INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[pginsber]

I was at the store yesterday and priced eggs for fun. The cage free organic eggs are up to $4.50 at the Greenwood Meijer. Currently I'm not selling eggs but If I could get $4 a dozen I might change my mind.

I'm selling eggs at 2.50 a dozen and only get about 9 sells a month if I'm lucky... Are we talking chicken or turkey?

I get $3 a dozen and always have folks asking. I need about 50 more hens lol.

We live in Indianapolis, 6 miles from downtown, and have 8 hens. We have several regular customers at my job and I sell our eggs to them for $4 per dozen any time they're available.
It's really small scale, but we have a waiting list.

The down side is DW gets frustrated with me when I sell too many eggs, not leaving enough for our consumption...

I try to encourage folks like ChickCrazed and others to sell their eggs, but in truth, it is a bit of work. It pays for feed costs, though.

 

[racinchickins]

I'm selling eggs at 2.50 a dozen and only get about 9 sells a month if I'm lucky... Are we talking chicken or turkey?

Quote: Being close to Indy helps. I sell mine for $3 a dozen and have enough regular customers that I don't really try to find more (I'm averaging about 20-25 egg/day). I am starting to get some more inquiries from people though now that egg prices in the supermarket are rising. The DH says I should raise my price to $4. But I'm a bit leery right now, because I don't know how temporary the egg price rise will be.

 

[ChickCrazed]

Being close to Indy helps. I sell mine for $3 a dozen and have enough regular customers that I don't really try to find more (I'm averaging about 20-25 egg/day). I am starting to get some more inquiries from people though now that egg prices in the supermarket are rising. The DH says I should raise my price to $4. But I'm a bit leery right now, because I don't know how temporary the egg price rise will be.

Yep, I'm way too lazy to organize and coordinate eggs sales lol. I know people at work would buy them, but I would have to carry them about a quarter a mile from the parking lot to my desk or a fridge. Seems like way too much work! So instead I am throwing away 4 dozen a week (sometimes I give them away to neighbors or family). Super wasteful but I always have too much on my plate to stress about it.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Being close to Indy helps. I sell mine for $3 a dozen and have enough regular customers that I don't really try to find more (I'm averaging about 20-25 egg/day). I am starting to get some more inquiries from people though now that egg prices in the supermarket are rising. The DH says I should raise my price to $4. But I'm a bit leery right now, because I don't know how temporary the egg price rise will be.

*I* haven't seen any change in the costs for my production, and I have a set of regular customers that I really like - so I am not planning to change my prices just because I could -- if my costs went up, that is when I'd change my prices.

 

[Faraday40]

Egg Sales:
We live in suburbs of Chicago. Egg prices are higher here. I sell extras for $3.50/doz., so I always sell out in minutes. (I teach so as soon as I bring out the eggs, the parents load up their cartons & fill my $ jar.) My costs have not gone up, so neither have my prices.

There are a few co-op farms who sell eggs & customers meet them at drop spots on certain days to buy eggs. Those go for $6-7/doz. I know because a few of my students' families are members & buy their eggs that way. That's why they buy me out at every chance they get. I think their egg prices are so much higher because of gas for delivery & some of the IL laws regarding egg sales. (Must be candled & free of meat spots & hairline cracks, cleaned according to state guidelines, weighed, graded, packaged in a NEW egg carton, and egg farms must have an IL license.) Of course if one has under 100 hens & sells eggs out of the house, there are no requirements. I simply put up a sign stating that I do not wash, candle or grade the eggs nor sell egg cartons. The families bring many, many egg cartons which get stacked in the corner. Kind of a leave one, take one, so I don't have to worry about finding cartons. Since I'm not doing anything extra, I love the way the chickens pay for themselves. I label each egg with the hen's name & date, so some hens have a following. I still scratch my head at those who choose "Cookie"'s little eggs (My Broody Bantam) over the giant eggs of "Precious." On weeks when I do not have a class here, I give my extras to family & neighbors.

BTW- A neighbor told me the local SamsClub ran out of eggs last week, & the Walmart had a very small selection.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Mine are $3.50/dz - but I think I'm going to be raising price soon. They are organic feed and "pastured" so they could probably bring closer to $5/dz.... but I feel "guilty" charging that much!

 

[daskhan]

Although I agree it's actually said if you keep the crap and mud on the eggs it "protects" the eggs. Although I don't know how true that is and I always clean my eggs as soon as I get them inside

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Although I agree it's actually said if you keep the crap and mud on the eggs it "protects" the eggs. Although I don't know how true that is and I always clean my eggs as soon as I get them inside

How dirty are your eggs or are you saying you are washing all eggs regardless of whether they are dirty or not? I ask because if eggs are routinely coming in dirty there are ways to address that at the source to prevent dirty eggs and eliminate the need for cleaning. If you are routinely getting dirty eggs a couple of simple steps will likely reduce that.
It is actually very true that leaving the protective "bloom" on the eggs is best. It isn't the crap and mud that you want to leave on there (again, there shouldnt' be much crap or mud on them to begin with) - it's the bacterial bloom that is deposited on each egg by the hen's body. There are ways to clean eggs that are dirty and leave the bloom intact, or at least mostly intact.

 

[daskhan]

To those egg sellers near Indy or Chicago that sell out are you interested in possibly buying mine at my low prices and selling them since y'all have waiting list and I live in the middle of nowhere thus have issues finding customers

 

[amwchickin]

@ellymayRans and @jchny2000 sorry about your losses, hope things get better.

My flock is tired of this heat and rain! It is so humid I'm drenched within an hour of being outside. Can't even go into the garden without loading up on bug sprays. I still get tons of bites.

I thought the girls were slowing down on eggs, like way down...and found a nest with about 50 eggs in the creek where some brush had gathered up some leaves and junk. It must have been a nice, cool place to lay! I was not really happy about losing that many eggs though.

The free State Egg testing took forever to get mine back as well, and I had submitted mine before the AI outbreak. I finally got the results back and we're clean!