Why are hatching eggs so expensive?

[Proverb31mama]

We just sell them as eggs.  Some people ask if they are fertile, and some won't buy when I say yes.  

Others tell me they are going to incubate, and ask me not to refrigerate them (around here I have to chill them, this is suburbia and eggs at room temp are DANGEROUS).  So I select a dozen with optimal shell quality, uniform size, naturally clean and a good range of colors unless they ask otherwise, and don't refrigerate them.  If they are general flock eggs, I don't charge more, but I generally get donations above the cost of the eggs sold for table.

That makes sense. Do you mind me asking the difference in price between your "eggs" and your "hatching eggs"?

We have a lot of farms...lol Actually I got set up with the girl through one of our local facebook poultry pages. I was actaully looking for showgirl eggs for the easter HAL but couldn't find any that were penned out for breeding and laying at that time, so I bought a dozen of her Spitzhauben eggs at $10 and 2 dozen mixes @3/dozen.  My sister also sells her mixed eggs $3-5 a dozen. (I got some beautiful crosses from her eggs too.) She only sells locally and they are considering downsizing their flock.  My sister's I had quite a few clears though, the girI I bought from for the Easter Hal I had 100% fertility.

We have a lot of farms in my area too. But I have 3 kids in the car with me most times so stopping to ask can be difficult . That is a good idea, I will have to look and see if there are any Facebook groups for my area. The closest I have found on Craigslist are 30-45 min away, and there are lots of farms within 5 min of me. But there are a lot of Amish in my area and they don't use the Internet, so maybe o will just have to stop. I noticed the neighbor around the corner has an egg sign up. Maybe I will ask them. Wow, 100% fertility is amazing! Do you think she had more roosters in her flock?

Chickens are similar to other pets in that some people will pay for the work that goes into developing a good example of the breed.  Some people will pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a dog, others are happy picking up a mutt from the pound.

I am willing to pay for the time and effort that goes into breeding a chicken that will be a good example of the breed, and someday, will charge for my time and efforts the same way.

Of course, I will also sell some eating eggs and barnyard mixes/mutt eggs, and they will be fairly cheap. Most people around here don't care what a chicken looks like, as long as it lays eggs or gets big enough to eat.  It's all good.

It all depends on what you want.  I researched and paid for my foundation stock hoping to be part of the group that saves a rare breed.

The ones that ruin it are the ones who have bad examples of the breed, hatchery birds, or mutts and charge the same prices as those who have put years and years of hard work into their stock.

Yeah, I am one of those who not only doesn't mind mutts, I prefer mutts

 

[HeritageGoose13]

It comes down to quality. You get what you pay for, and you can't get something for nothing.

 

[Ridgerunner]

One of the tricks breeders of show quality chickens use to make the feathers look healthy is to drizzle a little oil on the feed. That can make them look healthier than they really are. They also feed things like sunflower seeds high in oils. Of course one of the traits they breed for is nice feathers for the show ring but every little trick helps when you are trying to win a grand prize.

Like OGM said, I was trying to say with that is that if the price of feed to make those eggs is higher than normal, that should be expressed in the price of the eggs. To get the size so prized in show quality birds they normally feed higher protein feeds than many of us use. The higher protein normally costs more. But one of the really big costs is feeding all the chicks until they are old enough so you can tell which ones are worth breeding. You’ve spent a lot of money on feeding chickens that don’t pan out. You normally have a more expensive set-up with breeding pens and all that.

The really good breeders are not likely to recoup all their costs in the eggs, chicks, or started pairs or trios they sell. They are generally in it because they are passionate about what they are doing. It’s expensive and it is not easy. Most of them are just trying recoup some of the costs.

I can easily justify to myself much higher costs for certain breeders’ hatching eggs. Why are so many others so expensive? People that may not know what they are buying are willing to spend that much. The more they cost the more valuable they are. Right? Some people just have that mindset.

I pay a bit extra for hatching eggs, partly for the inconvenience of the person selling them even when I pick them up myself. They also have some traits I want or I would not be buying them. But paying greatly inflated prices, not for me.

 

[chiques chicks]

As for the price difference between eggs and chicks, the big reason is the seller is assuming all the risks of hatching. The cost of running an incubator isn't that much.

Average incubator pulls <100 watts when heater is on. Assuming it is on all the time:

100watts * 24 hours\day = 2400watt-hours/day

2400 watts-hours/day * 21days = 50400 watt-hours

50400watt-hours/1000= 50.4kw-hours (how we pay for electric)

50.4kw * $0.10/kwh= $5.04 per batch if it runs continuously. It's actually less than half that, since generally the incubator heater is off more than it is on.

It costs less than three bucks to run a batch through the incubator!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

For your $25/doz from a reputable source do you mean purebred breeder? Would they be more rare varieties? Or common varieties?

