Ordered my ducks this morning!!!

[cabinonalake]

Ordered our 5 new little duckies this morning. 4 hens and 1 drake, all Welsh Harlequin from metzer farms!!! May 21st they will be getting shipped as well as our 10 baby chicks from mypetchicken! I allready have buyers for duck eggs but haven't decided on a price for them... any suggestions? I was thinking 2.50-3.00 I know I could potentially get more than that per dozen but I want to be fair to my customers understand that money is tight for a lot of people.

 

[Roosterlover5]

I think your price range seems about right, although it could be higher,after all duck eggs are pretty big.

 

[OldGuy43]

Depends on the availability of duck eggs in your area. Around here they are, pardon the expression "as scarce as hens teeth."

We're planning on:

• $1 for a single egg.
• $3.50 for a ½ dozen.
• $5 per dozen.

Not only are duck eggs bigger, but ducks require a lot more care.

 

[cabinonalake]

Yeah they're sarce around here too.. I've only scene 1 other person with ducks in our area and thats a few miles away... I'm sure there are more than 2 people in Maine with ducks but I don't see any signs for eggs and they're not on uncle henrys or cragislist. Ill talk with my family more about it and look into just how popular they are in this area (30 mi radius).

 

[Amiga]

Just for an extreme example, near me they go for $14 a dozen.

 

[Going Quackers]

I think around 5$ a dozen is considered reasonable. I happen to run across an ad for Muscovy ducks eggs about an hour one way from me asking that.

No one around here sells them locally that I have seen, only chicken eggs.

 

[wildpeas]

Just for an extreme example, near me they go for $14 a dozen.

Holy Cow!!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I sell my chicken eggs for $4.00 a dozen, ducks would be at least $6.00 a dozen, probably more as they eat so much and lay bigger eggs.

~ Aspen

 

[Oregon Blues]

It costs me about $4 a dozen to produce duck eggs. That's not including buying the ducks, raising the ducks, paying for housing, fencing, or predator control. Nor does it cover keeping the ducks over the winter while they are not laying. It does include feeding drakes and unproductive ducks.

If a duck lays an egg every day (and they don't) that's only 2 1/2 dozen eggs per month per duck. .3 pounds of feed would be light. Maybe .4 pounds of feed per day per duck. Do the math. See how much that duck eats in a month, multiple it by the price per pound for feed, and see how much feed to produce 2 1/2 dozen duck eggs. And then don't count on getting 2 1/2 dozen from every duck 12 months out of the year.

Feed costs will be slightly lower in the summer if you have good forage available. But keep in mind, it takes both protein and calcium to produce eggs.

Oh yeah. Don't forget the cost of the egg carton. Duck eggs don't fit into chicken egg cartons. You must buy duck egg cartons.

 

[Tahai]

A dozen organic/cage free chicken eggs at the grocery store sell for $3.50 in upstate PA. They sell at the farmer's market for $3. At road-side stands, they sell for a $1.

In my area, I could probably sell organic, cage free duck eggs for $4-$5 a dozen...at least until other farmers started raising egg ducks. After some number crunching early on, I came to the conclusion that ducks were not going to add anything to my bank account. The most I can hope for is to off-set the cost of my hobby with egg sales.