I'm a little self conscious...

[journey11]

I feel like nobody wants my eggs!

And I have more than my family can reasonably eat. I have had a few people buying eggs off of me, but they are very sporadic (and one I'm sure will not be back because his wife grew up on a farm and says she hates farm eggs...((crazy woman)).

I have 3 light brahmas, 5 ee's and 5 black australorps (had more but the neighbor's dog killed a few). I am just not getting good quality eggs for selling. I have to pick through them to find the best looking ones to sell and that is so annoying because most of them don't make the cut (we end up eating the ugly ones

).

The brahmas' eggs are poor quality, almost always have blood/meat spots and blood spots on the outer shell. The australorps I got because I heard they were good layers and would lay almost an egg a day, but their eggs are terrible quality...often having blood spot (not as bad as the brahmas), but the worst problem is the shell quality. Even though I have them on a complete feed and free-choice oyster shell, their eggs are often misshapen (bulges, wrinkles, weak tips, rough spots, unusually long and pointy) and a few spotty on the outer shell. My EE's lay beautiful blue eggs that are perfectly shaped, strong shelled and rarely have blood spot, but their eggs are Medium sized, which isn't preferable to my buyers. I love them though. All my chickens are together in the same flock under the same conditions.

What I am wanting are nice quality large/jumbo brown eggs. I love having chickens, and more is more!

I like having a good sized flock, but I just can't eat all these eggs and giving them away is even getting hard to do.

I am thinking I will just have to try another breed, looking at maybe Golden Comets, but not decided yet. I admit that I am drawn to the fancier looking breeds, but that's not always practical. I will live.

If you sell eggs and are pleased with the quality you are getting, I would love to hear which breeds you have had good luck with and would recommend for this purpose. I am partial to heavy breeds and brown egg layers though. Did you start with a lot of chickens then have to cull a lot for quality, or did they just tend to be good layers in the first place? I can cull if I have to, although I hate doing it. I wonder if that would be a pain in the butt to try to figure out who lays nice eggs and who lays duds and sort them all out?

I want eggs I can be proud to sell and not have to worry that customers won't be back.

 

[thespinningcottage]

We get beautiful eggs about 95% of the time (just guessing on the %) from our amber sex-links. They tend to be very symmetrical, strong-shelled and each of the 6 birds lays about 5 eggs a week. VERY occasionally we get a crackly-shelled or wrinkly one, maybe 1 or 2 a month.
Maybe you could keep your birds that lay irregularly, use their eggs in baked goods, and sell cakes instead!

 

[trilyn]

Love the comets, but even with them you occasionally get a wrinkled shell. What is so wrong with that, if you don't mind me asking? I love the variety of shells/colors that come from my girls and so do my customers. A meat spot isn't so horrific, I've had bloody yolks from new layers-that is horrific!

But all in all, we're raising chickens in our backyard on a small scale, we don't have the volume that the commercial ops do to go through every egg and be picky about shell blemishes, meat spots and what all. Heck, the imperfections are perfect in my eyes! As long as the shell is intact and hard, who cares! But that's just me! lol Good luck and I hope you find what you're searching for.

 

[fiberart57]

I can hear your frustration. It must be difficult to think that you're doing everything correct and yet have these problems. I'm running out of room in my fridge for eggs as well. Although I have many people I can give them to, I'm done handing out the freebies and I'd like something to help pay for their feed.

I have six different breed and get six different egg colors but all of the eggs are just fine. I have an Australorpe and I've never had blood spots with her eggs. But she lays pointy eggs; I think that it's just particular to her. I can always tell her egg because it's pointy.

What do you mean by complete feed? Is it a layer formula? Sometimes, especially in the type of hard winter that we've had, they need more protein than can be supplied by a 16% layer. I give mine a small bit of organic, grass fed hamburger twice a week and will continue to do so until the bugs return. Others will raise mealworms, feed lentils, or some other kind of protein snack for them. How often do you change their oyster shell? They are kind of particular about the size and shape of what they eat. I change mine about once a week. I also bought a bale of good alfalfa and they munch on the leaves.

Do your chickens get out and get some exercise? Are they older? I've heard that shells become thinner and there's other weird stuff that can happen to eggs as the birds mature.

One of the best breeds for large brown eggs are Rhode Island Reds, so I've heard. My neighbor has five of them and they lay pretty nice eggs of a decent size.

Have you posted a card at your local feed store or hardware store for eggs? A lot of people who know that perfection in the looks of an egg is not alway the indicator for a good egg would be more than willing to buy eggs from you. Even if they are a little wierd looking.

Good luck, Mary

 

[journey11]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I think I will try another breed this year, as soon as I can decide on one!

Yeah, they're on a 16% layer ration. They usually get to go out and free range about 2pm until dark, but they've been cooped up from all the snow the past two months. They've gotten to go out the past couple days. I do notice a lot less blood spot when they've gotten to go out and get some fresh air. I think maybe because they spend a peaceful afternoon eating goodies and dust bathing rather than harassing each other from boredom and close quarters.

I built a hopper for their oyster shell and grit. They like the chunky pieces better and when it runs out I just toss the powder on the garden because I know they don't want that. One thing you mentioned fiberart is feeding extra protein in the winter. I don't give them anything specially prepared, but they do get a lot of good food scraps (from my picky toddler) which often includes scrambled eggs and meat.

One of my neighbors is my most faithful customer. He really appreciates the value of a farm fresh egg.

I'd sure like to get some more chickens. I have room for a lot more. But I've got to be able to sell these extra eggs somehow!

 

[equine chick]

I don't think you can go wrong with redstars if you want eggs for eating and on a daily basis.

 

[chicmom]

I couldn't be happier with my Golden Buff chickens. They lay an extra large egg, and they rarely skip a day. I got them from the Meyer Hatchery, which is in polk OH. They're very friendly chickens too, and not too large. About 4 lbs each. The eggs are a beautiful brown color.

 

[chickenjen]

Our black sex-links are just starting to lay but are laying 2 to 2.5 oz eggs at the moment. The shells vary between birds from a light brownish-tan to a darker brown. The shells are super strong, we are having a hard time getting used to a hard whack to crack the egg, the blood spots in the egg itself have only been on the first couple eggs per hen and so far are staying gone. They are all really well formed and we are getting a constant number a day that is SLOWLY rising.

We are up to an average of 4 a day from 15 and they just started laying in the last couple of weeks. We got them July 09. They are all pretty mild tempered except for our poor shoe laces which they have declared war upon.

We picked them after talking with friends who have or have had chickens.

 

[WriterofWords]

Wow, you are nice! I grab the eggs they go in a carton, ugly or not. I can't keep up with my customers. Maybe it's the area you live in?

 

[angelique_redhead]

I have 2 barred rocks and a Rhode Island red that are laying age. They lay large light brown eggs. I used to have Dominics and have 4 pullets currently that I'm just waiting to be old enough to lay. They have medium brown large eggs. All of these breeds have some of the prettiest brown eggs I've seen. I'm planning to get some Welsummers too.

: Angelique