Is $4/dozen pastured eggs to much? Suburban upstate, NY...

[sarahandbray]

Hi there...I know this price varies WIDELY from area to area, state to state, but is $4 asking too much/dozen at our family farm stand just a few miles south of Albany, NY? We are on a main county road with lots of traffic and have a great customer base with our little front yard farm stand--we sell veggies, cut/arranged flowers, and used golf balls (weird--but my husband and kids love picking them up at my parent's house--they live on a golf course--and they literally get HUNDREDS each time they go out looking.)

As I drive around the area, I've only seen one road side signs for eggs--and the place is SUPER sketchy...you know, the kind of property the county is always trying to make sure they clean up? (all dirt yard, junk cars, cages all over the place of various small animals...super creepy). They are charging $3/dozen.

$3/dozen seems to barely help us break even, taking into consideration cost of the chickens, feed, time, DE, grit, oyster shells, electricity, trips to Tractor Supply, medicines, etc.

Our local grocery store/Stewart's shops sometimes sell eggs for $2-$2.50 for regular old commercial eggs. Our Whole Foods in Albany sells eggs upwards of $6/dozen.

Would $4 be a reasonable price to start out at, considering they are pastured, healthy, backyard chickens and there doesn't seem to be any local competition in this market?

-Sarah

 

[CrazyTalk]

MotherEarthNews is simply not a credible news source - they're an agenda driven organization, and they don't understand basic scientific principles. There's a reason none of their actual results are published - they don't hold up to scrutiny. That article for instance - compares their own testing data (which they won't reveal the actual numbers) for free range pastured birds, to the USDAs numbers for battery birds. There's no indication on whether they're using the same measurement methods, testing in the same manner, etc. Like most of their stands, they're conflating several issues at once - and not keeping things straight.

Home eggs are fresher - I don't think there's any debate on that. Beyond that though, egg nutrition is largely genetic, and somewhat influenced by the birds diet - pastured eggs are healthier than battery eggs - but you can buy pastured eggs at every supermarket nowadays. Birds that eat predominately layer food, and are generally confined, are going to produce eggs of similar nutrient profile - whether they're raised on a factory farm, or in the 10x12 run in someone's backyard. Birds that are out foraging are going to produce eggs dependent on what they catch, whether that's in a 200,000 acre commercial ranch, or in my 5 or so acres of pastures.


There are plenty of reasons to raise backyard birds - but egg nutrition really isn't one of them. (Ethical reasons, love of animals, etc) - And I say this as someone who sells duck, goose, and chicken eggs out of his backyard - I'd rather have my eggs bought for what they actually are, then lie to my customers. People want to buy more humanely raised eggs/dairy/meat these days - there's no reason to mislead them.

Here's another MEN article on chickens - see how many logical leaps the author makes?
http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/eat-white-chicken-eggs.aspx#axzz3JdjdLQeO
He starts out by telling people they need to eat white eggs because white layers convert food better (true), then gets squicked out and decides people should get heritage birds because you don't have to kill the roosters. He comes to this entire conclusion based on one companies numbers for their two layer lines - he doesn't bother to check any of the other largescale producers. He doesn't bother to even check into feed conversion rates for heritage birds - yet still tries to spin it that white eggs are better, etc. It's a propaganda rag masquerading as science. He pushes heritage birds as environmental choice despite the fact that having a flock of meat birds and a flock of egg birds is drastically more food efficient than having a flock of dual purpose birds- not an ethical choice (which would be fine) - but an environmental one.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Cage-free hens still have better lives than those who live in cages (they can spread their wings, move around etc.) it doesn't mean what most people think it means. From talking to people I get the impression they think it means they live good lives outside, with plenty of room. However, these hens are still forced to live in cramped, dirty spaces.

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/facts/cage-free_vs_battery-cage.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...the-rise-of-cage-free-eggs-means-for-chickens - another interesting read on the issue. I would love to see the results of the study mentioned being done in Michigan and am curious as to the cause(s) determined for the increased mortality in cage free settings.
I do think it's funny (not funny ha-ha, more funny sad) when people see "cage free" and think of hens frolicking in big grassy meadows - great marketing trick on the part of the industry because I can't imagine they didn't think that would be the impression given by the choice of terminology when the initial outrage over battery hens had erupted. Cage free is decidedly the lesser of two evils, but still not the optimal situation (imo) - but the optimal situation would result in prices that people are not going to want to pay for that carton of eggs. Of course, in a perfect world everyone would have their own little coop with 2-3 hens in the backyard - chickens for everyone, lol!

