The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: minidax on April 21, 2009, 12:36:35 pm
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Interested in what we should be charging for half a dozen eggs?
Thank you
:chook:
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Mine are kept in a fenced run so aren't truly free range - I charge £1 per half dozen (actually I ask for contributions to their food bill of anything over 70p and usually get £1), but Rosemary told me the other day that a few others charge £1.50. In economics it is a well known principle that you should charge high then you can lower it whilst charging low to begin with means customers are unhappy about increases. So I think I should have done more market research as you are doing! lol
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I charge £1 per 1/2 doz. I could chatge a bit more, but am selling enough to cover feed.
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I agree - it's less than the best supermarket eggs so a reasonable sum I feel.
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How much would 6 duck eggs sell for? Do you think if I was to put a sign up in the hotel selling my duck eggs I would get into any trouble with the authorities????
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i didn't think there were any restrictions in selling your eggs unless you were grading them for size and claiming they were free range/organic
also, if you are buying them in to sell them, then it might be a bit more complicated.
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We sell our eggs at £1.50 per half dozen and never seem to have enough eggs to cope with the demand. We arrived at our figure by not only costing feed and bedding but also the capital cost of housing,fencing, buying birds etc. If we were to factor in time as well they would actually need to be considerably more but we have approached it as a hobby which more or less pays for itself as opposed to a profitable business.
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The duck eggs are exempt from the packing regs with hen eggs. same goes for geese quail turkeys and other minority species.. you will not get in trouble by selling them. Have a look at the main retailers prices. £1.80 per six. local farmers about £1.50 but these have the shop markup.
if you want to sell your hens eggs at the gate or to friends or door to door you don't need to worry. if you were going to sell in shops/schools or other places then you would need to be registered with the egg folks. you would need to be registered as a production unit and as a packing centre. Have a word with the animal health people at your local council ours are very friendly. If you have more than 200 birds then i think these rules apply even if your just selling at the door. Not forgetting to be registered with defra as a bird keeper. Again not a big deal. But useful in case of a decease outbreak you will be informed.
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Thanks for all the advice. I have now ordered egg boxes off e bay and I will start trying to sell my duck eggs as soon as they arrive. I am friendly with our local trading standards lady so have e mailed her and asked her opinion.
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think i need to review my prices only charging 60p 1/2 dozen my chicken eggs ::)
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think what you put into the little feathered things. they are premium quality egg layers. if the general public want to spend a £ on six battery eggs. So £1-1.50 is a very reasonable price for your well loved chucks eggs. If we let people think we are selling cheap eggs they will think that the eggs are poor to. But its upto you to decised. But when covering your costs its more than just feed its housing/ replacements/vets ect. We worked out we were breaking even at about 80p per six.
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I charge £1.50 per half dozen as does my chum, Carol. We sell them no problem. I used to give them away but they're an expensive hobby if you do that - and folk are happy to pay for a premium product. Why be shy about it?
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Hello,
We sell chicken & duck eggs at £1 per half dozen. Indeed they're too cheap but it gets people in to shop where they often buy our pork & beef.
Cheers
Gavin
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Thanks for all the advice. I have now ordered egg boxes off e bay and I will start trying to sell my duck eggs as soon as they arrive. I am friendly with our local trading standards lady so have e mailed her and asked her opinion.
I sell my duck eggs for the same price - £1 per 6.
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Thank you all for your replies.
L
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dont forget to add the cost of the box on. your lucky on the mainland we have very high carrage charges.
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We charge £1.10p for 6 and they sell very well. We only sell them at the gate at weekends and when we have more than our own needs. We also have a notice asking for any spare egg boxes and we have been given loads - some of them new ones. It doesn't cover the cost of equipment etc. but pays for their feed.
best of luck to you.
Brenda
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wow! £1-50 for half a dozen. no wonder I can't keep pace with demand. I only charge 60p and I have people waiting. i think it's time I put my prices up.
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your charging 20p cheaper than battery eggs. But if your happy that what matters. The hens that we have are happy compared to those in large commercial factories. Whats sad is that my daughter home education teacher believes that batery hens are happy in their cages. The daughter offered to bring in some for free but the woman was not intrested.
the only drawback with charging at low prices is that folks will not be happy when you increase your price.
