[nic99]

I usually have a few boxes of eggs spare each week (mostly duck, a few chicken), which I attempt to sell outside my house for £1.50 for 6. I have found sales to be extremely variable but generally quite poor. I think a big factor is the weather. My house is on a popular walking route so more sun = more walkers, however even then, a lot of people walk past without even pausing to look, or they read the sign and then move on. I want to have more chickens and ducks and have been hatching more out with the expectation of being able to sell the eggs and have the birds pay for themselves, but if the eggs don't sell, I will have to stop hatching, and that will make me sad  I know it is not the eggs themselves (unless the fact they are mostly duck eggs is putting people off?), as they are a decent size, have lovely orange yolks and taste fantastic.

I was hoping for some tips to try and improve egg sales and if any of you could post up pictures of your egg sales signs/setups to give me some ideas. Mine is very basic and not all that attractive, which I think must also play a part in the poor sales. If I can make everything look a bit nicer somehow then perhaps people will be more inclined to buy them.

[chrismahon]

We don't put the price of the eggs on the signs Nic99, but our sales are very poor at the moment as well. We advertise ours as 'traditional free range eggs', since all our birds are long established Pedigrees originating in the 1800's -no hybrids. Helps with a pet Buff Orpington cock on the back door step calling out! Our signs are nothing special, the attraction is the house -1830 canalside 3 storey building. Duck eggs are of a limited market around here  and we don't sell them, but I presume you don't mix chicken and duck eggs in the boxes. We charge £1.30 for medium, £1.60 for large (which we offer only if we meet the customers and don't leave outside). We keep the place spotless, as it's the hygene aspect I think that puts people off. The signs are computer printed and them laminated in A4 sections. Hope that helps.

[Lesley Silvester]

Your house sounds lovely, Chrismahon.  Which canal is it?

[Fleecewife]

When we first started selling eggs it took a while to get people to stop to buy.  Now we have a regular set of customers and at peak times such as Easter and the summer we cannot keep up with demand.  The worst time is Jan-Mar when the hens are laying for Scotland but people don't realise that - seem to think eggs are a summer thing, but in fact they begin to tail off then.

I think you might have a point about the duck eggs.  Advertise the hen eggs as the main thing and just put out a box of duck eggs at a time.

Make a point of chatting to walkers as they pass by and while they might not buy that time, they may well next time.

Do you have an honesty box, with sufficient change?
Do you offer carrier bags (old supermarket ones) as walkers may well not have a way to carry the eggs home?

We put out only 2 or 3 boxes at a time and make a point of telling people how fresh they are. We also encourage new customers to come and see the birds and how free range they are.

I will try to get a pic of our sign - but I don't think many people actually notice it.  We take it down in the autumn when we don't get enough eggs to have a surplus to sell, but people still stop, expecting eggs and are surprised when we point out that the sign is down 

Another thing is that we sell our eggs in nice clean boxes, hand written with our name and the type of eggs plus price.  That way when they get home they have a record of where they bought the lovely brown, blue and tinted eggs and will come back again - hopefully bringing back the boxes as we re-use them if clean.

[anderso]

if you are selling eggs at the garden gate you should not put signs saying free range - you can say garden eggs, roaming hens/eggs but not free range - dont know why.. also you can not size them -

I have a big sign with eggs and the price, also I say come and ask me if in the garden (me and dog are there most days..

I put a duck egg in with the hens eggs this I have found that people then try duck eggs and ask for more, if they like them...

You just have to keep going..

[chrismahon]

Hi Anderso. You can say your eggs are free range if the hens are kept to the required criteria -15 square metres at least each with access during daylight hours. Otherwise 'fresh' is suggested. You can't size them because your scales are not regularly calibrated to National Standards.

Mad Goatwoman of Madeley, it's the Trent and Mersey.

[plumseverywhere]

We have an established batch of customers but during the Spring glut I do put a shout out on Facebook prompting some new people to try (eg. mums from school etc)

Our sign is as basic as you can get but it acts to let people know we sell them.

In the neighbouring village, there's a gorgeous set up. They have a little cart made out of pallets (I think) and he has pictures of some of his hens with their names on! There's always at least one open box with all different coloured eggs (like we sell also) and its presented on straw.
It helps that the little cart is situated right under the Maypole in that village which in itself draws tourists etc 

[Rosemary]

We have a blackboard that Happy Hippy painted for us that says "Produce for Sale. Eggs £1.50/half dozen Please leave the money in the box" We put the eggs in a cool box. We don't wash, grade or clean them - but folk can see the hens from the road.

