Forgive the longwindness of this monologue. I am sick with the flu, can't sleep, and bored out of my gourd....
Let me begin by telling your right up front...no I wasn't thinking when I got a batch of chicks last year to keep my single lonely bantam hen company. And I blame no one but myself (and my fellow enablers here at BYC
) for becoming so intrigued with my chickens, that I added another dozen in the spring.
So now I have a motley crew of 18 happy hens, most of which know their own names, crowd at my feet, or on my feet, to be petted and fussed over, and are one of the best reasons to get up early every day.
I admit, I just didn't expect them to lay as often and continuosly as they have been. Even when everyone was complaining that their hens had stopped laying for the winter, my girls haven't slowed down for a minute
, so I'm getting an average baker's dozen eggs a day.
Even after giving a couple dozen away to neighbors each week and with what we eat, I've got at least four to five dozen left over every week.
So here's the thing, I've got a local 'organic' market that wants to sell my extra eggs, but my husband is balking at the liability risks.
Selling them at $2 through her market would be perfect to cover some feed costs.
She knows they aren't 'free-range' in the winter, they live in a huge fenced yard. (They will be 'tractoring' in the field during the better weather months). She also knows they are not fed organic feed, but that there are no pesticides or hormones used. Also that they eat fresh greens and fruits in supplement to their feed mix (a mixture I developed after significant research- omega3 diet to lower cholesterol level in eggs).
She is happy to have me label the cartons with "your farm name, when they were collected, and I guess that's it."
Of course, I don't have a farm name, these are just my happy, productive backyard girls.
Is there a license required to sell eggs? She didn't think so.
I've done searches in our past threads on this subject, and I have to agree on the 'litigious-readyness'
of our current society. And living in an area only an hour from DC that is saturated with lawyers seems to me like I'm about to take a dip in a pool filled with sleeping pihrannas.
Someone mentioned getting agricultural product insurance, but I've got a feeling that selling thirty-some dollars worth of eggs a month won't cover such a policy. As it is, it would bearly cover their upkeep!
So, short story long, so I sell or do I not sell? Am I over-worrying? Or is it just not worth the risk? I'm leaning toward the latter right now.
If I don't sell them at her market, I have toyed with the idea of hanging a "fresh eggs" sign out front, but I'm not sure the homeowner's association ....or my huband... will go for that either.
What to do.... and don't suggest: 'make scrambled eggs'!
sign me, "didn't think ahead"
Let me begin by telling your right up front...no I wasn't thinking when I got a batch of chicks last year to keep my single lonely bantam hen company. And I blame no one but myself (and my fellow enablers here at BYC


So now I have a motley crew of 18 happy hens, most of which know their own names, crowd at my feet, or on my feet, to be petted and fussed over, and are one of the best reasons to get up early every day.
I admit, I just didn't expect them to lay as often and continuosly as they have been. Even when everyone was complaining that their hens had stopped laying for the winter, my girls haven't slowed down for a minute


Even after giving a couple dozen away to neighbors each week and with what we eat, I've got at least four to five dozen left over every week.
So here's the thing, I've got a local 'organic' market that wants to sell my extra eggs, but my husband is balking at the liability risks.
Selling them at $2 through her market would be perfect to cover some feed costs.
She knows they aren't 'free-range' in the winter, they live in a huge fenced yard. (They will be 'tractoring' in the field during the better weather months). She also knows they are not fed organic feed, but that there are no pesticides or hormones used. Also that they eat fresh greens and fruits in supplement to their feed mix (a mixture I developed after significant research- omega3 diet to lower cholesterol level in eggs).
She is happy to have me label the cartons with "your farm name, when they were collected, and I guess that's it."
Of course, I don't have a farm name, these are just my happy, productive backyard girls.
Is there a license required to sell eggs? She didn't think so.

I've done searches in our past threads on this subject, and I have to agree on the 'litigious-readyness'

Someone mentioned getting agricultural product insurance, but I've got a feeling that selling thirty-some dollars worth of eggs a month won't cover such a policy. As it is, it would bearly cover their upkeep!

So, short story long, so I sell or do I not sell? Am I over-worrying? Or is it just not worth the risk? I'm leaning toward the latter right now.
If I don't sell them at her market, I have toyed with the idea of hanging a "fresh eggs" sign out front, but I'm not sure the homeowner's association ....or my huband... will go for that either.
What to do.... and don't suggest: 'make scrambled eggs'!

sign me, "didn't think ahead"
