be worth having over Winter. They're also useless as breeders because they would likely pass on poor laying qualities. I also cull slow molting birds - again because they're not cost effective.

Generally speaking, I don't keep any hen over 2 1/2 yrs old. There are a couple exceptions - best breeding stock and good broody hens. Each Fall I sell mature hens for half-price, generally through Craigslist. I'm just honest with folks about their age. All older hens that do not sell go to freezer camp or canning jars.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I'm in southwest Wisconsin, and live in a rural area with lots of egg producers. I can think of a half dozen egg producers within 5 miles of me. We sell about 1200-1300 dozen a week, in bulk, to our organic co-op. We get paid by the average egg weight of each shipment and are getting $1.72 for large, $1.62 for x-large, and $1.32 for jumbo. Right now our eggs are averaging x-large, so we are getting $1.62 a dozen for each shipment. We do not wash them, grade them, or pack them in cartons. We remove the majority of any crap or dirt on the eggs and put them on plastic flats and stack them on rolling racks in a cooler in the barn. The co-op then sends a truck once a week to pick them up and take them to the egg processing plant.

We take all the super jumbos and some jumbos and sell them from the farm for $2.00 a dozen, in new cartons. We have a couple signs by the road in front of the house advertising "Farm Fresh Eggs for Sale" "Lots of Super Jumbo Eggs" "Stop on in!" We do not advertise them as certified organic. I have a feeling that in this area a lot of people would read "Organic Eggs" as "Expensive Eggs" and just keep on going.

In the past 12 weeks we have sold $1000 worth in direct sales. $600 of that was from the month of December alone. My mother takes 10 dozen a week to work with her, an aunt has been taking 20 dozen a week for her co-workers, sometimes I take 20-30 dozen to the tavern and the owner buys them from me. We have several regular customers who come in for 10 dozen at a time and distribute them to family members. We have many neighbors who stop on in and buy a dozen or two every now and again.

We have a few things going for us. We are closer to town than most. Several customers have told me that they used to buy from the Amish or "so and so" up on the ridge or further out into the county, but we are closer. Although it isn't a very busy road, our house and barns are right next to the road versus a lonely sign at the end of a long driveway that disappears back into the woods. A lot of folks will see us working outside and stop in when we are outside versus knocking on the door.

The first time a customer shows up here, I show them where the egg cooler is in the barn and tell them to help themselves in the future. They drop the money in a coffee can in the barn. In fact this morning as I sat inside, keeping warm, I saw two different neighbors drive down to the barn and get eggs.

I could sell them for more, but I'd lose a lot of customers in the process, and would have to work harder to sell them at a higher price. Right now they are selling themselves at a slightly higher price than we'd get wholesale and I am putting very little additional work into it.

 

[Mrs MIA]

$4.00/dozen for chicken eggs in rural Alaska, and I have a waiting list.

 

[ace6175]

I'm in the suburbs of Chicago, have been selling for $3.00/dozen to my neighbor. She tells me the women she works with want to buy eggs also, but we don't always have that many extra! Only 9 hens, and only 8 are laying right now. In the spring, we may start selling them to her co-workers.
In the store, free-range eggs are ~ $4.00/dozen

 

[Koolduck]

$2.75 in summer...$3.00 in winter. Central KY just east of Lexington.

 

[abooth]

I'm in Central KY as well, only charging $2/doz

 

[blueseal]

i charge $ 2.00 a dozen here in maine. people buy them right up.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

1.50