We sell £70+ a week - all we produce. Dan's happy that we've got some pullets as he gets to eat the wee eggs that are too small for the egg boxes.

We put a card on the two Post Offices in Carnoustie. Like nic99, we're on a popular walking / cycling route but a lot of folk just come for the eggs now.

I was  speaking to a smallholder in Cambridgeshire who said she couldn't sell hers for £1/ half dozen because everyone was keeping their own hens.

Personnaly, I wouldn't buy duck eggs - just don't fancy them although I would use them for baking.

I think we're just lucky

[smallholder in the city]

Our signage is painted on the side of the stall and says Eggs £1.50 1/2 doz. Blue, Green, Pink, White & Brown

We used to just have a sign saying eggs and the price but since we added the list of colours business has really increased, especially around Easter. The pink eggs seem to be the most popular. Our chickens are hybrid coloured egg layers Cotswold Legbars and we've got 2 Blackrocks. You can see the chickens from the farm gate where the stall is which people seem to like as well.

We provide the egg boxes and at the moment we're selling two or 3 boxes a day. We have noticed that when the weather is bad business is slower even though most people come in their cars.

[Fleecewife]

As I understand it, the rules about claiming 'free range' have recently been relaxed and we can now all say that our eggs are free range, if they are.  I used to call mine 'fresh farm eggs'.   I get over the sizing issue by selling 'hen eggs' and 'bantam eggs'.

I think it is important to put the price on your sign.  If I am buying something at  the roadside, I wouldn't stop if no price was quoted.  I also wouldn't stop if I could see that I would have to go searching for someone to take my money.  I don't think the actual price you charge makes much difference to buyers, within reason.  Someone near us sells eggs for £1 per 1/2 doz, ie 50p less than ours, but many people still prefer our eggs because they know they are truly free range and without chemical contaminants.  When I do have to put up the price I agonise over it for weeks (while the sign is being repainted  ) but the customers hardly seem to notice.

[Mays]

I also sell on my hens eggs on a footpath and also notice the nice weather brings out the crowds and yesterday I sold them all as the sun shone daylong  however last weekend I sold none as it was awful weather!

Meanwhile, freinds & relatives make regular purchases, and when I have a glutt of them the dogs  get plenty scrambled eggs  I made a very eyecatching sign from http://www.thebannerhub.co.uk/ and I tie it up on the footpath on my driveway.

[nic99]

Thanks everyone, going to try out a few changes today. May get a few people walking past as it's a bank holiday, however weather is rather gloomy. I like the idea of providing carrier bags, I had not thought about the practical side of people carrying the eggs away with them. I could see it would be an issue for people with dog leads, bikes etc. I am also going to make a new sign (turns out mine was not as waterproof as i'd hoped and the ink has started to run. Not attractive!). I am also going to put up pictures of each laying bird with their name under it and then write their names on the eggs (I am able to identify who lays what). I only have 4 laying at the moment so won't be too difficult. People have to walk past the field with the birds (and pigs) to get to my house, so I thought that would be a real selling point too, but seems not. Perhaps if they can put a name to each one and identify which birds laid their eggs it will be more appealing. Interestingly, it is actually the boxes of mixed chicken & duck that sell the best. I only have 1 hen that is actually laying at the moment so I can never fill a whole box of chicken eggs. Perhaps the answer is more chickens so good job I have been hatching more after all! Those banners look really good Mays, may have to invest in one of those, it would look very professional!

[TheCaptain]

We used to stick ours out the front of the house on a table, Mrs. Captain made a lovely arrangment with some fake eggs in a little basket and some little (fake) fluffy chicks next to them. we also put change in an honesty box. All of it was stolen at some point during the second day of it being out. We then just put the eggs out. that lasted three days until someone decided to steal a box and pelt our cars with the other six.

This year I've built a nice little egg box house out of pallets (very smart it looks too, even if I do say so myself) and have only had one box stolen. I saw the make and model of the car and a description of the owner which I subsequently wrote an open letter to them asking them why they felt the need to steal eggs, were we charging too much? Did they not like our eggs? did they also sell eggs and this was a bullying tactic? etc. it was also aimed at my other regular customers to keep an eye out for said scoundrel. fingers crossed I haven't had any stolen since and supply can't keep up with demand!!!