The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Declan on July 25, 2010, 12:46:16 pm
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Are there any rules/regulations about selling eggs from the farm gate.
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we sell at the gate - we have under 50 hens, don't wash or do anything to the eggs, don't grade them and just make sure buyers know to use them within 3 weeks. I think DEFRa might have more guidelines and the above is just the basics I gleaned when we started x
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does this help?
http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/Chicken_a/Chicken_Egg_Excess/farm-gate-egg-sales.php
I have found this site useful on occasions and keep it in my favorites :)
Sam
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There are a few regs you have to abide by. One is only use new egg boxes unless the customer comes with their own to refill not to leave for you to re use. You can only advertise you are free range if you have been awarded that status , it is like saying you are organic. Eggs should be stored in a cool place as well if you follow regs so I dont know how that stands on gate sales in sunshine. As for labelling I do think there are certain things you have to put on the egg boxes even if you are an under fifty bird person like your address ,contents and dates but not got regs to hand. It does not cost anything to become registered with the egg marketing board, just a form and a few inspections. I had mine the other day, no probs.
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hi, what happins when you go over 50 birds then? I thought you could keep upto 250 without any registration with defra?
Craig
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no mate, its up to 49...
but you can register any number if you want to - we did when we had only 6, and were registering a CPH number.
how times change!!
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So is that registration to defra? but you also have to reg to sell eggs? So what determins free range status? That guy i got my first 6 birds from must have been way out of touch, or has it only just changed?
Craig
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Basically it is the Egg Marketing board who determine if you are free range and deal with regs such as stamping, boxes etc for selling. Defra deal with the flock registration which includes all poultry, turkeys, geese etc in that 50. You have to register for disease control etc. Then finally it is the council health who decide your premises are suitable for selling eggs ...storing , packaging regs are followed , hen houses clean etc. They ll merge together to make sure the job is done right. Sounds complicated but it is simple really. It is only hen eggs that have to follow regs for selling at the moment but I was told by the Egg Marketing board that all eggs will be included eventually.
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What costs are involved in these registrations? As i presume the robbin government will need to make something. I'm just asking as I do intend to have a large flock of free range, as soon as possible really. I take it the 250 was old rules.
Craig
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No costs all free . You can register with defra on the internet and just ring your local egg marketing board up, they will send you all the criterea you need to meet as regards hen housing , stamping weighing , organic, Rspca approved , it will all be in there.They will inform your local council when you are approved to what you have applied for and jobs finished!. The only expense is the equipment,egg boxes, candlers,scales, stamps ,ink etc. But you can get all that for good prices, cheapest I find is Ascot Smallholding supplies (for up here with postage anyway). You need to buy all that so they can check it out at the inspection. Only your production site number stamp that goes on the eggs needs to be bought afterwards when you are given one with the approval.Ascot personalise those as well. Good luck
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yep hermit is right it costs nothing and it really is not a big deal. if your planning to sell at farmers markets and door to door or to friends then you don't need to bother.
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I have a free range eggs sign, and my many hens are there to see ....definitely free range. I do not size them, or wash them ...seen a few wrinkled noses at that bit, must say. My customers bring back boxes, and I do reuse them, until too tatty. They have all said it would be wasteful not to reuse!! I put my name, the address of the farm where the hens are, and a best before date - 3 weeks from when laid. Some people put a "laid on" date instead.
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thanks Hermit, I'm selling to friends only at the moment, Its when I come to the expansion, Just getting my self clued up. thats the great thing bout here, someone has the answers.
