Selling Eggs

[protodon]

Okay I'm sure this topic has come up before. In fact I think I read a bit of that thread but I'm starting a new one to see if anyone has any new ideas.

I have an abundance of eggs. Mostly chicken but also duck, quail and goose eggs on a seasonal basis. so I decided I'd like to sell some. put some ads on craigslist and after doing that for about a year I got a few hits. Well 2 hits and that is because I offered to deliver them because I was so desperate to get rid of them but not waste them. I can only eat so many!

Well hos were both one time customer and I figured maybe I should get a sign. Well I got one made. My street is pretty high traffic and the sign is very visible but it only says "fresh eggs" Now I don't know if I also should've put "for sale" or m phone number but I only have 1 phone line(cellphone) and don't want random passersby calling my phone as a joke.

I also have a listing on localharvest which pretty much got no hits until I posted the listing on craigslist and then I got a lot of hits but no buyers. I did get one buyer from my sign but he wanted eggs for hatching but only purebred and my chickens all run together so they are certainly not purebred. Also now that I am attempting to sell eggs, I immediately refrigerate them so I wouldn't really sell those for hatching.

Now I am wondering if there is anything else I can do to get a few regular customers or just have an outlet for some eggs. I think I am just too far from everything so no one will drive out to buy eggs from me. And the people driving around here probably all have their own flocks. I've looked into local farmer's markets but they all already have egg vendors.

I don't know if I should add a phone number to the sign or an email? Or maybe try something self-serve? IS that even possible with eggs? Then I debate whether or not to take the sign down when I go to work. I don't want to disappoint actual potential customers but if I use myself as an example, I usually need to pass a road sign for 2 months before I get enough courage to see what that person actually has.

Anyway if anyone has some ways of getting those eggs out to people, I'd love to hear it!

 

[cmom]

I have a sign at the end on my driveway on my street. I live out in the country. I have no problem selling my eggs. I even take people on walks to the birds yard, their coops and runs so the people can look at them. A lot of my business is word of mouth. I have a lot of regular customers. I don't have my phone number on my sign. It just say's FRESH EGGS and an arrow pointing up my drive. I have thought about putting a phone number on my sign. I plan on using my husbands cell phone as he is going to get a new one and it's a prepay phone in my name. That way the only people who call that number will be customers or potential customers.

 

[briteday]

Most of mine is word of mouth...and we can't keep up with the orders. First off, figure out the price that your market will bear. We charge $2 per dozen. And I don't worry about size (but I do sort of look in each carton to make sure the eggs aren't ALL kinda small) but I do keep my nests clean so that the eggs are clean. There are people on CL here that are selling for $3-5 per dozen...but they are always advertising. So either they have acres of chickens or they aren't getting rid of their eggs. So we stay at $2 and get rid of everything we want to.

How? Mostly people that I work with or my daughter works with. And then she occasionally eats lunch at a diner that sells eggs by the dozen out of a fridge...since lots of people in the area want eggs but don't want to pay Whole Foods Market organic prices or just have some affinity for brown eggs. They have asked my daughter for any eggs that she would like to sell. They pay her $2 per dozen and sell them for $2.75. I still think that's pretty fair. Same at the feed store, they buy eggs for $2 per dozen for re-sale. Also, neighbors who know we have chickens will come by once in a while (I think when they don't have time to run to the store while baking or something). Lastly, I've mentioned our little chicken ranch while at the doctors' and dentist's office and gotten lots of requests from there. Our dentist's office would like 4 dozen every two weeks and they pay us $3 per dozen even though we've told them $2 is fine.

And each month we print up something about eggs to include in the carton. Sometimes it's a recipe, sometimes it's info on our breeds (I copied from the Henderson's chart), sometimes it's an article from a national paper or magazine that does a story on raising chickens (Sunset had a good one a few months ago), the benefits of patured eggs vs store bought, ...

Once you get just a couple of customers it seems to blossom. People who like farm eggs have friends who like farm eggs. And then you have more orders than you can fill! Good luck!

 

[protodon]

It's nice to see how other people sell their eggs. My sign is also at the end of the driveway, then I have a gate. But from the street to the gate, it's only a car length. So I don't think people will get confused. I was thinking of having a pricelist in a mailbox for people to pickup. But that would only work if they are brave enough to pull into the driveway.

I have to pick up some hatching eggs at the PO today. Maybe I could place a little ad on their community bulletin board?

 

[iread]

A retired teacher from my school sells his to teachers. He put up a little sign in the work room and now just takes orders and drops them by the school when there are orders. I think posting a little flyer where you can rip off the numbers is a good idea. If I ever have eggs to sell, that's what I hope to do. I only have nine chickens so I may only have a few extra per week.

I have also seen them for sell at our local farmer's market and produce stands. Maybe you could check around your area for that.

Good luck!

 

[MIKE555444]

I don’t know how many eggs you have but you could make up some labels with your name and phone number on them. Take these labels and attach it to your egg cartons.

Build up a fair amount of eggs and set up a table and sell them on the weekend on your street maybe along with a yard sell. I know this would be a pain BUT I would only do it for a month or so to get your name out to locals..... then they would probably start to call you from the phone number on the carton. Some of your neighbors would likely walk over to your yard sale and open an opportunity

Just an idea

 

[kagedgoddess]

some ppl round here put up signs at the feed store. the family that sells EE eggs buys their feed from us and are always talkative, so usually every employee gets eggs from them. they bring them about every two weeks, and since we all eat them, this family tends to be the ones we employes of the co-op recommend for anything chicken. they also sell at the farmers market. last time i was at the farmers market no one was selling duck or goose eggs, maybe That could be your niche, then ppl will be able to rememeber you by that, making a better market for your chicken eggs. ... hope thats not confusing!? i need more coffee, lol.

 

[protodon]

Now I am thinking of all the other local bulletin boards around here. Actually I can only think fo two, the PO and the feed store but I will be putting info up there to see if I get anything then maybe I will resort to sitting outside in my driveway one weekend with eggs to sell.