Selling egg business is kinda slow

[purecountrychicken]

Wasnt sure where to put this. About a month ago,,I couldnt keep up with the demand for my eggs,,I'm getting about 3 dozen per day. But now I have plenty of eggs and no buyers. This is my first year in selling eggs and was wondering if every year at this time does business slow down because of longer daylight hours and chickens are now starting to lay more. Our local wal-mart is now selling their eggs for 97 cents per dozen,,,so I know that doesnt help. Any tips would be helpful.

Thanks
Dwane

 

[momma's chickens]

I am not sure but I know last week at this time I had 12 dozen in my frig and today I don't even have one egg. It seems to be the eggs build up and then everybody wants them out once. Have you put up signs around town? I did that and put one in front of the house. Good luck and I hope you sell some more soon!

 

[K-Chick]

It doesn't hurt to advertise more. Better to have more customers than eggs.

Also, it would be a good time to feed a few eggs back to the chickens to save on feed a little. Hang in there and as I always say...just wait a little bit, because things are always changing. Whether for good or bad.

 

[purecountrychicken]

I advertised on craigslist and I have signs at the corner of my road. I do tell them that once they buy 10 dozen they get a dozen free. We had regular customers that would stop every weekend but now its like they just disappeared.

 

[tamlynn]

Maybe its time to start freezing or pickling those extra eggs? wouldn't want them to go to waste. Hope your buisness picks up soon.

 

[kristenm1975]

Wow, didn't know you could (or should) freeze eggs? Pickling, sure, but freezing? Do you prepare them first?

 

[tamlynn]

Kristenm, yes! You shouldn't freeze them in the shell. My dad likes to crack each egg into a section of an ice cube tray, break the yolk, freeze them, then pop them out and store the egg cubes in freezer bags. The quality will not be the same as fresh eggs, but still edible. You can also freeze just the whites.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

You don't want to cultivate customers who don't appreciate the difference between fresh eggs from home-raised hens and 97-cent factory-farmed eggs sold at WalMart. There is no way a home flock, even a small commercial flock, could compete with those giant factory farms. I wouldn't even try. I'd rather feed the eggs back to the hens, or freeze them, or give them to a food bank than lower my prices to match the grocery store prices.

There have been other discussions on this topic, with ideas shared on how to find & keep customers who are willing to pay a good price for the higher quality fresh backyard eggs. Do a search in the archives to find those threads. Keep on advertising, especially in places where you are more likely to find those kinds of customers. Not as much in places where folks are looking for bargains.

 

[jprinc44]

I had the same thing happen a couple of weeks ago- had eggs piling up in my fridge- couldn't buy a sale, even lowered my price to 1.50/doz from 2.00, still no takers. Then I sold eight dozen at one time, and haven't been able to catch up since. Of course it doesn't help if 6 or 7 hens decided to go broody at once. Even though I take the eggs away daily, they won't get out of the laying boxes. I pull them out, they eat, then go right back. Don't understand it.

 

[Ah Lian]

Wow, I wish you were all nearby! Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, at the farmer's market free range organic eggs go for $6-$7 a dozen. I haven't started my flock yet, so I bought 1/2 dozen from a few different places to try them. Sad to say that the quality seems worse than the organic eggs I can buy at Trader Joe's. Those "farm fresh" eggs weren't very fresh. When I cracked them open the whites were watery and runny and when I put them into a bowl of water, 2 out of 3 farms had their eggs "float" halfway. Only 1 farm had eggs that lay on the bottom. The yolks weren't even that yellow either! And this is from places that sell with pictures of chickens out in the pastures.

Now, I'm guessing that maybe the eggs are fresh but they didn't refrigerate them right away which I've read can accelerate egg aging. Either that, or they are pulling my leg. I had one guy at a stand assure me that his eggs were "all laid yesterday" which I just don't believe, given that most home farmers would probably collect over a week (which is ok by me). Btw, this guy didn't know the difference between eggs labeled "AA" and "A".

Sorry for the rant but I wish I could buy your eggs!