How much do you charge per dozen? And location

[birdbrain5]

I am finally getting lots of eggs again and will be selling them locally in the neighborhood. I feed non gmo feeds, and I have a large yard for my chickens fenced in. Not exactly “free range” but close enough for me. I’m wondering how much to charge per dozen this year. Egg prices are crazy but that doesn’t mean I want to price gouge too. This varies with location so please share with me your locations and price per dozen! Thanks!

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Southern California, $5 a dozen.
Stores right now can run about $7 and up for ‘pasture raised’ eggs right now, but I only need to cover the cost of my feed.

Edit: My chickens are just for a hobby and kept as pets! I have 12 now, soon to be 20 so I just sell the extra eggs I have to cover feed. I like collecting pretty breeds and pretty egg color layers lol.

 

[Iluveggers]

I would look at what your grocery store is charging for their cheapest dozen & set your price at that as a minimum. Your free range, well-loved chickens are worth much more than the store eggs.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have a question, how did you start selling your eggs because i want to but i’m nervous to start

I'm on a "family and friends" basis -- not quite ready to invest in what's necessary to move up to an egg stand.

 

[FunClucks]

I don’t even know how to do that LOL, all my “friends and family” expect them for free, unfortunately

I was having the same problem, but I found a solution. Unless my friends and family schedule in advance, there just aren't any "free" eggs available. If you want to be on the schedule you have to pay for it. All of the eggs in my house at any given time have a designated purpose. (Even if that purpose is feeding me and my family )

All of my regular customers pre-pay for their eggs as a convenience to them, and they drop by and pickup from my porch on a pre-arranged schedule. I let them know when their credit runs out. $4-5 a dozen. North Alabama. I only have a few customers right now, and they're all friends from church - that makes things easier.

 

[FunClucks]

I sell for $2.00 a dozen to my neighbors. My son takes some to work and sells for $3.00 a dozen. I don't want to increase my price when I sell to my friends and neighbors. My chickens are mostly a hobby to keep me from boredom.

I understand where you're coming from, and I respect that. You should do what works for you.

But I have a concern. My problem is, when people sell eggs for a low price (a price that does not reflect the work and supplies and food purchased to keep the chickens healthy and produce the eggs, and especially when they post super low prices on public forums like Craigslist), those of us who are relying on egg sales to support our chickens (pay for feed and other supplies, not to mention the work to clean the eggs and prepare them for market) can't get a decent price for our eggs and can't afford to continue to participate in our hobby because those who are doing it for fun are undercutting the market.

Consumers have an incorrect idea of what eggs should actually cost because grocery store eggs are (were) generally so cheap - the hens are raised and lay in circumstances that would make many of us shudder, but the consumers only see the dollar amount and don't think too much about the care of the animals involved. Farmers markets have helped to combat this somewhat - around here they charge double the grocery store price for farm fresh eggs from well managed healthy chickens, giving consumers the idea that farm eggs are more of a specialty item (consumers don't see the high prices farmers pay to participate in the farmers markets).

But then you have people who post "farm fresh eggs" on Craigslist for under the grocery store price. Are they trying to drive the rest of us out of owning chickens? Are they too lazy to set up a proper distribution system, and just want to unload lots of month old eggs on the market all at once? I question the health and management of the chickens that are producing those low priced eggs, because where are they getting the money to feed them if not from egg sales? Sure, you can just have them forage, or mainly forage, but unless that's carefully managed, their health may degrade over time from lack of the proper nourishment, and they'll die sooner than they would have if given proper nourishment. I don't want my chickens to live that way, but when folks undercut the market, they are making it much harder for me to give my chickens their best life and for the rest of us to be able to afford to do what we love.

 

[azygous]

@birdbrain5 how about telling us your location? Location is a factor in some places, charging more than the market will bear can be unrealistic.

However, I've seen that backyard chicken people drastically underestimate the value of their product, even in my own neighborhood (south-eastern rural Colorado). Recently, TSC feed has gone up 50%. So, with the encouragement of one of my egg customers, I raised my egg price to $7/dozen from the $5 I'd been charging for the past seven years.

