I need advice (egg and person related)- Long Read

[JacinLarkwell]

I'm Thinking she doesn't realize it's 'only' so many eggs you're getting. I brought in about 3 and a half dozen last night to wash and sort and lemme tell ya, it looked like a lot more before they were sorted. If someone took a handful out of the bucket, it would have looked like a lot less was missing than if they had taken them from the cartons

 

[CKfarm22]

I'm Thinking she doesn't realize it's 'only' so many eggs you're getting. I brought in about 3 and a half dozen last night to wash and sort and lemme tell ya, it looked like a lot more before they were sorted. If someone took a handful out of the bucket, it would have looked like a lot less was missing than if they had taken them from the cartons

True

 

[JacinLarkwell]

True

And maybe she gives some to her friends, which is where the missing eggs are disappearing to? My brother does that (with permission) when I suddenly have a yon of cartons in the fridge. If that is the case, maybe a happy medium would be to sit down with her and explain thar you're glad people like the eggs, and ask if maybe next time she can mention that the coop is looking for any donations people might want to give. I do that and my mom does too at her work, she has a little jar for donations and people put in some change and stuff when they take a dozen

It might get in the way of selling eggs though.

 

[CKfarm22]

And maybe she gives some to her friends, which is where the missing eggs are disappearing to? My brother does that (with permission) when I suddenly have a yon of cartons in the fridge. If that is the case, maybe a happy medium would be to sit down with her and explain thar you're glad people like the eggs, and ask if maybe next time she can mention that the coop is looking for any donations people might want to give. I do that and my mom does too at her work, she has a little jar for donations and people put in some change and stuff when they take a dozen

It might get in the way of selling eggs though.

I’m thinking selling eggs isn’t going to be huge thing, maybe a couple people that will buy. But i like your idea too

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I’m thinking selling eggs isn’t going to be huge thing, maybe a couple people that will buy. But i like your idea too

I am all for keeping the peace, so I know my ideas kinda take on the burden.

Honestly in my set up, the eggs are a byproduct. I don't eat them, we don't use a bunch and most are fed back to the birds when I'm not hatching or hollowing them out. So I'm not losing anything by accepting a couple coins or a buck (and preferably a carton back) when someone needs a dozen. Plus then those people let me talk about my birds, especially when they see the greens and they're not allowed to complain about bantam eggs being scattered in the dozens since they aren't paying the 6 bucks the store wants

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you, I really appreciate it. I’m going to end up talking to her about it, and what mine and my boyfriends plans are about selling the eggs. She will need to let us know in advanced if she needs them.

I’m no way bashing her, really. It’s just I'm so confused by her actions, and i needed to know if i was over reacting about it

You really need to track just how many eggs you are getting each week.
If you only have 5 hens...it may seem like you are getting a lot of eggs, but you need to know exactly how many.

@getaclue has made a good point, so you may want to read that again.

OR, you could just ask her and your Mom to be your egg customers? Why not?
Tell them what the current egg prices are at the grocery store, but you'll sell them each a dozen eggs weekly at a "Family Discount", say 25% off store prices or whatever you can all agree on. You've made some feed money, any extras can be split up and given to BOTH Moms as bonus eggs at no charge...

Most of the problem, as I see it, is that you need to sit down, and do the math, so it's clear in your own mind about your expectations. You have 5 hens. When laying is optimal, you would still only get 35 eggs. It takes 36 for 3 cartons of eggs. Giving her, and your own mom each a dozen eggs per week, only leaves you 11 eggs. That's not nearly enough to go into the egg business, with a steady customer or two, and chickens don't always lay at optimum.

 

[CKfarm22]

I am all for keeping the peace, so I know my ideas kinda take on the burden.

Honestly in my set up, the eggs are a byproduct. I don't eat them, we don't use a bunch and most are fed back to the birds when I'm not hatching or hollowing them out. So I'm not losing anything by accepting a couple coins or a buck (and preferably a carton back) when someone needs a dozen. Plus then those people let me talk about my birds, especially when they see the greens and they're not allowed to complain about bantam eggs being scattered in the dozens since they aren't paying the 6 bucks the store wants

Same here, I don’t eat eggs. I’ve given them away to my mom or his mom or my brother. We got chickens for just because. I always wanted to sell them, but we didn’t have “enough” chickens until now.

 

[Geena]

If you got chickens just because and you don't even like eggs, then maybe you're making a mountain out of a molehill?
No, she probably shouldn't be just taking the eggs, but in the end IMO it's not worth jeopardizing your relationship with your boyfriend and his mom over some eggs.
Maybe have a talk with her and split the number of eggs between your family and his? You really aren't going to have that many to sell with only 5 chickens anyway. Maybe your folks can pay X amount per dozen to help out with the feed and you can consider the ones going to his mom as paying the rent for the coop.
You say that your boyfriend maintains the yard, but hey, he lives there and I'm guessing mom pays all the bills, right? The yard work should be considered his contribution to the household, nothing more.
If I were in your position and it got to be a problem, I would rehome the chickens and be done with it until I had my own place to keep some.
Best of luck with whatever you decide to do

 

[CKfarm22]

If you got chickens just because and you don't even like eggs, then maybe you're making a mountain out of a molehill?
No, she probably shouldn't be just taking the eggs, but in the end IMO it's not worth jeopardizing your relationship with your boyfriend and his mom over some eggs.
Maybe have a talk with her and split the number of eggs between your family and his? You really aren't going to have that many to sell with only 5 chickens anyway. Maybe your folks can pay X amount per dozen to help out with the feed and you can consider the ones going to his mom as paying the rent for the coop.
You say that your boyfriend maintains the yard, but hey, he lives there and I'm guessing mom pays all the bills, right? The yard work should be considered his contribution to the household, nothing more.
If I were in your position and it got to be a problem, I would rehome the chickens and be done with it until I had my own place to keep some.
Best of luck with whatever you decide to do

Not giving away the chickens because his mom doesn’t know boundaries. That’s absurd to even suggest that.