Right now 1 - 3 RIR are laying. One nearly every day and the other two working up to it. Then I did some thinking and it went something like this... Thought to self: Getting an even dozen is a good idea, that way if there are any roos I will still have a good number of hens. Thought to self: They are soo cute. Thought to self after RIRs are starting to lay: hummm, Big Red is laying nearly every day for a week = 7 eggs. Cool. Next thought: ahh, finally someone else is starting to lay, probably Middle Red and now Little Red. Thought to self after doing some math: 12 birds laying nearly every day = close to a dozen eggs EVERY DAY! Ummm, what happened? What was I thinking? Will people look at me in terror as I force eggs upon them like they were zucchini? EEEK
I feel your pain. I first thought to start with 8 chickens. I bought 15 because I was told to allow a 50% mortality rate in the chicks. Plus there was a huge price break at 15. The hatchery sent 17. Every one of those little suckers has survived. And two of them turned into roosters. Sooooo, 15 hens will eventually be popping out eggs daily. I figure I'll get about a dozen a day. Thankfully some of the 15 are banties and others are poor layers. Even so I am going to be covered up in eggs!!!! I'm hoping to sell some to cover the feed costs of the girls. The sad thing is, I've been thumbing through the hatchery catalogue eyeing some new breeds to add to the flock. Sigh....
LOL, I thought the same thing about mine and I only have 6. I won't have to force mine on anyone though... plenty of people have already said they want any extras I have.
The people in charge of my local CSA ask me every week if I have any extra eggs (and I only started getting eggs recently)! They just know that I have chickens. That might be one venue for excess eggs. You can help fill some baskets, and they could maybe toss you some extra stuff in your basket. Win-win!
Umm, what is a CSA? And do I have one? I do have some folks who say they want to buy eggs from me once I have them. But will they still want them in 4 months? 6 months? .... LOL
I work for a non-profit that has a food pantry, and we have farmers (and bountiful gardeners) that donate stuff so that something other than canned tuna and pasta goes out to the recipients. I'm really keen on the idea that we can donate anything extra, even if it's just a few. It may not be cost-effective, as we do pay some to feed the little buggers, but I see mine as pets and love the idea of feeding someone else, too. If only all my other pets could feed someone!
Quote:Community Supported Agriculture--basically a "subscription" service for people without gardens to get quality, locally-grown produce directly from farmers, usually a basket of goods once a week or once a month. To find out if there's one in your area, check www.localharvest.org. I'd guess that, after 4-6 months, you'd have MORE people wanting your eggs, due to word-of-mouth. Farmer's markets seem to be a really good resource...whenever the farmers I buy produce from find out I have chickens, they ask if I have eggs, because the people who buy their produce tend to ask about farm-fresh eggs, and they want someone to send these people to.
So, NinjaPoodle, can you sell to the vendors at a farmer's market and they can sell lthe eggs? We have a local farmer;s market and I have never seen any eggs there. Thanks for the explination of CSAs. I have a family with 7 children nearby and excellent kids. I was definitely thinking that they might appreciate a dozen eggs now and then.
Quote:Oh, you can bet they would! What a nice idea. I haven't checked into having eggs sold directly from booths at the market, but I could set up my own booth at my little town's market for $10 if I wanted to. What the CSA folks have asked me about was including my eggs in their monthly baskets--apparently they can't produce enough to provide eggs to everyone. I think they keep a flock of 70 hens.