Yes a pure standard bred source. The variety I got is rare and why I believed it an incredible deal. Obviously there are extremely rare breeds and varieties out there, to see some of those just look at Greenfire Farms newly imported birds and eggs. Now that's a company that prices for a profit and nothing wrong with that. Many breeders are in it for the joy of husbandry and satisfaction of producing birds near SOP (no bird looks like the SOP prints but we work toward it). They don't even consider profit and are elated to cover feed costs, love of birds and spreading of their line to keep a variety sustainable. The blue variety in almost all breeds is lost and that's such a shame as it's my favorite variety. Poor breeding practices has lost the lacing in blue over the years in America. Won't be for another 4 years probably when a project flock I know of will produce proper Blue Plymouth Rocks.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Even common breeds are worth money, if they are of uncommon quality. Just thought I would point that out.

 

[chiques chicks]

That makes sense. Do you mind me asking the difference in price between your "eggs" and your "hatching eggs"?
We have a lot of farms in my area too. But I have 3 kids in the car with me most times so stopping to ask can be difficult . That is a good idea, I will have to look and see if there are any Facebook groups for my area. The closest I have found on Craigslist are 30-45 min away, and there are lots of farms within 5 min of me. But there are a lot of Amish in my area and they don't use the Internet, so maybe o will just have to stop. I noticed the neighbor around the corner has an egg sign up. Maybe I will ask them. Wow, 100% fertility is amazing! Do you think she had more roosters in her flock?
Yeah, I am one of those who not only doesn't mind mutts, I prefer mutts

There are a lot of us who don't sell eggs regularly, don't advertise, and aren't in it for profit.

Ask at the places that have eggs at the farm. Many will keep a dozen back. Since I don't sell eggs (yet) for consumption, I just give them to friends and relatives, I often have a dozen or two that haven't been refrigerated yet. If someone wants some to incubate, I can generally just grab them if they want mixed eggs.

If they want a particular breed, it may take a day or two to collect them, especially when 1/3 of my flocks are broody.

Started chicks and pullets, of course cost more, I've had to feed them and care for them.

Eta: many don't consider 30 minutes far too get eggs/ chicks/ birds. Where I live, it's that far to the mall (if I shopped at the mall). I found turkey poults 30 minutes away and felt lucky it was so close.

 

[LBKS]

Some of the cost difference can be the availability of what you are after. If I sell my Silkied Ameraucana Project eggs as eating eggs, you can bet no one will buy them for more than the going rate of table eggs, except perhaps a marginal premium for the novelty of blue eggs. But as hatching eggs, they are far more valuable since the project is still rather small and eggs to hatch from are hard enough to come by, let alone chicks or adults (and those are often pickup only). So for most people, not in driving range of existing project members, hatching eggs are the only way to go -- which just drives up the demand for shipped hatching eggs making their price that much higher.

Eggs for eating are far easier to come by than eggs of a specific breed you want in your specific area, hence the higher price since they are more 'scarce' relatively speaking.

 

[WalnutHill]

It comes down to quality. You get what you pay for, and you can't get something for nothing.

I disagree with these assumptions. You MAY get what you pay for, but you may get the same quality and pay a lot less elsewhere. And you can get something for nothing, but your expectations should be lower as well.

That makes sense. Do you mind me asking the difference in price between your "eggs" and your "hatching eggs"?
We have a lot of farms in my area too. But I have 3 kids in the car with me most times so stopping to ask can be difficult

. That is a good idea, I will have to look and see if there are any Facebook groups for my area. The closest I have found on Craigslist are 30-45 min away, and there are lots of farms within 5 min of me. But there are a lot of Amish in my area and they don't use the Internet, so maybe o will just have to stop. I noticed the neighbor around the corner has an egg sign up. Maybe I will ask them. Wow, 100% fertility is amazing! Do you think she had more roosters in her flock?
Yeah, I am one of those who not only doesn't mind mutts, I prefer mutts

The only dedicated breeder flock I currently maintain is my turkey flock. I haven't sold turkey eggs, I hatch them all, keep my project birds for selection for the breeder flock next year, retain enough to fill my Thanksgiving orders, and sell any surplus poults, especially hens, which do not reach the larger market size that my customers want.

I have more than 80 young turkeys now, and have two dozen more eggs in the incubator. From this point on I will offer turkey hatching eggs for sale, I can offer both Narragansett and Golden Narragansett.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

I guess what I mean is...

if you think you're getting a good deal and you're willing to pay x amount of money for x amount of eggs... buy them. If not, don't. Different people are willing to pay for different things. I just don't like how some people don't see the work that goes into those "expensive" hatching eggs. If you don't like someone's price, if you're willing to possibly settle for less, move on and buy elsewhere, that's my opinion.