pricing eggs

[1ChicChick]

Right now my 2 oldest are laying one a day. I am expecting the 3 that are two weeks younger to start laying this weekend or so. I have two coworkers who said if all 5 are laying an egg a day if it is too many for me to eat they will buy them off of me. Eggs have been up and down like a yo-yo here in IL. For awhile they were $2.88/dz for eggs that come from hens that are kept in a tiny little spot barely big enough for them to be in (you know what they do with those poor things when they are in huge egg laying "plants", I refuse to call them farms) now they are about $1.60-$2.00 (yo-yo). These wonderful, well loved ladies are kept in a nice coop with a nice sized run for space (in town or I would do free range). What would you say the eggs are qualified to "compare " against from the store? I was reading the carton in eggs at the store to try and figure out where to classify them before selling them. Also these will be fresh and not sat around somewhere for who knows how long before being shipped, sat in the store, etc. Should I give a slight discount for bringing their own cartons? But then since these are "predyed eggs" (EE) and their kids will be thrilled to get colored eggs should I charge extra for them? brown eggs cost more why shouldn't blue-green?

 

[1ChicChick]

And yes I informed them the eggs would be blue-green bc the "breed" of chicken they are. They are intrigued by that.

 

[shouts]

To me, you can't compare prices to the store. Even if we charge $5 a dozen our eggs are much cheaper. They're not factoring in the subsidies our government pays them, the cost in having chickens are are full of pharmaceuticals, the cost in fossil fuels to get those eggs here, and the damage those eggs suffer in the cleaning process. If your chickens have free access to bugs and grass, charge what you need too.

The people who appreciate that you get what you pay for will support you.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Your eggs would be classified as cage free. But really your only going to sell to co-workers and farm fresh, unwashed is what they want. Depending on what other foods you give the girls the yolk will be very vibrant to almost orange in color. Various weeds, grass and bugs you supplement feed effect that color but being fresh will all be vibrant. In the midst of winter the color fades due to lack of insects and greens.

I personally don't believe any farm fresh eggs should be sold for less than $4 a dozen. Free range should be $5. During peak laying your cost in maintaining your layers is about $2 a dozen. This does not account for raising them to laying age or the lull in eggs come winter. Not to mention the few years of peak laying as to which at year three the cost will be more than $2 per obtained dozen.

Some folks refuse to raise their prices and it's the backyard sales people themselves that are keeping the costs down. There is an egg shortage now but people think it unethical to raise prices as it might be considered price gouging. I don't think that at all. I believe it's an opportunity to finally get fair wage for your product and obviously not lower prices when the store prices go down again.

There is a market for cage free, farm fresh and those that want your egg will gladly pay 4-5 dollars. Look at organic prices in stores. Over $5 and the standards for "organic" is not even close to what you provide for space for your birds but the feed is organic which does cost more. I don't do organic.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

I have similar questions.. Never really found "the" answers to them, but I'd say just be fair to yourself and to the others, provided you are not selling yourself short. Marketing has a lot to do with it too... and it all depends on how far you want to take this egg selling endeavor.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Awhile back someone on this forum said that his (well his hens') eggs commanded $7.50 a dozen in the San Francisco market. If you price them too high you won't sell them and if you price your eggs too cheaply you'll sell all that your hens can lay.

On the scale of almost 3 dozen eggs per week both options look like a win win.

Since i doubt that the eggs laid by 5 hens will put your children through Harvard, the advice in post #4 to charge as much or as little as your market will bare is good advice.

 

[donrae]

First, don't worry about "classifying" them as any particular thing. They're backyard eggs.

Second, have you checked your local CL, etc to see what eggs are going for in your area? That's not necessarily what you have to sell them for, but it gives you an idea of the local market.

In my ao, the going price is $3-4/dozen. That goes up for organic, all free range, etc. But it's a good start. I don't give price breaks for returning cartons, but most folks are crazy good about doing it anyway.

 

[Peeps61]

I took some of my extras to work and gave out samples. Now, I have a line every week wanting eggs! I sell them for $5.00 for an 18 egg carton. Since I can't meet my demand and feed my family too, I bought an egg layers collection from McMurray and they are currently 9 weeks old and are huge! I will have 35 laying hens (other than my broody cochin) when they are all online laying in November. The folks at work can't wait! Word of mouth is a great way to go too. I think you should charge as much as your market will support. Some may go back to store bought eggs when the prices go back down, but most really love those fresh, golden yolks! There is simply no comparison.

 

[Amina]

How long does it take you to go through a 50 pound bag of feed, and how much does that bag of feed cost? Then don't forget the bedding for your coop. Presumably you are buying pine shavings or straw or something like that. Then there are little incidentals. If you have a hurt chicken, it costs money to buy bandages and other supplies. If they need to be wormed, that costs money too.

For an example, here's an approximate monthly breakdown for my flock of 8 chickens, 5 of which are currently laying.

Feed: 67 pounds of feed = $21.44
Bedding: One bag of pine shavings = $6 (I would use a lot more than this, but I also have some pine straw that I've collected for free and bagged up myself)
Incidental expenses in the past month = $11 (In this category I'll include anything from new feeders and waterers, to worming medication, or whatever other small purchases they might need)
Total monthly expenses = 38.44

Eggs laid: 98 eggs, or ~8 dozen

If we divide $38.44 by 8 dozen, then my eggs have cost me about $4.80 per dozen. That doesn't factor in what has been spent on their coop and run, and it definitely doesn't factor in labor. And as we go into winter, my eggs are going to cost more than that, since my birds will molt.

Now, there would certainly be ways to get these numbers better... maybe you can get a better deal on feed. Maybe you have all super-star layers like golden comets, and cull them when they reach their second molt. My flock is pretty young, and I have good but not super-star layers (Marans and Easter Eggers). One of my 8 is a rooster, so not having a rooster could help with your feed conversion some.

Or maybe you can get all the bedding materials you need from your own property. And maybe you spend less than I have this summer on incidental stuff.

Feel free to take my numbers and play with them until you feel it more accurately reflects your own hens.


Anyway, point is, I think most people feel guilty about charging "too much" if they are over grocery store prices. But you shouldn't feel bad about that. You should compare yourself to the highest-end eggs from Whole Foods, not to battery hen eggs that are on sale... Definitely charge at least enough to break even. If no one wants to buy them at that price, then freeze them and keep them for yourself and your family, for when your hens are molting this winter.

Here are instructions for the best way to freeze eggs:
http://www.incredibleegg.org/eggcyclopedia/f/freezing-eggs/

 

[Amina]

One more thing. Even if you're keeping your chickens in a coop and run, it's like commercial free range. To be classified as free range commercially, they can have a huge chicken house with thousands of chickens, and a door at one end leading to a small outdoor run. As long as the chickens have "access" to the outdoors, that's considered commercial free range. Most of the hens may never see the outdoors because they would have to get past thousands of others to do so... And legally, this still counts.

Plus, those hens still have to be debeaked to deal with severe overcrowding. So you are probably doing way better than even commercial free range.