[ellied]

I sell at £3 a dozen to a few clients at monthly workshops and weekly classes I run, some of whom come back to buy for their family/friends

Mostly I end up eating 2-3 a day myself, boiled at breakfast or omelette for lunch but last week a couple of regulars were away the same time and I had 4 dozen spare  Luckily the lot were sold over the weekend which was just as well as I'd have struggled to use them all up!

I have made lemon curd successfully once but I ate far too much of it  and my attempt at mayonnaise didn't work at all  so I gave up on trying to use them more creatively.

I want to get more hens but am worried how I'll cope if I end up with too many eggs, hope once I pass my massage exams I might get a few clients for that who might also buy eggs   Still looking for an affordable shed or coop to expand the flock by a few more POLs, as there was an ad in the Courier recently for several breeds I like the sound of

[chrismahon]

We would struggle to sell more eggs than we have now. It would be no good having a hybrid flock either as there are no passing tourists in Winter, they close sections of the canals for Maintainance. So our Pedigrees serve us well, stopping laying when the tourist trade stops and starting again when we need them to.

[northfifeduckling]

now this thread has found a whole new menaing today - I found a nest of 27 !!!! eggs. Now break and check every single one over the next few days.....

[PetiteGalette]

We sell to fellow Breton Dance club members or anyone who wants eggs and give some to my neighbours if their chickens aren't producing.................
We get given a lot of potatoes, dried bread, plants, fruit, straw bales; eggs are always gratefully accepted in return. (Our chooks are behind Heras barriers and electric fencing so haven't been eaten by foxes, chasse dogs or roaming dogs!)
I make loads of cakes( for MoH who is a cake-aholic) and have introduced the Bretons to carrot cake, upside down cake, chocolate & beetroot cake etc., etc. I donate a lot of cakes to organisers of Fest Noz and Fest Deiz and, because they are different, they sell quickly. I freeze a certain amount beaten with sugar for cakes during the eggless months. (Where's the cakey smiley?)
We have chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys; we raise some for meat and some to sell at Christmas. We never have too many eggs as we can give them away..............., but something always gets given in return.
It's a great system!

[Big Light]

Sounds like a ideal life - you probably don't need money in a place like that

[Haylo-peapod]

What a wonderful thread, loads of talk of yummy food and great to hear that on the whole there's a healthy demand for home grown eggs. When I had chickens a few years ago I used to sell to colleagues for £2 a dozen - sounds like I should have been charging more. Can't wait to get more chooks but first we need to sort out a safe run so Monsieur Renard doesn't get a free meal.

I was always nervous about selling my eggs, I wasn't sure if I was breaking any regulations    Perhaps one of you good people could enlighten me into what is and what isn't allowed. 

[chrismahon]

Well Haylo-peapod. From memory, having read the Practical Poultry article a few days ago and my memory not being what it was, the easiest classification to belong to is' Farm Gate ' sales. Where you have less than 50 laying hens and sell to people in your street or to passers by so don't need to comply with all the regulations.

You cannot sell for resale, so you can't supply your local shop as a 'Farm Gate' seller.
You cannot wash eggs, as that is an extra process you are not licenced for I believe. You can scrape the big bits of muck off though.
You cannot sell them catagorised as small, medium or large, as your scales are not calibrated annually to National Standards.
You cannot say they are 'free range' unless you actually comply to those regulations -15 square metres per bird available during daylight hours. Just sell them as 'fresh' otherwise.
You must mark the boxes (not all the eggs) with the 'best before date' which is 28 days after they were laid.
You cannot refrigerate the eggs, just store in a cool place.
You can't use old boxes but customers can bring their own old boxes for their own use.

Think that's it. We sell mediums to my scales in old boxes as new boxes are expensive. All our hens 'free range' half of the day, if it was all day they would fill up with rubbish and stop laying as many, as we found out. We don't mark the boxes as they are often returned for re-use and then they would have the wrong date on them so loads of crossing out. We do keep the nest boxes clean and collect two or three times a day to keep the eggs clean of dirty footprints. We don't refrigerate but store in the cellar at 12 degrees and about 70 % humidity. So I guess at some stage someone might turn up to slap our wrists for being naughty and not following all the rules.

[Daisys Mum]

I put mine in a large coolbox on the doorstep and everyone puts their money through the letterbox, I sell them at £2.20 a dozen, my son in law works in the Scottish office in Edinburgh so takes orders for his workmates and my daughter takes them in to her work too.

[MAK]

We luv reading the regulations re: poultry and pigs etc that you have in the UK. Not sure how you all cope though.

Like Petite Gallette we give our eggs away in raw form or as cake. Or neighbours feed our pigs every lunchtime, deliever cart loads of apples, spuds, pumpkins and whatever greens they do not want. So I am unsure how much our eggs are worth financially but I know their value to us being good neighbours and living a simple and happy rural life.

[Haylo-peapod]

Many thanks chrismahon for such a comprehensive explanation. Sounds as though I was flouting some rules back then, I'll know better for the future. Brilliant advice, thanks. 

[ambriel]

Our girls are producing well again after resting over the last few months, and we're expecting another half dozen in a couple of weeks.

The eggs we don't use ourselves we sell to friends and neighbours. Last year we were selling them at £1.40/half dozen but with rising feed costs I'm putting that up to £1.50 this year.

I think that's still good value as they're nice big eggs and everyone says how delicious they are.

[Mel]

We sell ours at £2.50 per dozen,if we have to put them up they may stop buying around here-tight you know though we do have a reputation for exceedingly good eggs! Our nearest shop is 2 1/2 miles away,they sell eggs at 99p half doz but they are barn eggs,around here they would drive the 5 mile round trip thinking they shall save a the extra!

[Big Light]

I think the difference is that they are orange not yellow, at least for us that seems to be the biggest comment!

Do they taste any different? I'm never entirely sure but they are probably potentially a lot fresher ie they are straight from the birds and not spending time in collecting /packing /storing / sitting on a shelf

Also they are on grass ( free range may be so may per square meter outside but have you ever seen any grass on those bits they are just dust bowls ( apart from the guy who appeared on Adam's farm the other week ( but he did have moveable sheds on open fields)).

The other thing i believe is that you eat with your eyes and if it looks good then mentally it probably tastes good also

[Big Light]

Leghorn i think your right you have to live with the locally economy - better to get something than nothing even if they are probably worth more!

[Polished Arrow]

I agree about the free range spaces having different values according to whether they are fresh grass or overworked dust or mud, Big Light.