how much do you charge for your eggs?

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Sold my first dozen today!

Well, actually DH did...he took them with him to sell to a person who was looking for Fresh Eggs on CL but the guy flim-flam'd and backed out on my DH.

I posted an ad on CL Wednesday for Fresh Eggs and someone saw it this morning and called my DH and were very excited to get the eggs the guy did not take. She also said she and others that work with her might be interested in getting eggs weekly when my husband goes to work.

Oh...I got $3/dozen.

Can you tell I'm excited!

 

[Tropical Chickies]

Boo-Boo's Mama :

Sold my first dozen today!

Well, actually DH did...he took them with him to sell to a person who was looking for Fresh Eggs on CL but the guy flim-flam'd and backed out on my DH.

I posted an ad on CL Wednesday for Fresh Eggs and someone saw it this morning and called my DH and were very excited to get the eggs the guy did not take. She also said she and others that work with her might be interested in getting eggs weekly when my husband goes to work.

Oh...I got $3/dozen.

Can you tell I'm excited!

That's great! I'm sure the buzz will get around the workplace and they'll be knocking down your door. You'll have to bump up production, hehe!​

 

[CarolAnn]

Boo-Boo's Mama, Congrats on your sale!!!! I've gotten 2 eggs so far but am looking forward to the day I have full doz to feast my eyes on. With 25 girls that may not be far off. My middle-aged girls (17 wks) are laying first!

 

[BigPeep]

I have an egg CSA which I started this year and we are sold out with a waiting list at $4/doz for organic, free range. I offer the CSA in ten week increments at $4/doz which goes down to $3 if you buy in advance for a full year. I sell to off the street at $4.50 but don't have any excess eggs to sell. I use certified organic feed which costs $16/50 lbs wholesale. We have a group who is buying a pallet of 40 bags at a time and redistributing it so we can get the wholesale price. Otherwise it would be $20 retail for layer and more for chick starter and grower.

We are in an average suburban demographic area with average home prices of $250K before the market crash and average incomes of $50K per family.

I notice that people who live in the country often make the mistake of selling eggs to their neighbors. People in rural areas don't have the money to pay much and don't value the rural products, or care is something is certified organic. You have to sell to the yuppies to get your price. This may mean doing a farmer's market in a city or affluent suburb or doing a CSA with drop offs in such areas.

I have a suburban farm on five acres surrounded by subdivisions and on a busy arterial road so I can get the above prices. Of course, you pay a lot more for your land in that situation also.

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Quote:
Chicken math at work!

I have already talked to DH about building another coop/run across from this one...21x12 feet....think that would give me room for 25, hmm...I really want more EE's or the real thing...Americana's. And some Maran's. And Lavender Opr's. And......

Problem is we live on just a city lot so not lots of room. Sure wish we still had our place in the country we had in 1994...I loved living there but just after we got moved and paid for the place, DH's work transferred him.

I had already looked into getting miniature goats and making goat cheese and soap.

 

[Tropical Chickies]

Boo-Boo's Mama :

Quote:
Chicken math at work!

I have already talked to DH about building another coop/run across from this one...21x12 feet....think that would give me room for 25, hmm...I really want more EE's or the real thing...Americana's. And some Maran's. And Lavender Opr's. And......

Problem is we live on just a city lot so not lots of room. Sure wish we still had our place in the country we had in 1994...I loved living there but just after we got moved and paid for the place, DH's work transferred him.

I had already looked into getting miniature goats and making goat cheese and soap.

Yeah, you got the FEVER!! The same thing happened to me after I got bombarded with interest for my eggs. I originally had them for $2/doz, then I realized that was too cheap for the quality eggs I had. I increased it to $3, then $3.50, then $4 and still had people knocking down my door for the eggs. I couldn't produce enough for everyone who wanted them so I thought I would buy more girls, needed to get that PRODUCTION up and going, haha!

With the EE's and Marans, you would really have a colorful egg assortment! People who don't raise chickens would literally EAT THAT UP!! I have the same assortment going on and I get so excited everytime I open my carton and get to choose which eggs I wanna use for my recipe.

