selling eggs, how old is fresh?

[the simple life]

I have a question for those who sell their eggs.
What is the oldest eggs you sell?
Not to sound like an idiot but I am curious to what you all consider fresh eggs.

I have a table at the farmers market for next spring and I am going to be selling my eggs then.

Obviously everyone wants the freshest eggs possible.
How long do you start saving up your eggs to start selling?
Do you get a weeks worth like you normally would do for a weekly market or do you save them up for a couple of weeks or so for opening day?

I know alot of people get their eggs at the supermarket and they are like a month or so old by then, but is it wrong to sell eggs that are a couple of weeks old if you are advertising fresh eggs at a farmer's market?

I would really appreciate advice on this.

 

[m_herrington]

good question. I am waiting to see some answers to this as well...

 

[KingsCalls]

I try and ship mine before they are 4 days old. If you figure 2 to 3 days in the mail then you are looking at 6 to 7 day old eggs. I am not sure but, to me that is old enough!

 

[the simple life]

Quote:
You can ship eggs for eating? I didn't realize that, I thought they had to be refrigerated.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I am anxious to see how others respond. I ask myself, how old of an egg will you still eat?

I have had eggs in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks from my girls and still eat them and still sell them.

 

[wegotchickens]

Kings Calls was talking about hatching eggs. That a different thing entirely.

I think you should save up a week's worth of eggs for openeing day so your product is as fresh as possible and so your customers are pleased. Also, they will see if there is a limited supply and visit your table first.

I've seen several people selling eggs at our local farmer's market and that's what they do. They bring the eggs in ice filled coolers and usually sell out within an hour.

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Quote:
It has to be. I'm sure the USDA has got some kind of guidelines or rules about shipping eggs for human consumption. And unless they were packed with dry ice or some kind of refridgerant, I dont know that I'd buy them.

And this is a rather hard question to answer. I will eat an egg out of MY OWN fridge as long as it is still good... however I dont know that I would buy eggs from SOMEONE ELSES fridge if they are more than a day or two old. In my opinion, if I wanted week old eggs, I could go get them at the corner grocery store. So if I had to buy farm fresh eggs, I would want them to be just that, farm fresh and not more than a few days old.

However, with that being said, and having my own birds, none of the above applies to me anyway! LOL

 

[wegotchickens]

I eat our eggs much older. But even at a week old these at the farmer's market are fresher than grocery store eggs.

I know we've given week-old eggs to friends and they LOVED them. Talked about how good they tasted and on and on. Our girls free-range about an hour every day, so they're getting more natural nutrition than your average industry 'cage-free' bird. I don't think that kind of goodness evaporates from the egg within a week.

 

[Katy]

As a rule I don't sell any that are older than a week. I use them a lot longer than that. I could sell eggs a month old and they'd still be a lot fresher than the grocery store eggs!!

 

[antlers]

To me fresh is 3-4 days old. But to others I think up to a week. It takes almost 2 weeks before you can hard boil them and peel them easily.