Craig
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I understood that since about a year ago the 'Free Range' description can be used again without inspection for flocks of under 50. We have had a Trading Standards visit (for the whole smallholding) since we went back to having Free Range on our sign and he was perfectly happy with everything. We sell pretty much as Roxy does. You are not supposed to size eggs from small flocks into 'small', 'medium' and 'large' - we have 'Hen Eggs' and 'Bantam Eggs' and the hen eggs are a mix of sizes and colours - people love that. Also you should not wash eggs - I dust off anything but if they are mucky we keep them for ourselves and clean out the nest boxes again ::). We sell from an honesty box at the gate and people love that too for some reason - never been cheated yet :)
I was wondering about the temp in the honesty box too. Suppose I should check. It's very popular with earwigs in the summer :D
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I too worried about the heat in my large plastic egg container, but they sell pretty fast, so think we are ok on that score. What annoys me a bit, is that people sometimes go through the boxes, and mix and match till they get 6 large or whatever.......must think we are similar to pick and mix sweets maybe? Or, they decide the eggs are small and leave a £1 for a dozen, which is the bantie eggs, and in reality they have hen eggs!!!! It says on the box they are taking them from HEN EGGS FREE RANGE £2 PER DOZEN. Clear enough surely?!!
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What annoys me a bit, is that people sometimes go through the boxes, and mix and match till they get 6 large or whatever
I get this too. They pick all the larger eggs leaving the smaller. Someone then complained about the egg quality. The bigger eggs are from my ancient exbatts, they have thin weak shells and watery whites.
Or, they decide the eggs are small and leave a £1 for a dozen
Never had this but have a few times been short by 5 or 10p. But then a week or two later I find an extra 10p. I have one appreciative customer who always leave a £1 for 6, when I only charge 75p.
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Never had this but have a few times been short by 5 or 10p. But then a week or two later I find an extra 10p. I have one appreciative customer who always leave a £1 for 6, when I only charge 75p.[/quote]
Think you are very generous charging 75p for 6 eggs, I charge £1.50 and people are very grateful. :)
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I left the honesty box outside but was warned by the neighbours that some of the local 'darlings' will use them as missiles against cars so now people knock on the door if they want eggs - gives me the chance to interest them in plums and goats milk soap at the same time!
we charge £1 for 6 and have regular's who have their usual day so I know to get them ready. I think our maran's eggs are the main selling point!!
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We did get people picking around for the biggest eggs when we first started but now I put each box inside a small plastic bag, tied. This is because sometimes the rain blows into the box, but it seems to have stopped the pik 'n' mix folk.
I can't remember if I told you this before but we heard from one lady who takes several boxes for her husbands work mates in Glasgow. They love the different colours especially the ones from our blue egg layers - the Catholics pick out the greens and the Protestants take the blues (it's a football thing) :D
We have some 'little darlings' who've just moved in - I'll watch for them raiding the box for missiles.
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I stopped leaving eggs at the end of my drive as local kids were taking them and throwing them about, and some money was going missing too, so now I just have a few people that come and get eggs (the recycling lorry driver every Thursday for instance ;D ), or I deliver a dozen every now and then to some of them. It wasn't the money - for all it was - it was the waste that annoyed me.
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Put out 2 boxes of duck eggs earlier - duck eggs gone, no money - ggrrrr. could be egg thieves or kids pinching from the pot. anyway my husband said "told you so" - as he had told me this would happen!
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I dont leave any out, everyone comes to the door, easy. they just give me a quick call and come round, I cant keep up with demand! its great lol
Craig
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I've realised this week just how many I sell at school! since the kids broke up we've actually eaten our own hens eggs for the first time in ages but I have loads in the fridge now too - meringues, omelettes etc later then!! normally we sell out as quick as they are laid ::)
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I dont leave mine out either as the house is rarely empty people just come to the door, some phone first. my daughter also takes orders from the
hospital where she works. At the moment struggling to keep up with demand.
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I registered as an egg packing station because our local post office sells our eggs. I sell them a box of 6 for £1 and she sells them on at £1.45.
At the gate I sell them for £1.10. I also sell to the local Italian restaurant - he wont buy eggs anywhere else.