Stinks not being able to have the animals you want when living in the city. Sorry you had to move, I bet living in the country was wonderful. It has always been my dream too

I live in city limits and probably am not even zoned to be allowed to have chickens. I do it anyways and have never had any complaints. I figured it was okay since there are several flocks that free range all over the place on my neighborhood. My coop is certainly visible as it sits well above my fence line. Luckily, in a sense, I don't have any neighbors around me as they have been foreclosed on. I am almost alone at the end of my street.​

 

[CarolAnn]

Quote:
I live in the country and I'm going to be giving some of my neighbors free eggs once my girls are giving enough that I can share, just to make them aware I'll have fresh eggs to sell.

["People in rural areas don't have the money to pay much and don't value the rural products, or care is something is certified organic."]
What? I believe that people who farm and live in farming communities have a great appreciation for fresh foods grown/produced on the smaller scale, such as home gardens that dot the landscape everywhere out here and across the midwest and other regions. Many a farm wife puts up fruits and veggies every year because they know that fresh, home grown, is best. That goes for their eggs as well.

It's great if you can get those egg prices from the yuppies, but I wonder how many of them are "doing organic" because it's the thing right now and many of them probably aren't even aware what that means exactly. Organic isn't high priority to me personally. I haven't canned for a while because I didn't have a garden for a few years. Now that I have one again it might be considered organic because I don't use chemicals on it. Quality and freshness mean a great deal to me and more than being labeled organic to get higher prices. Me I'm a country girl. I raise my garden and my chickens for enough for us and some to share with neighbors, family and friends. Being certified organic means government involvement ( qualifying, inspections, etc etc), and I sure don't care to have them nosing into my business more than they already are. Sorry if I got off on a tear, but getting the biggest prices just isn't what I'm about.

 

[BlackBart]

I just found out that other egg sellers are buying eggs from my egg stand for $3.50 a dozen and selling them to speciality markets for $5.00 a dozen.
That annoys me but I'm not sure why

My chickens free range (in the truest sense), are fed a varied diet, plus flaxseed and vitamins.

 

[BigPeep]

Carol Ann:

I was being a bit deliberately provocative when I talked about rural people not valuing the higher priced organic product but your response did tend to prove my point.

If you think organic is just a fad, I would recommend that you rent "Food Inc." My customers are coming in and saying that they just saw it and are afraid to go to the grocery store any more.

If anybody is monitoring, a thread about the merits of organic vs non organic might be very interesting.

I my case, my day job consists of representing people all over the country who are confined completely to their homes as a result of chemical exposures. Usually, the exposure that triggered the problem was something seemingly harmless like being forced to work in a building that was undergoing renovations, being exposed to mold, or having a job spraying agricultural chemicals. Now they are so sensitive to anything that they might encounter in the real world, especially people wearing perfumes, that they are prisoners in their own homes, possibly for life.

I don't know that eating organic would have spared them this predicament, but it is part of the picture.

Monsanto has recently admitted that the food production system is not sustainable as the pests, diseases and weeds are developing immunities to the chemicals and soon they will have to increase the chemical controls to the point where people start being immediately and obviously affected. Their solution to this, however, is to genetically modify the crops. These sprayed and modified crops are then fed to your chickens. I can see why people might be concerned about the eggs and meat that come from them.

 

[B&G Eisenbeis]

My city is a pop. of 30,000 in Eastern Kentucky. I charge my FAMILY and FRIENDS $3.00. I plan to charge $3.50 to $4.00 at the farmers market after winter.
This price is not to rip people off at all. This is to at least cover the cost of feeding the chickens that are laying, and the younger ones that will keep me
able to offer eggs when those stop. If you can afford to run your flock charging less than that- great! However, I don't know why anyone would feel bad to charge
a fair price when country AND city folk have to pay it in the grocery store, if they don't pay it to you. Showing some love in the egg industry (like giving your chickens a
yard) is worth a whole lot... to a lot of people!!