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£1.40 per half dozen is oor price. Cheaper than the superthiefs but it covers feed etc. & we always ask for boxes to be returned. Only really sell to friends/family/work folks so not a problem getting the boxes back.
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I charge £1.50 per box, and I sell out at around 1000-1200 boxes per month. We sell all we can produce.
If you charge considerably less than the prevailing market price, people do not view you as a "proper" producer and will think that your product is somehow "less" than that available in the shops. Not a fair assumption, but what if someone offered you a new car, or coat or brand new laptop at less than half the retail price- honest, it is brand new- wouldn't you wonder if there was something amiss?
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My boxes arrived from E Bay this morning so I am now selling the ducks eggs from today. They are £1.50 for 6 and I have put a lebel on the box asking for the bpx to be returned, if possible as this will keep costs down. I got 10 eggs this morning and only have 7 girls so well done to them.
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dont forget the sell by date is three weeks after they are laid use by 4 weeks
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Ok thanks for that info.
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Put a small sign advertising the eggs on the bar and I have sold my first 1/2 dozen, much excitement!
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You won't be able to keep up, James. I may need to get more ducks! and Hens! :chook: :&>
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It feels great, James, doesn't it! Do your girls do a lot of double lays :&>? I think I only had that twice in the whole year and am still not sure if I had just overlooked them the previous day, lol.
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They must do, today got 8 which is one per girl. Yesterday I sold 8 lots of 6 eggs, so only have 12 to sell today!
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I write the 'lay' date on each egg in pencil after washing in running water if required, and al most all my boxes come back. Plus I put a request on free-cycle and got inundated - have enough boxes to last a while now. No duck eggs this morning fro some reason, but yesterday morning two had flown over the run gate and Allez was chasing after them trying to retrieve them. He sat to the whistle and I picked them up and put them back in but they might have had a scare.
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sorry to say this washing the egg reduces them to class b. you cant sell class b eggs to the public. if the egg is mucky try rubbing it off . if they are very dirty reserve for your own use. the odd bit of muck adds to the country freshness anyway.
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You won't be able to keep up, James. I may need to get more ducks! and Hens! :chook: :&>
You are so right, I sold every egg from last week this weekend and todays have all gone too! And to think I used to just give them away!!! I am recording what money is made, just out of interest and I hope that the Aylesbury eggs I have and that are due to hatch on Wednesday will all be girls too. :&>
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We'll come by to listen to your incubator tomorrow - I don't need to take any eggs this week as I'll manage to give this person an extra box and you are doing great without help! They are a delicacy - saw them poached on Masterchef - your customers obviously know something good when they see it! And it is a great feeling that they earn their keep. I also keep their money separate now and as a treat from the "profit" I bought them a huge bag of oystershell grit lol.
re washing them - good that ducks are a minority lol, in all that time I can count the clean eggs on one hand, they are messy birds.
:&> :&> :&> :&>
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Kerstin that's fine. See you tomorrow.
James
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sorry thought you were talking about hen eggs. not sure what the rules about cleaning duck eggs are. Ive tried checking but its not very clear. As duck eggs are more porous than hens there is a risk of allowing germs to enter the egg.
have you tried goose eggs had the first one about a month ago made lovely quiche
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sorry to say this washing the egg reduces them to class b. you cant sell class b eggs to the public. if the egg is mucky try rubbing it off . if they are very dirty reserve for your own use. the odd bit of muck adds to the country freshness anyway.
If your flock is over 350 birds, and you are selling your eggs as graded eggs, then this is true.
On the other hand (or wing) if you have a small flock of less than 350 birds, and if you sell your eggs at the farm gate, door to door, or at a farmers market, then you can sell them as ungraded in which case washing is tolerated. You do not have to write "ungraded" on the box, you don't have to stamp the eggs. You must have a registered producer number, and your contact details, storage information and an explanation of the egg codes must be displayed at the point of sale. You cannot sell ungraded eggs in a shop, or to the restuarant trade.