Yikes! You're thinking, how does she think she can get away with that? Last year, I visited the Santa Fe, NM outdoor farmer's market, about three hours south of me. I talked to one of the egg vendors there. His operation was commercial but no different than mine except for scale. How much was he selling his large eggs for? Eight dollars a dozen. With the increase in feed prices, I have no doubt he's also increased his price to reflect this.

I was in advertising a long time ago. The principle of pricing is pretty simple. If you value your product, set your price to reflect it, because a ridiculously low price will cause people to believe they are getting an inferior product. The reverse is also true - when people pay more for a product, they believe they are getting a superior product and actually feel more satisfied than the customer paying less than the market will bear.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Location is a factor in some places, charging more than the market will bear can be unrealistic.

Absolutely agree. State to state, town to town matters. MI res here. The accessibility of product speaking in terms of vendor selection in Ann Arbor or Lansing (wealthy) is dramatically different compared to anything North of Gaylord, and more so in the UP. In my area of UP eggs at the local co-op are about $7 for free range certified organic, $8/dz if fertile (that must be the new thing for ppl?) Walmart is 3.88/dz today but shelves are empty!
The co-op shelves are stocked. Why? Bc this is rural UP Michigan with highest state rate of un-underemployment, elderly on SS fixed income or welfare. Independent co-op does not take EBT (welfare) card. Consumers can’t afford $7 eggs and buy all the other necessities for their families. We are 20-25k below the MI ave household income (62k in 2021 census) yet pay the highest in fuel and utilities. Ppl here make a day of it to go to town with larger stores like Walmart or grocery once a week and stock up. Ppl live out of the ‘city’ bc housing and taxes is less, but then have to drive 20+(or++) miles to work, shop etc. If I want milk or run out of TP I travel 15 miles to a gas station. Walmart or Meijers is 45 miles. The UP situation is not unique compared to the rest of the nation, but when considering the present economy local people can’t afford $7-8 eggs eggs, much less 3.88 at Wally world, when putting gas in a 2010 trailblazer 20 miles at $3.65/gal gas and still heat their homes or cloth their kids. Food pantries are begging for donations.
Price must meet consumer ability to pay, and that price point varies greatly based on location.

 

[CKfarm22]

I can understand that argument you are making on the prices coming under store prices, but the rest of your post about ‘ to allow us to continue to love what we do’, lack of proper nutrition by only foraging, and assuming malnutrition because a person isn’t charging a premium in order to pay for feed, and implying neglect in care makes an assumption toward all hobbyists who adore their flocks and care for them just as much as the folks who sell commercially on a small scale.
I charge $3/dz and often give eggs away to family and friends; I assure you my small flock is treated better than some people treat their children. Why do I sell cheap or give eggs for free? Because it makes people happy to be able to even get eggs when store shelves are bare and all staples are double in price. If I sell enough to pay for one bag of feed then I am satisfied, but if not I don’t mind..it’s a hobby not a career.
Sorry to come down on you— it’s not personal, and I respect your opinion, but I disagree with the blanket assumptions implying inferiority toward those whom you see as competition.

This was a very nice way to put it. And i totally agree with you.

Some people (no disrespect) have to learn and be okay with the fact that some of us do this as a hobby. As myself, I plan on selling eggs simply “just because”. I have 5 chickens, who eat a crap ton, but Im simply doing it because i fill a carton every 2 days give or take. I only have 3-4 people (family) that get a carton of eggs when we have them. We do a rotation through those people too. So if one carton lasts them 1-2 weeks, then I have extra eggs. I don’t want my eggs to go to waste so why not sell them.

We “hobbyists” aren’t trying to take the business away from people that sell eggs as their sole income. But to downgrade someone because they sell their eggs for $2-$3 isn’t right either.

Not everyone uses egg money as their sole income. Say I sold 8 cartons of eggs at $3 each carton, that money would cover 1 $23 bag of feed.

Or another way people do it is a barter. For instance “if you buy one bag of feed for me, I will give you 6 cartons of eggs”. Or “if you buy a bag of meal worms, I’ll give you 2 cartons of eggs”.

For some of us again, it isn’t about the money. Just sharing our hobby with the rest of the people.

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

We recently went up to $4 per dozen, comparable to grocery stores. We are in Kentucky.