More of a pain then it's worth...

Sometimes I wonder if we don't sell our stock short in our quest to produce only birds that meet or exceed the Standard of Perfection when often it is a color only thing that we are striving for...or a small comb change.

The birds that may not meet our stringent show standards are still wonderful, healthy heritage breed birds with longevity bred into them unlike the hybrids which are about all that are available to the local chicken keepers. And they have been raised knowing how to forage and do all the "natural" things chickens do...


As such they should be worth a fair price per pullet...it is frustrating when they don't seem to be valued but it is great when you meet people who "get" the value of what you have produced and are happy to pay for it.

In the spring we had a hard time selling chicks starting at $8 for day olds and then increasing. Now I've been getting calls for point of lay. At least they're more on target timing wise. Wondering now if we should just hatch and raise them till fall. But, then buyers may turn away at $30 for a POL. So, we're also wondering if we should just stick to ducks!
Finally put our eggs to $4/doz now that I'm not selling at work anymore (where there was another gal selling $3/doz). I made it clear that at $4 we were still losing $$ so pay up and shut up, lol!!

It's no surprise. We live in the age of "The Cheap." Comsumers don't care about quality, all they care about is having the goods cheap. Save the enviroment? All for it but I want my disposable, cheap crap like everyone else has. All for farm raised food, so long as I pay what I can get it at Cosco for.

But you know what really digs at me more than joe comsumer. Is when you get a fellow poultry person who knows what you are selling is at fair price telling you that they can buy that purebred heritage bird cheap at a fall sale. That really burns.

Incubate in Fall , raise them up all winter , ready in spring as young stock ready for laying ......sooner or later ? and don't offer any chicks , just eggs ?? We all are looking for some sort of deal , feed , building supplies etc .Most people who know what the price is ahead of buying won't try to bring down the price , it's the looky see's that want the deals , and if you are working on particular traites that you find some of your birds don't have . then barter with them ? If they are just offering to low then tell them that you don't have anything in that price range and stop the talk ? I just bought four Bronze turkey chicks that are eight weeks old for $15.00 a piece ?? I'd have never found them for that price other then that it is fall and the lady wanted to downsize her flock and I in the end profited from it , if that is bad on my behalf then what can I say , should I have told her that they were worth more then that ?? Maybe by selling off your flocks in fall gives a wrong picture of what the prices should be ? I don't know because I don't sell anything as of yet and maybe I never will , but it's a buyers market in fall .Someone mentioned eggs for $4.00 a dozen , are they worth it ? of course ! but beware that there will allways be someone selling them cheaper .I sell mine for under $2.00 per dozen and I can't increase the price because there are people who sell for way less . I try to keep my customers happy and in the end I sell my eggs and I'm glad that I can and they keep coming back so that works for me .My thoughts

I have to sell my eggs for $3 doz, if I drive 30min + to town it's $3.50, then if I drive 2hrs it's $4. I do go to the 2 hr away city to shop once a month. Now, get this, had people saying 'no' they would find cheaper eggs... goodluck with that!