Should I Quit the Chicken Business?

[eviehokie]

I'm new here, so please go easy on me. I've had a pretty bad turn of events here lately, and I just need someone to give me their honest opinion about whether I should call selling eggs quits. I had a regular egg customer who got her 2 dozen eggs for the week, per the usual, a couple of weeks ago. A couple of days later she called me back to tell me her husband found a chick in one of the eggs that morning. She was very sweet about it, and I apologized profusely and offered to refund her money. She said that it would not be necessary, and that was the last I heard from her for two weeks.
Now let me explain the really frustrating part. I do not have roosters in my chicken yard. Period. There is no way she had gotten a chicken egg with a chick residing in it. I knew immediately then that she must have gotten one of the duck eggs we were trying to let our Pekin hatch. I had been avoiding gathering duck eggs entirely while she was sitting, but I talked to my husband and he said he had gathered an egg from the center of the coop that he thought our Polish chicken had laid. I'm certain it was a duck egg and that is how she ended up with that awful surprise.
She called me back yesterday, the day she normally picks up her eggs, and told me she was going to drop off her cartons, but she wouldn't be ordering anymore which I completely understood and explained what happened- just so she would know we hadn't been selling her eggs that had been sitting outside for weeks on end. Again, she was very sweet, and said if it was up to her, she would order again, but she couldn't get her husband to touch another egg. Which I completely understand- I'm absolutely mortified that this happened and feel awful.
Now that I've gone through all that, I'll make my point. Should I even bother selling eggs to anyone anymore? I have worked up a good customer base, and had just put down the framework for a bigger chicken barn, but I live in a small town and everyone is pretty connected. I just don't think that once this gets around, anyone will want to buy from me anymore and then I'll be stuck with a bunch of eggs I can't sell. Any thoughts? I just need someone else's objective opinion. Is it hopeless and I should just quit while I'm ahead? Or should I go ahead with my business and hope for the best?

Ps- the ducks were moved to their own section of the farm after this fiasco. There won't be any chance that this could happen again.

 

[Tumbling K]

I think I would continue to run as you are currently set up, without expanding, then wait and see how it plays out in a couple of months.

if your egg sales haven't dropped off, or have increased, you'll have your answer......

 

[eviehokie]

I'd do just that, but I had already bought more chicks before this happened and won't have a place for them if I don't expand to a bigger building. I've considered just selling the new chicks.

 

[Tumbling K]

or sell the older birds?

 

[eviehokie]

That's probably the thing to do. It's heartbreaking because I've really loved the whole thing, but I guess all it takes is one bad egg.

 

[Pork Pie]

Do you think that it would be possible to "word out" that you have moved your ducks to prevent the issue recurring? If people are well connected, then its possible that your word may spread, although i realise that "bad news" spreads a heck of a lot quicker than "good news". If I was one your customers and heard about the incident, I would feel nothing, as I would not have ever had that experience from you, as a vendor.

Maybe you could sell the chicks off that you do not have the space for, pending the investment in the new building and see how it goes?

Guess selling "added value" egg products maybe another option (mayo, quiches)? - might sound a bit crazy, but who knows?

 

[Tumbling K]

I really don't see it as a big deal........honestly.

one of the things with eating yard eggs, vs store bought eggs.

 

[eviehokie]

I hadn't thought about selling added value products. That is a possibility. I had considered talking to a couple of my other customers who are also good friends and seeing what they would suggest. Maybe if they are still willing to buy from me after all this, it won't kill my business. I should mention my husband works in another town about 60 miles away, and many of his coworkers buy from us and have been requesting eggs, so they were the main reason we were expanding. They aren't connected to our hometown in any way so the chances of them dropping me as a supplier are slim.

 

[eviehokie]

That kind of gives me hope, Tumbling K. I was reading last night to see if anyone else had any experiences with this and even found articles about this very thing happening with store bought eggs.

 

[Pork Pie]

I really don't see it as a big deal........honestly.

one of the things with eating yard eggs, vs store bought eggs.

I honestly would agree. There's a reason why people buy your eggs, rather than those from a supermarket. It wouldn't stop me. Its a none-issue when compared to buying eggs from battery farms.

Guess you could consider putting a flyer or some such with your eggs, explaining what happened and how you have resolved the issue? It worked for Toyota when their accelerator mechanisms jammed open