[Roxy]

We have a mixed flock of hens, and also bantams, all free range in the field during the day.  Always sold every egg at the gate, except for the chipped, funny shaped or too big/small to sell ones, which we have!  Last week, in among all the chaos of moving out of the house, I noticed the eggs were not selling, which was very strange.  Having found a few minutes spare this morning, I chose three  random ones, and a bantam egg, and broke into a dish, curious to see what the problem was. 
 
Bantie egg fine.  Three others were the usual rich free range colour, BUT .....I was surprised to find the yolk was small in them all, but there was lots of egg white.
 
We have been buying hen feed from the local supplier, as with fuel being so expensive, cannot drive round the country picking and choosing feed.  They are fed layers pellets with some mixed grain added at night.  This is their usual feed for years, and as I said, always been ok, and nice eggs.
 
Why are the eggs like this?  Is it because some of the hens are aged (some ex batts) or could it be the feed we are using, or can anyone suggest anything else.
 
Obviously I have lost all my egg customers now.  And I have an egg mountain of course.....meringues, and egg custard, and scrambled eggs will be on the menu for a while!!!!
 
Any ideas appreciated.......thats why the eggs are like they are, and recipes to use them up as well    Seems a shame to chuck them, when they are perfectly useable.  (if you like big whites)

[taz08]

is there anyway you can ask your customers,,, is there some1 else undercutting you,,, wouldnt think it would be the feed

[colliewobbles]

I would be surprised if you were to suddenly lose all your customers at once because of this - I would guess at a 'new' supplier in the area too.

[Roxy]

Lady up the lane has a sign on her gate and her eggs are 10p cheaper per half dozen.  But she has sold eggs every summer, and its not affected me. She is not what i would call a very nice person,and has stirred trouble for me in the past,but doubt she would stoop to putting people off buying mine in favour of her eggs!!
 
Not happy with my eggs, and not sell any until its sorted.  They are definitely fresh, no doubt they may be stale.....maybe too fresh.  I boiled some the other night, and they do take forever to get the whites to set - which is often the case with free range eggs.Could be that I suppose.

[Foobar]

I would think maybe they are lacking in some vitamin or mineral of some sort.  I'd be tempted to scramble up the eggs and feed them back to them, together with any other nice goodies you have handy.  Dandelion leaves and broccoli are things that I usually have to hand so I chuck them in.  Cow parsley too - has just started growing here.  I'm sure there are plenty of other things too.  Maybe make sure they are wormed too, if they haven't been recently.  Basically anything that might perk up their health.  And then re-assess the eggs after a week?

[Roxy]

Thank you Foobar.  I always worm around now, so will do that,and the vits and minerals could be a point.  Plenty of dandilions coming now, so will pick those!!  And I have plenty of eggs to scramble

[Marches Farmer]

Sympathise with you on this one.  I sold eggs from the gate for several years then more and more people along our lane began doing so to get rid of the summer surplus from their half dozen hens, at a lower price than me.  Annoying because I was only charging at cost to subsidise the feed of my breeding groups of rare breed poultry.  Come winter and the pet hens down the lane have stopped laying and I get people knocking on the door wanting eggs but by then I'm down to very few two year olds for next year's breeding groups and most of the new pullets haven't yet started to lay.

[Roxy]

    Times are hard, and people  will go for the cheaper version, whether its better or not. I agree it is annoying, as I have built up a very good customer base, and could easily have sold double the eggs.
 
Well, we will see what happens. I am  still here after eating various egg conconctions over the last week.
 
I know my neighbour does not have that many hens, so no way could she supply enough eggs to keep everyone happy,  A new butcher has opened up in the next village.  May go look how much his eggs are - could be that!!!
 
People try new places, and then drift back to the old one.