How much money can you make off of eggs?

[Choco Maran]

I sell 15 dozen a week to one lady making 30 dollars and this pays for about half the feed. Feed in New Mexico is about 15-20 dollars a bag (40 lbs) if you get the premium brands and 12-14 for store brand feed. If I have more then that i sell for 3 dollars a dozen.

 

[Urlec]

This post is in Canadian $. (Sorry but I can't look up the exchange right now)

I sell 5 dozen/week @ 3$ per dozen = 15$ a week.

1 50 lb bag of food will do me 2 weeks when allowed free choice grain(I get free), free choice oyster shell and access to the run. Each bag cost 10$.

Consumables such as electricity,Oyster shell, apple cider vinegar, the odd treat, cleaning and first aid products. This cost varies but I say works out to 10 $ a week.

The remaining profit goes toward upgrades and startup costs. (Coop, nest boxes, fencing, feeders, water, incubator.)

All told I spend more than I make but it's all worth it when my 5 year old Daughter got to hold a candled egg embryo for the first time and I seen the smile on her face.

 

[MeepBeep]

You likely will never make a profit or even pay for feed with a small flock, unless you can sell the eggs for $10 a dozen...

I'm lucky and can get $5/dozen where I live, but I sell to repeat weekly customers at $4/dozen as long as they return the cartons... But even at $5/dozen it only offsets the feed for the flock at the end of they day... I also heavily supplement my feed with grocery store freebies and spent grain from a local brewery, if it wasn't for free feed supplementation the egg sales would hardly cover anything in the overall picture...

FYI I'm currently selling between 10 and 15 dozen a week, but feed cost is about $65 a week even with the freebies (it would be closer to $125/week if they were fed commercial feed only) so it's really a wash as any 'extra' money is spent on pine shavings, oyster shells, grit or extra feed for non-layers or even the layers when the freebie stuff slows down...

There are also a slew of other incidental cost that come out of pocket that have to be factored in if you want to be honest on profits...

At the end of the day, until you are managing 1000s of birds and can get a premium price for the eggs you won't really make any profit, you best bet is to hope you can at least offset some of the cost and enjoy your birds and eggs...

 

[The Chicken Fan]

I have 9 layers and get 5-9 eggs a day. I really don't know how many dozen I sell, but my girls pay for their own feed. I sell mine for $4 a dozen. I now have over $100 in egg money. Of course, I'll never come out even. But it is nice that their feed is taken care of by them.

 

[laircy]

Likely closer to 6lb a dozen

I think I'd meant to write 4. I've been doing so much chicken math lately, it's all starting to blur.
Each one eats about two pounds a week, so two weeks would be 4 pounds and around 12 eggs.

Assuming it takes 4 pounds for 1 dozen, and I buy a 50 lb bag for $19, there are 12.5 dozen that can come from that, and at $4 per dozen that is $50. 50-19 = $31 profit. Of course, currently 6 of my chickens are too young to lay, so that'll affect things for the meanwhile. But with time it should catch up.

 

[MeepBeep]

Assuming it takes 4 pounds for 1 dozen, and I buy a 50 lb bag for $19, there are 12.5 dozen that can come from that, and at $4 per dozen that is $50. 50-19 = $31 profit. Of course, currently 6 of my chickens are too young to lay, so that'll affect things for the meanwhile. But with time it should catch up.

Don't forget about molts that can last for several months sometimes with no eggs or very few, and slower production during winter months or extreme heat or any other time they simply decide to not lay consistently...

 

[Rod-T]

I think I'd meant to write 4. I've been doing so much chicken math lately, it's all starting to blur.
Each one eats about two pounds a week, so two weeks would be 4 pounds and around 12 eggs.

Assuming it takes 4 pounds for 1 dozen, and I buy a 50 lb bag for $19, there are 12.5 dozen that can come from that, and at $4 per dozen that is $50. 50-19 = $31 profit. Of course, currently 6 of my chickens are too young to lay, so that'll affect things for the meanwhile. But with time it should catch up.

6 eggs a week? Year round? Sure that don't average out to be about 4?

 

[laircy]

OK, let's say 12 lb a dozen then. If there's no internet conspiracy, fermenting the feed should be able to cut that in half. 50/6 ~ 8.3, x 4 = 33, -19 = $14 in eggs per bag. Not to mention kitchen leftovers... Maybe that's not "worth it", but I'm just a college student trying to make a few extra bucks doing something I love.

 

[MeepBeep]

On this subject, I just picked up a new customer today, the lady has been buying her eggs at a local weekly farmers market near her house for $7.50/dozen...

If there's no internet conspiracy, fermenting the feed should be able to cut that in half.

Personally I feel there is quite a bit of exaggeration on the feed savings for fermented feed, IMO those claiming the huge 50% or greater savings likely had poor feed management practices prior to the fermented feed that was costing them larger amounts of loss and waste... When they switched to fermented feed they inadvertently also adjusted their feed management practices at the same time thus lowering the losses and waste, loss and waste that could have been addressed by other means and likely seen similar savings...

You might see some feed savings with fermented feed, but when you consider the multi-billion dollar poultry industry that just LOVES to save fractions of pennies, has not embraced fermented feeds, I'm very suspicious that the savings are anywhere near those claimed...

Seriously though why wouldn't the entire chicken industry be using fermented feed if it truly cut their feed bill by 50-75% as many claim?

I'm guessing it's because of studies like this that suggest with the good come the bad and it's unlikely based on these studies that feed consumption drops 50% since there is only minimal feed conversion gains... i'm not saying fermenting feed doesn't have some advantages and it might save you some out of pocket, I'm just suggesting take the 50% or more savings claims with a big grain of salt and remember correlation does not imply causation...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19373724
http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-9156/2012/1450-91561203433U.pdf