Selling eggs for incubation. Questions

[chickmomma03]

I don't know what forum to put this in. I had someone who asked if my eggs were fertile or only for eating. I do have a cockerel and he is mating the girls (well, I'm not sure if he's mating ALL but I know he's mating the ones who are laying). Now, my pullets are still fairly young 6 1/2mos (4 of them are laying) and the younger are 5mos 1wk (only one of the younger is laying). I only have 1 that breeds pure (buff orpington), the others would be mix (golden sex link, cochin, leghorn, easter eggers). I can tell whose eggs belong to who so if I were pulling BO eggs to sell what is a fair price per egg? And if I were to pull mix eggs what is a fair price per egg? And price per dozen for pure vs mix?

Another question. I know they can't be stored in the fridge, so on the counter in a carton, big side up, in an egg carton, does that work? Do you rinse if there is any poop on it? I know you don't want to scrub away the protective coating, but I also read soiled eggs shouldn't go into incubation being soiled.

If it took me several days to collect, how many days do I have until they'd be considered "too old" for incubation? Is it 1wk or 2wks for chicken eggs?

I never really considered selling for incubation because I worry about "what if some aren't fertile" in the grouping. I don't want to frustrate someone, but there are a lot of other variables during incubation too (and I'm new to incubating too, so I don't have a bunch of tips/tricks) aside from the fertility of the egg (proper temps, humidity, storing, cleaning, etc that I'm reading about). I don't really know that I can "offer" any sort of guarantee for fertility either though. Other than the fact that when I have cracked eggs for cooking I can tell which are and aren't fertile (which does no good for incubation), out of 8 eggs I cracked for cooking today (french toast) 6 were fertile (obvious bullseye), 2 didn't look fertile (didn't see bullseye, just solid white circle, but it was pretty big, not small so not 100% sure).

I collect my eggs every day. I stick them in the fridge right away, since I'm not planning for incubation myself until close to spring if I incubate at all this year (still have a lot to learn I think, and I built an incubator, but I think it needs some work still).

 

[Mrs. K]

There is a page on here that deals with selling hatching eggs, and live chicks. I would go there and see what the going price is. I have never played this game, but shipping is also fraught with variables, especially this time of year. How you wrap them is important, but that page can give you some hints.

I think that often times people send a couple extra, and after that it is good luck buyer. Just too many things beyond your control.

I have seen (and drooled over) some very nice chickens or eggs on that page, but have not tried it. When you do start using an incubator, you can get a better idea what your success rate is, but for anyone else, I think I would make it quite clear that it was their responsibility.

Mrs K

 

[chickmomma03]

Not shipping, it would be a local pickup. I don't want to struggle with packing securely and hoping usps doesn't break them. I tried to check through the sell forum, but it's a LOT to sort through, and the only ones I was finding were for purebred.

 

[aart]

The best price for anything is..... the price agrees upon buy the seller and buyer.
It always depends on the market area you are targeting and what people there are willing to spend on whatever you have for sale.
There are no pat answers for your questions, you will have to sort thru a LOT to gather info.

Hatching eggs are usually sold with no guarantee of hatching, because of the incubation variables.
Fertile egg less than a week old are best, the viability may continue to decrease the longer they are stored.
Tho I once had a broody hatch an egg 14 days old that had been in the fridge for 4-5 days.


Using the advanced search here can hone down the amount to sort thru.

Advanced search>titles only>Selling hatching eggs

Advanced search>titles only>Cleaning hatching eggs

 

[donrae]

I'll go at it from the other end, that of the buyer.

Were I buying your eggs, I'd really only want to pay maybe $1 per egg, mixed or pure bred. Your birds are (I'm guessing ) hatchery stock, so they're not SOP or something really rare or unusual. If I buy a dozen eggs from you, say I have an 80% hatch rate (and that's pretty optimistic), say I get lucky and 5 of those are pullets. Now I'm in at $2.5 a chick, that's basically the price of buying a sexed pullet at the feed store. In my experience, though, with a dozen eggs you're more likely to wind up with 3 viable pullets....and cockerels you have to deal with.

I also heartily agree with aart about the price being whatever the two of you decide on. I'm a big fan of bartering! Ask the person what their hobby is, and you can swap hobbies. Do they bake bread, start seedlings, hunt or fish, crochet beanies, make jam, etc? That's the route I prefer to go.

Or, I've given eggs to folks with a broody hen and just asked for half the chicks back around 6 weeks, or whenever she's done brooding. But that assumes you want more chicks

 

[lazy gardener]

I like Donrae's response. Much more value from both ends of the barter system. I especially like the idea of getting a weaned pullet or two back from the deal!

 

[chickmomma03]

Quote: I do eventually want more chicks, but I'm going after a specific breed before I hatch any more of mine.

 

[Mrs. K]

I love the idea of getting a few back, but to be honest, once I had a broody hen. And after making several calls looking for eggs, I called a woman I had never met, and said, "I heard you were a chicken lady too, would you have any fertilized eggs?" "She said yes," and when I went to get them, she had a mixed batch, and GAVE me two dozen. Luckily I had a BO go broody the next day.

I got some good chickens out of that. A couple of EE that laid my first green and blue eggs.

If you can get some money, go ahead. But it is a fun hobby, and if you let her have some, well that makes it real fun!

Mrs K

 

[lazy gardener]

Mrs K: Your post gave me pause for thought regarding trading hatching eggs for a couple of weaned pullets: IN a closed flock situation, the return of a few chicks from the hatch might be problematic! Guess if faced with that situation, and I wanted a return, I'd ask for a loaf of warm banana bread!