[hughesy]

I don't think there are any regs you need to worry about as far as chickens are concerned. There aren't any tagging issues or movement licences involved like there are for other livestock. If you have a lot of birds the EHO might ask what you do to dispose of dead stock so it might pay to have an answer ready that complies with the law. Let's face it if you've got 70 odd birds and they lay well you can only shift about five dozen eggs a day. They're much more interested in bigger operations where a serious threat to human health or a major disease outbreak among the birds could occur.
Cleaning eggs is another question. Dunno if you're supposed to do that according to the rules.

[hughesy]

I've just been searching defra for egg selling and producing guidelines. It's an absolute quagmire of contradictions and gobbledeegook. I doubt very much if even the EHOs or trading standards people properly know the rules.

[mwncigirl]

I've just been searching defra for egg selling and producing guidelines. It's an absolute quagmire of contradictions and gobbledeegook. I doubt very much if even the EHOs or trading standards people properly know the rules.

I agree! I've just been looking re: disposal of fallen stock....... According to www.gov.uk/dealing-with-animal-by-products:

[/size]You must not bury or burn fallen stock in the open, other than in exceptional circumstances - eg the outbreak of a notifiable disease - as this risks spreading disease through groundwater or air pollution.[/color][/size]When you find fallen stock, you should arrange for it to go to an approved:[/color][/i]
[/size][/color]

• knacker

• hunt kennel

• incinerator

• renderer

• maggot farm

• [/size]Anyone know of a local maggot farm?! [/color]

[hughesy]

I don't know of any maggot farms but I know of a few farms with maggots!

[mwncigirl]

But what do you do with the maggots when they die?! 

[edessex]

I burn all dead in an incinerator, simple old metal water tank.

[ellied]

I was told you shouldn't wash eggs prior to sale as it reduced the natural protection of the shell and it would be liable to a. go off quicker and b. become contaminated if you did 

Some folk prefer clean eggs and others are happy to see a sawdusty or muddy egg as they know that is natural for hens not living in cages with eggs rolling away down the wire.  Any that are less attractive than that, I use myself which given I haven't enough regular clients for the eggs I'm getting (following expansion) means quite a few..

Aren't supermarket eggs given a sell by of 28 days rather than 21?  Or have I misread and the extra week is the use by?  I haven't bought eggs in a few years for obvious reasons so I may have misinformed my clients but I said to use within 28 days so only partly..

And I didn't know about used egg boxes - is that true that you HAVE to buy and use new ones for selling?  Many of my customers bring their boxes back and I can't say I've refilled the same boxes exactly for each one..  By the time I add purchase of new boxes I'd be struggling to make a profit, given the cost of feed has gone up and there were initial start up costs and some replacement stuff coming up now plus the odd vet item..  I was wondering about investing in some labels to make the reused boxes more attractive at carboot sales in spring/summer, but I hadn't expected to buy boxes every time too 

[taz08]

why dont you call the egg marketing board  they are always happy to help even if the questions  you might think are stupid,, i know from experiance  lol

[hughesy]

Food safety is all about controlling hazards and preventing contamination. If you re use old egg boxes you have no control. The boxes could be carrying salmonella, listeria, e-coli, or any other nasties. These are then transferred to your eggs. Yes, the eggs themselves could already be carrying those things but there lies the reason for not washing them. The act of washing could cause pathogens to pass through the porous shell into the egg itself which if not effectively cooked could cause an outbreak of food poisoning. If someone got a serious case of food poisoning from eating your eggs you wouldn't be getting many customers after that would you? A pack of egg boxes looks very cheap compared to the fines and compensation you could have to find if something went wrong.

[edessex]

What are egg washers for then?

Would selling as a business make me more liable than selling privately?

[hughesy]

I would say that yes selling as a business would make anyone more likely to have to face the consequences if something went wrong. But only on the grounds that if you only sell two dozen eggs a week from your back door you'd probably be given the benefit of the doubt. As a business you are expected to do things right.  The rules for "farm gate" sales are a lot less strict than those for serious egg producing businesses. But even as a small producer of food you should ensure that you take every precaution to prevent any incidence of food safety being compromised. All food safety practice is based on the producer being able to show that they took every possible step to avoid problems occuring. the phrase that is used is "due diligence" which is self explanatory really.

[hughesy]

Going back to the original question. There are a lot of ways to make a business out of poultry that have nothing to do with selling eggs for food.

[neil123]

Hello Hughesy

Going back to the original question. There are a lot of ways to make a business out of poultry that have nothing to do with selling eggs for food.

Would love to hear you expand on that a little

Thanks

[hughesy]

Ok. Hatch chicks and sell them. Sell POL pullets and/or breeding stock. Sell eggs for incubation. Sell poultry accessories and feed. Rear birds for meat. Build poultry housing. Run courses for newbies. Write stuff for magazines or a book.................the market is enormous these days so use your imagination.

[edessex]

My plan is mainly to breed fancy birds and sell at POL or sell hatching eggs.
However, we have a number of unbreedables inc. ex-batts; those eggs would be sold as eaters...