[zeeteecee]

 
any advice on the legislation and regulation regarding very small scale (about 2doz a week!) selling of our hens eggs from my door.
 
I don't really know anything about it?
thank you.
Zarla

[zeeteecee]

Ahh, Ive just been on the DirectGov website-!
should'v done that before!
 
Zarla

[little blue]

so, are you ok with it now?!   makes sense?!

[zeeteecee]

yes, think so thanks.
we have under 50 hens so there aren't too many things we cant do.
Thankyou.
 

[wellywearer]

Hi, we only sell a small surplus too - 3 or 4 doz a week, and we have found it works to offer friends or neighbours a free half doz first and say that if they like them then they can buy at £?. That way you have a regular way of shifting extra eggs and don't have to rely on passers by. Also over time we have realised (slow learners!!) that the eggs are more valuable as food for us than we can re coup via sales, so now when eggs are plentiful I bake and make quiches for the freezer. Our hens slow down (or stop!) laying in the shorter days and then its nice to bring a homemade quiche or cake out and remember why we are feeding and caring for our 'unproductive' hens in the freezing cold and dark!! I'm sure you've already worked all this out, just a thought....

[doganjo]

Raw egg whites and yolks freeze well, as do cooked egg yolks; however, you might want to think again before freezing cooked egg whites.  They go rubbery

[darkbrowneggs]

I have just added a page to my site about storing eggs which makes very interesting readin (well I think it does anyway)  It relates to a trial carried out in America in the 1970's and they found they could store eggs for absolutely ages

Check it out Linky

There's other good stuff on there about eggs and chickens

All the best
Sue

[ellisr]

I have just added a page to my site about storing eggs which makes very interesting readin (well I think it does anyway)  It relates to a trial carried out in America in the 1970's and they found they could store eggs for absolutely ages

Check it out Linky

There's other good stuff on there about eggs and chickens

All the best
Sue

That is really interesting I have always said that my eggs stored in the fridge will keep a while but OH who is a townie is always worried, he is getting better as at one time he wouldn't eat anything out of the garden and he thought I didn't notice

[zeeteecee]

Dear Wellywearer!
Thankyou, I love to pickle the eggs, or make lemon curd, both of which I can sell too!
I hate waste!
Z

[zeeteecee]

 
Ohh loving this thread!
Z

[doganjo]

Dear Wellywearer!
Thankyou, I love to pickle the eggs, or make lemon curd, both of which I can sell too!
I hate waste!
Z

Don't remember where you are ZTC but in the UK we can only sell home made produce under certain restrictions - food labelling is one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_food_labeling_regulations); food hygiene is another goverened by teh foos standards agency (http://www.food.gov.uk/)

[Newfoundland]

I put out a sign to sell duck eggs at the farm gate. Soon I got a regular stream of people wanting them, more than I could supply. I am seriously thinking of increasing my flock of ducks, as i only have 4 laying ducks. Does anyone know if the same rules apply to ducks as to hens, and I do not have to inform defra if my flock is under 50?

[SallyintNorth]

That is really interesting I have always said that my eggs stored in the fridge will keep a while but OH who is a townie is always worried, he is getting better as at one time he wouldn't eat anything out of the garden and he thought I didn't notice

It won't be the same now but a few decades ago we worked out that eggs you bought in the supermarket would have been laid six weeks earlier.  So I reckon my eggs will always be fresher than supermarket ones, even if I have just found a nest of 20 eggs I had no idea existed... 

Plus if there is any doubt at all I break them onto a saucer - if the egg is on the way past its best before date, the yolk will not stay in a nice round globule.  So that'll be one for the dogs, or cat.   

There is another test involving dropping the egg into water, it sinks or floats but I can never remember which way round it is - plus you have to make sure the water is warmer than the egg or you push any germs on the shell into the egg.  So I just use the break-onto-saucer technique (and don't use eggs I am not certain about for boiling in their shells  .)

[wellywearer]

Dear Wellywearer!
Thankyou, I love to pickle the eggs, or make lemon curd, both of which I can sell too!
I hate waste!
Z

Lemon curd...yummy... but as I am the only one in my family who thinks so and like you I hate waste, with all the cakes and quiches already being consumed its probably best for me not to go there!!

However, never underestimate the power of swapping and bartering with eggs or even their use in bribery!! (I'm thinking of neighbours who in exchange might look after the chooks for you now and again) 

[plumseverywhere]

oh the power of barter is wonderful!!  we swap eggs for gorgeous tomatoes and for bean/pea seeds with next door, we also swap plums for apples with another neighbour.
I have friends that wrap soap with me in exchange for a bit of plum wine and/or eggs and I swap bath bombs in exchange for locally milled flour. Fantastic!!
we sell our eggs at the gate, £1 for 6 and we have queues. still I have too many at the moment though (that and goats milk - far too much lol!)