Egg sales
Posted: Sunday 6 May, 2012
Since I've found the calculator on my iPhone and I was doing the egg money, I thought I'd do a few wee calculations.
Over the last two weeks, we've taken £141 in egg money - at £3 a dozen, that's 47 dozen or 564 eggs.
An 6-egg box is 7p, so that's a cost of £6.58, maximum, as we do re-use clean ones that are returned. At 125g pellets / day, each hen costs 34p per week in pellets to feed; for 80 hens, that's £53.20 for the fortnight. On top of that, there's mixed corn at £10 for the period; a bale of Hemcore at £12 as well.
That's a profit of £59.22 for a forthnight - a fortune, no less. If I spend an average of an hour a day on the hens - that's an hourly rate of £4.21. But what would I be doing otherwise - sitting on my bum eating cake and drinking tea 
.
We're selling, on average, 40 eggs a day which is all we produce - we're only allowed to eat the broken, dirty or pullet eggs that can't be sold 
.
We have 35 Black Rocks and 2 White Leghorns in one flock, which produces the bulk of the eggs and about 20 old birds of various ages (Warrens, Black Rocks and other odds and sods), that lay a bit but if I was really serious, I'd cull. The twenty new Rhode Rocks are starting to lay but the eggs are still too small to sell.
The 20 POL Rhode Rocks cost £280 including delivery. To buy a 40 bird house, feeders, drinkers etc and 40 pullets probably isn't far short of £1300 - or 5,200 eggs / 433 dozen or 43 weeks of your £30/week profit. I haven't costed in fencing, veterinary costs or incidentals like disinfectant, louse powder and so on.
Do you know, I kind of wish I hadn't found the calculator now
- Previous « Broody Orpington
- Next Bye, bye Leo and hello, Nemo »
Comments
vallumhousecakes
Sadly, only one of 6 possible Vorwerk chicks hatched on our first attempt. We have placed a small mirror in brooder - any suggestions for keeping it company? We already have 16, bought at POL, hens, should we vaccinate this one? We have read conflicting advice.
mistryer
Just stop.....we'd never do it if we tallied up the total cost of everything, including setup equipment etc. I think the set up cost needs to be seen as an investment that allows you to do what you want to do. As long as the food you are giving them, any replacement hens, veterinary and any other costs you incur after initial set up, are covered, and you have money left over then that is what you go on :-)
Rosemary
@mistryer I just like to know. Because we run as a business, I have to keep records - but if the capital we invested came from the bank, we'd be broke. Generally, revenue cost is what I look at too.
Rosemary
@vallumhousecakes This happened to us a few years ago and we ended up buying some day-olds from a local hatchery. Post on TAS forums and see if anyone near you has chicks - very possible at this time of year. Just don't forget to put your location in the post. Good luck!
suzanne hitchell
Hiya Rosemary. Just wanted to say hello and to let you know that your namesake is still doing great and laying eggs every day. We dont sell our eggs from 6 hens as we give excess to friends and family but the sheer joy of watching their dottiness is plenty payment. What a rewarding life to be a smallholder xx(you, not me)
gaynor morris
Hi all, re the hatching rate...i still remember my first attempt with a very old incubator; i set 40 eggs and got one chick..... not to be put off i set 40 more (our own eggs i hasten to add so i wasnt bankrupt yet....), and i got 40 chicks..trial and error and blind optimism works every time!!
Comments are now closed for this post.
linda champion
Saturday 12 May, 2012 at 2:55pm
dont forget the egg lady who collects and sells the eggs.