The palava of fulfilling the rules was annoying...mainly from Trading Standards and their rules of what I had on the label....."You must use a font size of this when referring to that, you cant say keep chilled, you must use keep refridgerated, you cant use a phot of an actual hen unless the eggs in the box were laid by that actual hen and her alone".......
Honestly!
Selling at the gate is so much easier, less time consuming and frankly more profitable. I have a sign which says "free range eggs £1.10 per 6,box contains eggs of mixed sizes".
The egg inspector was horrified when he visited. The paddock I keep my egg laying flock in " could easily contain 4 times as many!" He just couldnt understand that keeping hens isnt all about making money!
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Our 8 chickens give us enough eggs and we sell our surplus outside our front gate. I'm amazed that you can get £1.50 for half a dozen! We'd make a fortune on that! We sell ours for 80p per 1/2 dozen and often find some extra money, even though we leave change.
Its amazing what 3 ex-bats, 2 POLs and 3 layers can produce!
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£1.50 is about right for free range Shnoowie, I dont think you can buy cheap crappy battery eggs for 80p!
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I sell ours at £1:50 for 6, and quail eggs the same (smaller but more valuable!) and have no trouble getting that price
my o/h is convinced it is too much and will sell for £1 so I have to get the door first!!
I sell most at work, informally, we also have a sign at the gate
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I charge £1.20. and had my first complaint that they were to small last week, Maybe I,m wrong, But I thought It was all about the taste?
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I charge £1.20. and had my first complaint that they were to small last week, Maybe I,m wrong, But I thought It was all about the taste?
Tell them to buy from elsewhere if not happy. :P
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some people are never satisfied!! ;)
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like i said I thought it was the taste, So why you not ment to wash the eggs?
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Your not meant to wash the eggs as you will remove the thin layer that prevents bacteria entering the pores in the shell. When the hen lays an egg it is covered with a thin layer which dries within seconds (the bloom).
If your hens are laying on the floor or on dirty shavings or whatever give them a box of clean shavings to lay in. I used to use a crisp boX which could be cleaned out a couple of times and then burnt...cheap and cheerful. If they are laying in a clean area you shouldnt have to wash them.
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Thank you hennypenny. My hens are laying on clean straw, and have now stopped laying in the nest box and are laying on the main floor. I dont know the reason for this, maybe a space issue. They will be moving into a new 6x4 over the weekend so will see what that brings.
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If you are moving them anyway.......
when they leave the old house (if its going to be empty for a short while) creosote it inside and out. Perhaps you will find that you have little friends hiding and thats why they wont use the nest boxes.
I sprayed inside 2 houses yesterday....one had an existing problem,but its been reduced and I might be able to clear the infestation in a week or so. The big laying shed was alive....much worse than I thought. From the bottomof the walls up to the roof (but not in the roof) on all 4 sides. Will redoin 5 days.
Then I went to check my blue orps (who are in a ply house). Did not think there was a problem, but had a few squirts...and yes there are some there too! Will be out today,squirting and spraying....
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Im pretty sure ive no little freinds, As I have 3 sleeping in the nest boxes. I think Im just a little neat for space since I got new highlines, the new shed will sort it out. For some reason though, they are pulling the straw out the nest boxes, Just have to see what happins.
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My 4 are finally now all laying, 3 or 4 a day, so I am taking a dozen into my daughters nursery each week and the ladies there fight over them for £1.20 for 6. They like the taste - and the fact they often get eggs that are still warm, they are so fresh!
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what breed do you have Egbert?
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I have 2 ex-batts and 2 Copper Star. The ex-batt eggs are huge! :P
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double yokers? no one complains when they have a couple of them on there tray, soon whinge if there a little smaller though
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Hi,
Coming into this one late,
But just remember if you are selling eggs at the gate then you are classed in the eyes of DEFRA etc as a commercial enterprise, the rules are then different from just producing eggs for your own consumption etc.
One that springs to mind is which wormers you can use - but Im not opening up that bag of worms again ;D ;D ;D