On the other other hand(or wing) if you have a very small flock of less than 50 birds, (and I suspect that covers quite a lot of people hereabouts) then the egg marketing board cannot see you as you are too small. You are thought of as a hobbyist, and you can sell your surplus eggs to friends, neighbours etc. You don't even need a producer number.
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On the other other hand(or wing) if you have a very small flock of less than 50 birds, (and I suspect that covers quite a lot of people hereabouts) then the egg marketing board cannot see you as you are too small. You are thought of as a hobbyist, and you can sell your surplus eggs to friends, neighbours etc. You don't even need a producer number.
That's me - 14 birds altogether - not a producer, not selling as such, I ask for a contribution to their feed. They are my pets first and foremost, my friends and neighbours come to see them, give me raw vegetable waste and bread for them, then give me a donation to their pellets. I give them eggs as gifts. There's always a way round.(or ovoid ;) ;D)
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We started off selling our eggs at 50p 1/2 dozen and could not keep up, we have now raised it to 80p and still demand is high, our ducks eggs sell for 1.20 1/2dozen although the market for them is slightly less, we always clean the duck eggs as soon as they are picked up, as you say they are porous and they are very messy birds :&>
This is a great site to join up with likeminded people and get and hear about thier experiences! ;D
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Just for Info, I am selling my Duck Eggs at £1.50 for 6 but the amount of people that are telling me that is CHEAP!! I have no intentions of raising the price but interesting when quite a few people are saying it. :&>
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Because there is less of a market I put one or two duck eggs in with 4 or 5 hens eggs and 'sell' them as mixed or hens only at £1 per 6. A lot of folk have come back to me and said how lovely the duck eggs were as they'd never tried them before - didn't like the thought (goodness knows why not!), and will now have them regularly. Most people just treat them the same but they are much better for baking than hens eggs. Sponges rise better and are a richer colour, fruit cakes are even fruitier made with duck eggs. I've never tried goose eggs, although I have thought of having a couple of geese except for the noise and aggression element. (they might attack my doggie woggies >:(
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My 2 geese are fearless Annie, although they never attack us they are extremely intimidating with the hissing and low necks as they run at you. I find it funny and know they won't touch me but it would scare the sh** out of some people.
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you can't make meringues with duckies' eggs! The result of her only attempt reduced one of my girls to tears! And you are not supposed to eat them uncooked, like in mousses or tiramisu (the shell apparently is more porous for bacteria and as we all know, they are messy!). Other than swapping the occasional box for hens' for meringues I'm more than happy with the ducks' eggs. The cheapest I've seen them locally, James, is £ 1.30 for 6 in the Cupar farm shop. I think £ 1.50 is a good but fair price. :&>
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I sell my eggs at £1 for 6.
By the way Jameslindsay, geese are the only animals I'm scared of! I've worked with dangerous dogs, emptied abandoned houses of terrified vicious cats. Cared for 15ft Burmese Pythons, gibbons, monkeys and all sorts, but geese give me the total heebie geebies after being chased and pecked as a 5 year old!!
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Gosh, what a co-incidence - so was I! I used to go with my Granda Donald delivering ice cream to hotels - Donalds Ice Cream from Aberdeen if anyone remembers it. One hotel at Grantown had a goose called Sarah and I was happily playing in the back yard waiting for Granda to come back to the car when this THING came out of nowhere and started to chase and bite me - well, I think the whole of Grantown on Spey came to see with the noise I made. Granda and the hotel owner were just stood there laughing while I screamed and started chasing the goose back to its pen. It did actually turn and run away from me and to be honest my Mum said there wasn't a mark on me so Sarah couldn't have been pecking me very hard. The strangest thing is when my daughter was born I had absolutely no recollection of this incident and called her - wait for it ......... Sarah! Weird!
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I know the geese come over as being "wee monkeys" but I love them, I think they are great fun to watch and keep. They think they own this place and ofcourse the river is their property too. Luckily they allow my ducks to use the river without any fighting, I also like the noise that they make.
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Today I have started selling the chickens eggs too. I only have 4 :chook: but they are producing 1 each, each day and we are not using as quick as they are producing. Better to let others get the goodness than allow them to go to waste. I never got them with the intentions to sell their eggs but why not, they are totally free range??