 

[CrazyTalk]

Of course, in a perfect world everyone would have their own little coop with 2-3 hens in the backyard - chickens for everyone, lol!

I'm partially just arguing to argue, and partially because I like to wax philosophical, but I don't see this as a perfect world at all.

The green revolution (the advent of large scale farming) had some very positive effects - one of them being that a significantly smaller portion of the population needed to be farmers/grow their own food. It allowed people who didn't want to be farmers to do what they actually wanted to do - whether it be art, or music, or architecture, or whatever. A society where everyone is growing most of their own food is a society where people don't have a lot of time to do anything else. Specialization is a good thing - it leads to much more skilled laborers/artisans/etc.

Now, I like to grow food, and I like to keep livestock, and I like to build things and fix things and make things - so I'm doing that with as much of my life as I can (still gotta pay the bills, ya know?). People who don't like those things shouldn't have to do those things. There's nothing wrong with having someone else grow your food so you can spend time writing code, or writing novels, or designing buildings or whatever is you want to do. There's nothing wrong with wanting a hamburger and not slaughtering the cow yourself. In my perfect world, people would spend their time doing what they love - I'm sure you'd have chickens.



On topic - you're not gonna make money selling eggs (without thousands of birds) - but that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep chickens and sell the eggs. They're great insectivores (keep the ticks and flies and everything else down), they're good fertilizer spreaders, you can eat them when they stop laying, and they're funny as heck wandering around the yard. Those things all have value (monetary or otherwise).

 

[CherMoz]

No, they don't.

Here is an article that says otherwise: http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/free-range-eggs-zmaz07onzgoe.aspx#axzz3JdeirBO4

Would you attach a link to the report you are referring to.

Many thanks!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Really all you can do is start and ask $4 and see if you find enough folks willing to pay that price. Actually turning any sort of profit for small scale egg production is not such an easy thing to accomplish.

 

[sarahandbray]

Yeah, we definitely make out better on the golf balls! Free to get and $5/dozen for most brands and $10/Pro-V1s!!

Oh well--I'm not really trying to make a major profit--just off-set costs, feed my habit, and let my son make this his little "part-time" job. I was thinking that advertising them as cage-free, pasture-raised, and organic-fed would warrant the $4 price tag.

I will try, but I don't want to put-off people from buying or sound greedy!!! Maybe I'll have my kids come up with a fun list of why fresh eggs like this are superior to store-bought--laminate it--and stick it on the big cooler we're going to have out front on the farm stand. I also take pretty decent photos, so maybe some nice pics of the chooks would be fun!!

We are in an interesting location--relatively blue collar neighborhood bordering on several upper-middle class neighborhoods (Delmar, Glenmont, etc.) I'll be curious to see if this price is tolerated!!

Sarah

 

[Mrkngpen]

Hi there, I'm the one posting about the Speckled Sussex that wandered into my yard.

Could you pm me your address? I'd love to come buy your eggs!

 

[sarahandbray]

Great! I absolutely will PM you my address. Right now, we only have 10 laying hens so we don't have a ton yet (about 8 eggs/day) but we have about 20 11-week-old hens that will be laying this late winter/Spring. Will be making a list of regular customers to ask first when we have eggs!! Thanks!

 

[AQHAchick22]

Yeah, we definitely make out better on the golf balls! Free to get and $5/dozen for most brands and $10/Pro-V1s!!

Oh well--I'm not really trying to make a major profit--just off-set costs, feed my habit, and let my son make this his little "part-time" job. I was thinking that advertising them as cage-free, pasture-raised, and organic-fed would warrant the $4 price tag.

I will try, but I don't want to put-off people from buying or sound greedy!!! Maybe I'll have my kids come up with a fun list of why fresh eggs like this are superior to store-bought--laminate it--and stick it on the big cooler we're going to have out front on the farm stand. I also take pretty decent photos, so maybe some nice pics of the chooks would be fun!!

We are in an interesting location--relatively blue collar neighborhood bordering on several upper-middle class neighborhoods (Delmar, Glenmont, etc.) I'll be curious to see if this price is tolerated!!

Sarah

I work in Delmar and have people who buy eggs for $3/dozen, however I have also found people who are willing to pay $5/dozen and tell me they are surprised I only ask $3. It's worth a shot asking for $4