Why are hatching eggs so expensive?

[WalnutHill]

I have two roosters and 175 or so hens in my laying flock. If I want good hatching eggs, I have to split the pen, put ten or a dozen of the best girls with the roo for several weeks, do fertility checks on the eggs until they are consistently fertile, and then I can sell my backyard chicken eggs. That means separate water, separate feed, separate roosts, separate nest boxes and the whole deal for as long as I want to collect reliably fertile eggs. For that I charge more.

Or I could leave two roos with the 175 hens, and sell the eggs as table eggs. People do buy them for hatching, and I've hatched many of them. Fertility is lower but still pretty good...those guys get around...but I can't control the pairings if both roos are in with all the hens. I cannot selectively breed anything in that environment and I may be propagating birds that I would cull if showing or breeding by design, but they make fine table egg layers.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I don't understand thinking that paying more than .25 per egg is excessive - considering most "eating eggs" sell for $3-5 a dozen, to expect to pay just that, or less, for hatching eggs is rather interesting thinking.

Because that's what they go for in my area. $3-$5 is going rate for barnyard mixes. We are rural and have so many farmers and BYCers, that barnyard mixes are not hard to come by. Heck, the one girl I bought from has so many eggs because her hobby turned into 145 chickens that it's better to make some money off them than toss them. The thing with barnyard mixes is one, you don't know what you are going to get, wether they are going to be any good at laying, if the crosses are going to be asthetically pleasing, if they are going to be a good weight grown. There are so many unknowns, add that to the possibility that they'll make it through incubation and actually hatch and there's another factor. So no, I don't think $10 is a good price for mixes. I wouldn't pay $10 for eggs that I don't even know what I am getting. I love barnyard mixes and I like the variety they produce, I just wouldn't pay that much for the uncertainty. I would never charge that much either.

 

[Proverb31mama]

I don't understand thinking that paying more than .25 per egg is excessive - considering most "eating eggs" sell for $3-5 a dozen, to expect to pay just that, or less, for hatching eggs is rather interesting thinking.

In my area eggs run $2-3/doz from a farm

 

[AmyLynn2374]

In my area eggs run $2-3/doz from a farm

They run $1.50-3/doz here. Wouldn't be surprised to start seeing them go up a bit though as the AI starts affecting the store eggs and sending the cost up.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Quality duck eggs can be as much as 6-8 dollars for a dozen, where I live.

And those are just for eating.

 

[Proverb31mama]

Because that's what they go for in my area.  $3-$5 is going rate for barnyard mixes. We are rural and have so many farmers and BYCers, that barnyard mixes are not hard to come by. Heck, the one girl I bought from has so many eggs because her hobby turned into 145 chickens that it's better to make some money off them than toss them.  The thing with barnyard mixes is one, you don't know what you are going to get, wether they are going to be any good at laying, if the crosses are going to be asthetically pleasing, if they are going to be a good weight grown. There are so many unknowns, add that to the possibility that they'll make it through incubation and actually hatch and there's another factor. So no, I don't think $10 is a good price for mixes. I wouldn't pay $10 for eggs that I don't even know what I am getting. I love barnyard mixes and I like the variety they produce, I just wouldn't pay that much for the uncertainty. I would never charge that much either.

I agree, for me the uncertainty lowers the price value.

 

[Proverb31mama]

I have two roosters and 175 or so hens in my laying flock.  If I want good hatching eggs, I have to split the pen, put ten or a dozen of the best girls with the roo for several weeks, do fertility checks on the eggs until they are consistently fertile, and then I can sell my backyard chicken eggs.  That means separate water, separate feed, separate roosts, separate nest boxes and the whole deal for as long as I want to collect reliably fertile eggs.  For that I charge more.

Or I could leave two roos with the 175 hens, and sell the eggs as table eggs.  People do buy them for hatching, and I've hatched many of them.  Fertility is lower but still pretty good...those guys get around...but I can't control the pairings if both roos are in with all the hens.  I cannot selectively breed anything in that environment and I may be propagating birds that I would cull if showing or breeding by design, but they make fine table egg layers.

I am curious do you sell the eggs when you have them all together as fertile eggs or just farm fresh eggs? I assume when you separate them you call them hatching eggs? I am trying to figure out the terminology

 

[HeritageGoose13]

The thing with barnyard mixes is one, you don't know what you are going to get, wether they are going to be any good at laying, if the crosses are going to be asthetically pleasing, if they are going to be a good weight grown. There are so many unknowns, add that to the possibility that they'll make it through incubation and actually hatch and there's another factor. So no, I don't think $10 is a good price for mixes. I wouldn't pay $10 for eggs that I don't even know what I am getting. I love barnyard mixes and I like the variety they produce, I just wouldn't pay that much for the uncertainty. I would never charge that much either.

But you don't know any of that with chicks either. Even adults that look nice may die not produce eggs or nice offspring. I don't understand why people think eggs are any different. Hatching eggs are just very young chickens after all.

There is no "certainty" when you're dealing with live animals, adult or unhatched. It's an illusion.

You say you would never charge that much- how much would you charge?

 

[Proverb31mama]

The eggs bought and sold for eating are "one time use" - the hatching eggs are potential entire birds being bought and sold.   With hatching eggs you aren't buying eggs, you are buying (with a little luck) birds.  They are "worth" what someone is willing to pay.

But fertile eggs have the potential to be chickens and are generally sold at the same price as infertile eggs. For some reason hatching eggs are more expensive than fertile eggs?

Well I generally price any I have at 1/2 price I'd charge for a chick, duckling, gosling, whatever. I plan on selling my goslings at $10 a piece as week olds so I sell the fertile eggs for $3-$5 depending on how many is being bought. A lot of the price depends on the rarity and value of parent stock. If you have show quality parents the odds are good the possible offspring will be show quality as well. People who want to charge as much as a live bird perplex me as well. I can buy new born poults of the breed I want for $15-$20  but I saw someone selling hatching eggs on ebay 6 for $50. The odds of hatching even 3 is ridiculously low so not worth the value to me.

Your kind of pricing makes sense to me

I've often thought the same thing. I can understand paying a little more for pure bred and your rarer breeds of birds, but some people go way overboard. I wouldn't pay more than $3 a dozen for barnyard mix. I paid $10 for my Spitzhaubens, but she also threw in extras as well. I really want showgirls, but have a hard time finding them locally and I just can't see paying $20-$30 for a half (or even a whole) dozen, then add shipping (and packaging) for another $20 to have MAYBE 2 or 3 eggs hatch.

I agree.

It would be nice to pay $3 and get barnyard mix eggs! How did you find those? I am thinking about just stopping at every house that has a fresh eggs sign and asking if their eggs are fertile. Is that how you did it? I am just a little worried about doing that because of the possibility of bringing sickness to my chicken. Should I be worried about that?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

But you don't know any of that with chicks either. Even adults that look nice may die not produce eggs or nice offspring. I don't understand why people think eggs are any different. Hatching eggs are just very young chickens after all.

There is no "certainty" when you're dealing with live animals, adult or unhatched. It's an illusion.

You say you would never charge that much- how much would you charge?

What I would pay. $3-5

The difference is when you are buying a pure bred you have an idea of breed stats. Yes, they may or may not be as good as the parents, but you have something to go by through the average of the breed and the parentage. Pulling eggs out of a mixed flock you have none of that, most of the time you don't even know who or what you are getting on an average.