Pricing Eggs For Sale

[Jenna14Chicken]

Ok so I have a person that I've always sold eggs to, but we lost of flock to a coon about a year ago and since then we have gotten new chickens that have just started laying. Well now I have a few people asking for eggs but I don't no how much to charge. I used to charge $1.50 but the person they are getting them from now charges $2.25, what should I do? Raise it to $2 or keep it at $1.50. For now I'm not going to sell them since they are small eggs but once they get bigger I will. How long does it take for eggs to get bigger? Thanks for any advice!

 

[bobbi-j]

How much money do you want to lose? You have to cover the replacement birds, the expense of getting them to laying age, and feeding and housing them for as long as you have them. Pretty sure feed prices haven't gone down. Even at $2.00 you are asking less than he other person they're buying from. If they complain, point out that it costs you money to raise those chickens - you're not getting those eggs for free.

 

[donrae]

How much does a bag of feed cost you? How many eggs do you average for the bag of feed? That's just the bare minimum of math, not counting your time, water, electricity, coop, etc.

I charge $3 or $3.50 a dozen. I've never had someone tell me that was too much. My hens are not free range or fed anything special.

 

[Jenna14Chicken]

Ok, thanks everyone. I bag of food usually cost around 10-12$, and we get two eggs a day right now but soon should being getting 6-8 a day. So if I sell two dozen a week that would be $4 if I have it at $2 so that isn't even close to enough for feed. Let me think about everything and then I'll come up with a good reasonable price... thanks again

 

[donrae]

Just don't undervalue your product.

If someone honestly, truly can not afford your eggs, and you feel they need them, then donate eggs to them.

Otherwise, pretty much everyone can afford $3/dozen eggs.

 

[aart]

Ditto bobbi-j's and donrae's advice.

Those low prices tick me off!!......forgive me, I'm going to rant a bit.
Some folks think my eggs should cost them the same as the cheapest eggs in the grocery store...or I'm 'ripping them off'.
I calculate my costs by number of eggs sold per bag of feed...there's no way I can sell eggs for less than it costs me to feed the chickens.
I still have to buy other foods, and pay my mortgage, utilities, and other bills for necessities.
You cannot compare the price of a 'factory farm' product in the grocery store with what comes out of my backyard.
I can't buy tons of feed for thousands of birds.....which if you know anything about manufacturing, you know that quantity costs less.
Go look at the prices and labels on grocery eggs, you'll see a great difference in price when the labels tout 'cage free' or 'free range'.
Then find out what those labels really mean.
'Cage free' means that aren't trapped in tiny cages, BUT they are still crammed so tight in buildings that they can hardly move.
'Free range' means there is a door to a small area outside the building, BUT most don't even go out there and they all wouldn't fit anyway.
Most people are completely unaware of these things...they just believe the fairy tales the labels and pretty pictures on the cartons infer.
Some folks don't care even if they do understand, and granted for some their finances often only allow them to eat cheaper foods.
But folks who want and can afford more humanely raised food,
are more than happy to give me their $3-4 for eggs from birds raised in the amount of space mine live in.
OK, rant over, sorry.

I charge $3.50 per dozen eggs that weighs between 24oz and 27oz ('Large' and Xlarge' respectively, per industry standards).
When I have pullet eggs, I use 6 hens eggs and add pullet eggs into a 18ct carton until it hits that weight range.....usually 14-16 eggs total.
That makes it fair to my customers and simplifies my accounting by not changing the $3.50 price.
I have more pullets than hens laying right now and it can take months before the pullets start laying eggs that reach a 'Large' weight of 2oz.
I almost always 'come out ahead' over my cost of feed, that overage covers the bedding and other supplies I need to buy for the birds.
It will never cover the cost of building the coop and run tho...and I don't expect it to... I sold some things to cover a lot of the cost of the building materials.

 

[Jenna14Chicken]

Thank you and I'm fine with your rant, it was not a problem. It actually helped a lot! I'm only going to raise my price from $1.50 to $2.00 just so I can actually sell my eggs, the person the other person buys them from sells them for $2.25 so people will probably continue buying hers if I have it at that price or above. And I calculated feed price vs eggs and it came up that at $2 I will be making around $400-$600 each year buy selling like 20 dozen each month and feed only cost Around $360 so I will have a little extra for other things that the birds need at $2. Thanks again for everyone's help!

 

[gadus]

I really like the idea of throwing in a few extra pullet eggs to make up for small sizes overall. Until now, I had planned on selling smaller eggs for less.

I am still unsure about what to charge, given that the local grocery is running a special on supposedly healthy (all the right care but not organic) eggs for $.88/dozen, other large eggs are $1.19 and extra large are $1.99... How the heck does one charge $4 when a person can buy four times as much for the same price? I'm going to stick with $3.50 and hope they sell.

 

[kathlynr8]

I think I pay $6 for a dozen in Vermont. I am going to double check the prices next time I go.. They are at the farmer's market and in a variety of colors - so they are special to me and I dont have my own chickens yet. They are always completely sold out by the end of the market and you can't get them...though if you ask ahead they will bring them for you. Its not their main biz thou as they sell other things at the market. I was wondering how much I could ask if I sold my extra eggs when I have my own chickens..

 

[rosemarythyme]

Is there anything special about the $6 farmer's market eggs (i.e. certified organic, pastured, etc)? Do other similar eggs sell for that price in your area? It's not a bad way to set a price point if you want to sell eggs as long as your eggs are similar to theirs.

Before I had chickens I paid $7 a dozen for a local farm's organic, pastured eggs. That's part of the reason I wanted chickens (well, that, and I wanted chickens!)