Our Little Egg Business

[MoonAngel12]

That is a great idea! I only have 5 right now that aren't laying much (I guess the heat??) with 5 more that are right around 3 months old that a friend raised for me (her DH is threatening to make them into chicken salad if I don't pick them up soon!!

). I plan on adding a few more each year as the older ones stop laying and hope to get enough eggs for a small side "business" - like so many others, I just want enough to cover the cost of feed.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I raise/feed/water and clean up after the hens and my wife is in sales.

She sells every one of our neighbors and to her friends in her choir at the parish. Plus, she sells to lots of folks at the senior center where she play euchre on Tuesdays. We've had to raise the price to $2.50 as feed has gone up another $3.00/hundred. No sign at the farm as I cannot keep up with her now.

I have another dozen pullets almost at POL. Good thing.

 

[MarinMama]

i buy my eggs from another BYC member...she is about 10 minutes away from me and has a self-serve cooler.

she charges $6 a dozen! still cheaper than $8 a dozen from the farmers market.

i can't wait until my girls start laying. I have no intention of selling but just want to provide my family with yummy eggs.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

I have a wine bar so I sell them through there. $4 a dozen unless they exchange their carton, then it's $3. I lost all 20 of my girls last January and I hatched the eggs I had from them and ended up with 7 pullets who have just started laying! I also have 5 sexlinks, RIR and Autralorps that are about 9 weeks and 9 Polish that are 3 weeks, so it'll be awhile before we're back in the egg selling business but it sure helps to have a little cash to buy feed!

I love the "help yourself" method. I'm trying to figure out how to make that work from our property, when they're all doing their business. Don't you LOVE Vistaprint? I get all our business stuff from them, they are SO inexpensive.

 

[wsdareme]

Quote:
Holy cow! Where do you live that eggs are $8 a dozen??? I have seen one sign locally for $1.50 per dozen, but most are around $2.50 to $3.00. Since I don't have more than a dozen eggs per day and don't want people flocking to the barn just to find an empty refrigerator, we put our sign on the country lane we live on, so I'm guessing my only customers are the folks that live down the lane from us. They keep us cleaned out of eggs, for sure!

I don't feed certified organic feeds (too expensive), so I can't claim the eggs are "organically grown". We don't free range because of hawks and eagles and the high probability that the Girls would find someplace (anyplace) besides their nest boxes to lay their eggs. So I can't advertise them as "free range eggs" either. I do have a nice coop and good sized enclosed run and some very happy hens.

Like a couple of you have mentioned, I also have some up-and-coming pullets that should be laying by the end of summer, so maybe we'll have a few more dozen to sell each week.

We just get a hoot out of these "county folks" that have never eaten home-grown eggs and marvel at the orange yolks and the VERY hard, multi-colored shells.

Oh, just a note -- I started out putting little printouts in the egg cartons giving information about our different breeds and what color eggs they lay, including the Girls' names. Everyone got a kick out of that. I think it's just a nice, homey way of giving our neighbors more of a connection to where their food comes from. Some of them have even asked to see the coop and the Girls. They thought it was pretty neat!

 

[Gerry2011]

$8.00 per dozen?!?!?!?! Holy cow!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Really loved reading this thread!

Right now my girls are on strike, but they're starting to lay again. Right now the Guin-hens are really the only ones laying. I'm getting an egg a day from them! When mine start to laying I'll get anywhere from 2-3 dozen eggs daily, so that adds up pretty fast. I sell mine for $3.50 a dozen but might go up to $4.00 because the feed is so stink'in high!

I mostly sell to my nieghbors, but on every now and again my grandmother comes down to visit and she will buy all the eggs I have and then resell them to people at her Church.

If I end up with way more then we can eat and sell then I just scrambled them and give'em back to the girls for extra protein.

~ Aspen

 

[crystaldegallina]

I currently sell 3 or 4 dozen to the employees of a local business, and they would take more if I had more! I sell for 2.00/dozen but I think I might be underpricing my eggs, especially since I am also delivering them. I just wish the chicks would grow faster so I would have more eggs to sell!

 

[ShortCircuitRanch2332]

Quote:
Haha ya I got told by code enforcement I couldn't sell eggs or chicks but I could buy a permit for 30,000 dollars that would allow me to start a business ill do it anyway they can't prove anything and I'd love to see them try lol

 

[Elphaba2140]

I have a little business for friends and coworkers. They give me empty cartons and tell me when they need eggs. I too only ask $2 a dozen. I am also lucky to be working at a preschool. These kids never finish their food. One of my coworkers suggested if I wanted the leftovers they would save them. Another coworker brought in those large icecream buckets to save the food. At the end of the day I go to the lunchroom refrigerator and the staff kitchen and collect the girls "garbage". When I go home and open the back door they are clamoring for the goodies. I have several coworkers that eat only organic food so a lot of the food I get is just maybe wilted or old fruit and veggies but also I get whole grain breads. It is a win win situation for me.

The girls favorite left overs? Ham and Cheese sandwiches and apples.