What should I charge for eggs?

[positivepolly1892]

I live in North Carolina. I have 19 birds (15 hens, 2 bantams, 2 guineas). My chickens are various breeds (Easter eggers, midnight majesty Maran, sapphire gem, olive egger...)
They lay medium/large and sometimes extra large eggs daily. With the exception of my bantams and guineas. The bantams have recently stopped laying (not sure why, but assuming it's the change of the season). And the guineas haven't started laying yet. The are "free range". I let them roam the back yard, which is roughly about a half acre of an area they have to just be a happy chicken.
I have been giving the eggs away as to lure my neighbors (muaahaaa lol) and now they're wanting to know a price. I already said $3.50 per dozen. Is that too much or not enough?
Thank you.

 

[Kiki]

If they sell at that price then it's perfect.
I'd lower it to 3.

 

[Brady bunch]

I don’t sell my eggs so I wouldn’t know the best price but try a couple prices and see what sells best.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It is dependent on your market. Some places they sell for $66 a dozen and other places people can't get $2 a dozen. So we may not be of much help. You'll have to determine what your market will bear. As a guideline, what are eggs sold for at area grocery stores and the range from simple white cage eggs to pastured organic eggs.

 

[Shezadandy]

I live in North Carolina. I have 19 birds (15 hens, 2 bantams, 2 guineas). My chickens are various breeds (Easter eggers, midnight majesty Maran, sapphire gem, olive egger...)
They lay medium/large and sometimes extra large eggs daily. With the exception of my bantams and guineas. The bantams have recently stopped laying (not sure why, but assuming it's the change of the season). And the guineas haven't started laying yet. The are "free range". I let them roam the back yard, which is roughly about a half acre of an area they have to just be a happy chicken.
I have been giving the eggs away as to lure my neighbors (muaahaaa lol) and now they're wanting to know a price. I already said $3.50 per dozen. Is that too much or not enough?
Thank you.

Check out craigslist in your area to see what the local going rate is, for starters. You may also want to double check laws in your area - around here to sell anything by weight, you have to have a licensed scale, and there are established weight totals that a "medium" "large" etc. dozen must weigh to be sold as such.

Also, do an analysis of feed cost. It can be as simple as starting with a 50lb bag of feed and seeing how long it takes you to go through it. For the same period of time, keep track of how many eggs you're getting, so you get a quick idea of how many eggs you're getting per pound of feed- then you can calculate how much (in feed) those eggs are costing you to produce.

This time of year isn't the best for that- because we're in molting season and the daylight is shorter - but it's good to take into account what it costs to feed them year round even in the lower production months, so if you can keep track year round- maybe put a piece of paper in where you keep the feed and write the date the bag was opened opened and the date it was all gone, and have a separate list that tells you how many eggs you got each day in the kitchen. If you do that simple task for a year, you'll have a pretty good bead on your out of pocket costs.

At the end of the day, the price is what people are willing to pay, and especially in perishable goods- the eggs need to keep going out the door, so having regular customers that will come back every time they need eggs as opposed to the convenience of buying them from the store. Good job getting the neighbors hooked! That was very smart! Here's another tip- I'm guessing you ask for cartons back - pay attention to the cartons they hand you that didn't come from you originally - check out that brand in the store and see what they're spending on THOSE eggs.

 

[Left Spur]

I eat em all myself, since my coop is small, i can only raise a few.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Check out craigslist in your area to see what the local going rate is, for starters. You may also want to double check laws in your area - around here to sell anything by weight, you have to have a licensed scale, and there are established weight totals that a "medium" "large" etc. dozen must weigh to be sold as such.

Also, do an analysis of feed cost. It can be as simple as starting with a 50lb bag of feed and seeing how long it takes you to go through it. For the same period of time, keep track of how many eggs you're getting, so you get a quick idea of how many eggs you're getting per pound of feed- then you can calculate how much (in feed) those eggs are costing you to produce.

This time of year isn't the best for that- because we're in molting season and the daylight is shorter - but it's good to take into account what it costs to feed them year round even in the lower production months, so if you can keep track year round- maybe put a piece of paper in where you keep the feed and write the date the bag was opened opened and the date it was all gone, and have a separate list that tells you how many eggs you got each day in the kitchen. If you do that simple task for a year, you'll have a pretty good bead on your out of pocket costs.

At the end of the day, the price is what people are willing to pay, and especially in perishable goods- the eggs need to keep going out the door, so having regular customers that will come back every time they need eggs as opposed to the convenience of buying them from the store. Good job getting the neighbors hooked! That was very smart! Here's another tip- I'm guessing you ask for cartons back - pay attention to the cartons they hand you that didn't come from you originally - check out that brand in the store and see what they're spending on THOSE eggs.

 

[CarpCharacin]

I'd be concerned about the potential liability involved, if someone gets sick from eating one of the eggs that you've sold. I've given my eggs away, as I do not believe that the liability is there with eggs that have been given away, versus eggs that have been sold.

 

[aart]

I have been giving the eggs away as to lure my neighbors (muaahaaa lol) and now they're wanting to know a price. I already said $3.50 per dozen. Is that too much or not enough?

That's what I charge, it covers feed cost over the year(not this time of year tho).
Others here sell for less, but if you can get 3.50, take it.
If they don't want to pay that, find better friends and acquaintances

 

[Shezadandy]

I'd be concerned about the potential liability involved, if someone gets sick from eating one of the eggs that you've sold. I've given my eggs away, as I do not believe that the liability is there with eggs that have been given away, versus eggs that have been sold.

There is that - but in our case, for example - in order to maintain our farm deferral for property taxes (40% lower) - we have to sell a certain $$ per acre. So, we have to sell qualifying items or face a big tax hike.