Need Help In pricing

[Iamamerica2]

Hi, we just started almost a year ago raising chickens for eggs. We have 12 chickens, since we have more eggs than we need, we were giving them away left and right. Then My Dear Hubby came up with the idea to put a sign out in my front yard ( I live on a main street).

Well needless to say I had to take my sign down a few days later, I now have 2 steady customers that wanted all my eggs plus 10 dozen more. So I ordered more chickens so I can supply them and more for new customers.

.My dilemma is my 2 new customers now want me to raise cornish rocks lamb,goats ducks and a miniature cow for them, I do not know how much to charge. We weren't planning on moving this fast yet, but I was planning on it in the near future.I didn't realize the high demand for pasture free eggs as well as other livestock. Can anyone help me figure out how to figure out a price. Thank you so much in advance.

 

[jenifry]

I charge 2$ a dozen for my eggs, $2.50 if they don't bring me a carton in exchange for the one I am giving them. I have heard of people who charge 5$ a dozen, and easily get that price. I don't do it as a business, merely to get rid of unneeded eggs.

I have seen people on here charging anywhere from 2$ a pound to 5$ a pound successfully for meat birds. I think what you need to do is figure out your feed cost, and work upwards from there, making sure to account for your processing time and the energy it takes to get up everyday and feed and care for livestock that is going to feed other people. It costs me around 1$/pound of dressed weight to feed meat birds. It takes me just over a half hour to process a bird, from start to finish. And for 12 weeks, I get up at 6:30 every morning and care for my birds for just about an hour and do the same in the evening, which adds nearly 200 hours of my time to the cost of my meat. The way I figure it, to account for my time and my feed, I would have to raise CX by the hundreds to be able to keep my prices under 5$ a pound.

When I figured the time and energy that went into the 25 Cornish cross that I did for myself, I figured it cost me about $10.75 a pound to provide my family with healthy home grown chicken. But I figured my time at 10$ an hour, since that is about half what I make at my real job, and raising meat animals has to be worth more than minimum wage.

Sorry, but I have zero knowledge about goats and miniature cattle.

 

[Percheron chick]

it all depends upon your market what you can and should charge. If there are multiple ads on CL for $2 a dozen eggs than it's pretty hard to charge $3-4 for the same thing. If you distinguish yourself as having a superior product (non GMO, organic, free range...)that will help. You can also charge more for brown eggs than you can for white and you can ask even more for green/blue eggs than brown ones.

The hard part is figuring out what those eggs cost to produce. My costs in feed alone for a dozen eggs is about $1. (my flock is a mix of breeds and laying efficiency) What is your time worth? What did it cost to raise the hens to POL? You probably spent $15-18 for each POL pullet. Somehow you need to recapture that expense. I sell my extras for $3 but that's more of a break even price. It's illegal for egg producers to reuse egg cartons but we all do it. If you have to buy egg cartons, that can easily be another $.50.

As far as raising meat animals for others, I wouldn't do it. What are your local laws regarding selling meat? We fly under the radar with eggs but marketing beef? Who's responsible for slaughtering it? Do you have to be USDA certified to sell it? Too many things to look into before you go down this road.

 

[aart]

Hi, we just started almost a year ago raising chickens for eggs. We have 12 chickens, since we have more eggs than we need, we were giving them away left and right. Then My Dear Hubby came up with the idea to put a sign out in my front yard ( I live on a main street).

Well needless to say I had to take my sign down a few days later, I now have 2 steady customers that wanted all my eggs plus 10 dozen more. So I ordered more chickens so I can supply them and more for new customers.

.My dilemma is my 2 new customers now want me to raise cornish rocks lamb,goats ducks and a miniature cow for them, I do not know how much to charge. We weren't planning on moving this fast yet, but I was planning on it in the near future.I didn't realize the high demand for pasture free eggs as well as other livestock. Can anyone help me figure out how to figure out a price. Thank you so much in advance.

Tell them no. <shrugs> easy.

The price you want to sell for... is what the customer will pay, better to start high and come down than try to raise prices.

I'd go slow, finding egg customers by word of mouth might be all you want.
Start growing your flock so you can sell more if you want and start keeping very good track of what you spend on feed so you're not giving it away.

Also realize that laying can fluctuate and sometimes you will not be able to meet demand, your customers need to realize that and either accept it or not.

Do some research in your area to find out what the prices are like so you can be fair.
Also find out what the local regulations are regarding selling any food to the public, it can get hairy and expensive fast depending on regulations.

 

[Iamamerica2]

Thank you for sharing , I am learning so much on this site, Thanks again

 

[misbhaven]

I don't know where you live but you could board the animals for them for a fee .. then have them pay to have them slaughtered.where I live the meat locker will come right out and do it for a set fee incliding dispatching the animals. Then you still make a profit but have almost no liabilty as you were just boarding the animals .

 

[chad-o]

There is a lot of liability involved if you raise and slaughter the stock. I would just rent them pasture you might also let them supply feed and pay for your time.