What are hatching eggs worth?

[kstaven]

This is a question I often see on this forum and hear comment on. Some here are very cheap for what you are getting and yet people often seem to think they are over priced.


So with this I have to ask. What are decades of work with a line worth? For example, something like a Buff Orpington that has had three generations of family working on it and a second line recently introduced that comes from a friend with 4 generations of his family that has carefully selected and worked on the line, we are dealing with decades of concentrated effort to maintain and improve the line. So would one expect eggs and chicks from these lines to be sold at the common barnyard variety prices?

 

[halo]

Well, theoretically, all chickens are decades and decades of work. Unfortunately with hatching eggs, you are dealing with a perishable product, and if they dont sell right away, they are lost, or you set them yourself. So theres a fine line between getting what you think they are worth and not selling and being stuck with a lot of eggs that you can't use.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I personally am willing to pay alittle more to someone that I know has a breed that I am looking for...A barnyard mix is a different story but if I would want those eggs I would buy them at the sellers price....I don't think anyone on here overprices their eggs...If you don't want to pay that you don't have too..People buy and sell on Ebay all the time for way more than anyone on here sales for....You also have to bring into play that the person has to spend time and money on getting packing materials together which I have found to be pricey to buy if you can't find a free source of bubble wrap and shedding papers or packing peanuts....Then there is shipping from the sellers end ......It will take me twice selling a doz each time to even think of paying for one a bag of feed for my chickens.....

Going to a Poultry Show and buying is a whole different ballgame and very pricey....Those are a more quality bird than I wouldn't be willing to pay for when I'm just looking for a backyard flock....Plus buying individual hens or roosters gets expensive...

 

[Marlinchaser]

Quote:
I agree 100% they are only worth what the buyer is willing to pay, If you put eggs on the market that come from the greatest chicken to ever lay an egg for more than anyone is willing to pay you are gonna have a lot of expensive omelets if no one buys.



Quote:
I think that depends on the show. I got a pullet dominic for $10, I bought it before judgeing and it got best in breed, so now I have a Show winner in my backyard flock, but your right there were lots of non winners being sold for 50+ and lots of those were going home too. So I guess it depends on how bad someone wants the bird or how bad the seller wants to get rid of the bird.

 

[mergmet]

what they are worth to you and what the market will bear are often different

do your research, see what others with eggs of similar quality are selling for, then market them well with photos of the birds - GOOD photos.

mine bring top dollar this way

good luck to all!

 

[speckledhen]

Well, let's start from the back end. Not even considering breeds, the seller at least should recover costs for shipping, packing materials and time spent packaging them properly, then there's the gasoline (no small thing now) to drive them to the P.O., plus some $$ for the eggs themselves. Ive spent as much as $16+ to send a box of eggs across the country in shipping alone. I sent, I think, 20 eggs or so in that box, way more than the dozen I was actually charging for. Add in my packing materials, the almost hour it took to pack that entire box properly, then I got almost nothing for the eggs by charging $25 (I think, maybe it was $20, not sure). I'm not complaining, it's just simple math. I knew how much I'd make or not make and was fine with it. I've even sent free eggs when people didn't get a hatch, even through no fault of my own.

So, it does bother me when people complain that its too much money to spend on hatching eggs, especially the Blue Orpingtons. Compare that to $5-6.50/straightrun chick plus shipping for that breed and a 25 chick minimum, if you can find a hatchery with them available.

I will never really make any money on hatching eggs. On shipping shorter distances, I may make a small amt, but I have been known to refund part of the purchase price if I can only send 11 eggs rather than a full dozen.

All that said, I am completely amazed sometimes at the price of some not-so-rare hatching eggs on ebay and eggbid.

 

[horsejody]

"What are hatching eggs worth?"

It's just ike anything else. They are worth whatever people will pay.

 

[kstaven]

Thank you all for the replies.

Now for part two.

Do you feel VERIFIABLE show wins of the parents should be factored into the equation at all?

 

[mario2girls]

i do, i would be willing to pay more for eggs coming from winning show birds,
isnt that how it works really,?

 

[K&H Chicken Farm]

I would say yes. My sons Sumarta comes from a line that was bought at $300 a bird. the new owner of the flock never sells any under $100. She also never sells culls. I have talked to her about once he gets his breeding trio what could we sell eggs for. She wants us to only sell on a auction site and to start at a min of $100. She says that these birds have a wall full of ribbins and 30 years behind them and are worth every cent. But that being said I will also offer them from time to time here for way less,becouse we love the breed and would like to see more of them out there.