What is it worth?

All of your hard work that is. Now....I ask this question here because I know that all of us here share something in common...some things in common. We obviously all enjoy farming, raising chickens, raising numerous and various other livestock, country living, fresh clean air, quiet starry nights where all you hear are the crickets and frogs singing, the smell of a real wood stove...none of this gas fireplace business....oh my oh my...I could go on. Most importantly however, after reading many, many, MANY posts...I get the feeling that everyone here works damned hard every single day to maintain this life that we love...and I feel that we are all proud to do so! I know I am.

Now...to the heart of my query. I was at work today (which is in a school- half hour commute for me), and during coffee the topic came up about farm eggs. They all know I raise chickens and one coworker asked me how much I charge for eggs. Well...I have so far been getting 3 dollars a dozen and haven't had a complaint. Ok...that being said...I only just started selling recently and so far it has been to friends and neighbours. Anyway...this lady turned to me and asked (right in front of everyone) "Are they special eggs or something? I can buy fresh farm eggs at the grocery store here in town for only 2 dollars." Ummm....I very much respect all of my coworkers but at this moment I just didn't know what to say....surely nothing I was thinking, that's for sure. There I was with everyone looking at me, waiting for me to justify myself! Gads! At this point...another coworker (who often brings eggs to school to sell) piped up and said "Yeah...maybe I should sell mine for more...but I don't do it for money..I just love chickens, so I'll leave my price where it is."

This lady sells them for $1.50!! Yeesh! My question then is how on earth do I compete with that!? Well clearly I don't. Looks like this town, as much as I love it, is not going to be a good place to sell my eggs and actually recover some of my cost going in.

Here is my question to all of you: Am I asking too much money for all of the hard work that goes into each and every beautiful egg I collect?? You here all know how much work goes into this, not to mention the costs that are involved. I would have thought 3 dollars was fair but maybe I am over-shooting it a bit? How much do you charge if you sell eggs for eating? Do you have any similar scenarios happen like mine? If you do, how do you reply?

Now...I could totally be in the wrong and might be asking too much...and if so I very much would love you all to be honest and say so...I always value the advice of so many of you here.

Have a most fabulous day.

Yes Keibler many of us on here work very hard to keep out lives the way they are, and wouldnt change it!
As for your eggs I think $3/doz is a very reasonable price. I have moved my eggs up to $3/dozen. If you compare prices to the Walmart large eggs they are $2.89/dozen and those are caged birds! So $3 is more than reasonable for a much better product.
What you need to do first is ask yourself if you would pay $3/doz for fresh farm eggs. If you would then you should have no issues asking that for your eggs. You know the output of costs you have done to get your chicks up to laying age, seperate out the roosters, feed and clean after them daily and feed them a good choice of food and give them a good life.

You can't compete with the $1.50/doz lady if she is delivering the same product as you, keep your prices as they are, and if it takes some advertising to find good customers that is what you will have to do. I find I cannot sell eggs for $3/doz in my home town either, I find there are too many people that have little flocks of their own and give way or sell cheap their extra eggs because they feel they are just extras beyond what they need. Often you need to find a larger town/city to sell your eggs at, where people are looking for farm fresh food and are not affraid to pay for your quality food stuffs.

Your no losing it keibler I sell mine for $3.00 a dozen. Farm fresh, free range, naturally raised eggs that come from chickens Sorry its just falls out sometimes. LOL

This person is part of the problem. Its really a double edge sword. You compete with your neighbours and with the commercial world but have to find a happy medium in there somewhere. Its hard to do. What I found is that if you have a system that works for you, your hens will show it in their eggs. This is what all my customers say to me. I believe in my girls and as long as they are happy they produce quality eggs.

Now what I tell peole when I talk to them is that $2.89 isn't always going to be the same as what I produce. I know my birds and my customers know where I live and how I'm always doing something for them.

Sorry I hope I didn't offend anyone, I ramble.......

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I am getting 4 dollars a dozen and thinking about going to 4.50 due to feed costs. I don't justify anything to anyone, if people are serious about eating quality food they ask about quality not price. If all they care about is price I encourage them to go to walmart and support the mega farmers and chinese. I have no problems selling anything. I give anybody that is serious about food quality all the time in the world to help educate them about the realities of farming and small farm costs and economy of scale,regulations and other issues. I can't think of any other priority occupations (I believe raising food is a priority, more so than medicine or education) that you have to work at another job to be able to afford to provide the service. Can you imagine if we asked dr's to work at 7/11 before they went to work in the emergency room. Farmers are vital to the country and just because they enjoy their lifestyle they should not be excpected to subsidize other peooples dinners and yet they are. That is why I hate the hobbie farmer moniker. I am a farmer, I just can't make a living at it like over 90 percent of farmers in this country. Sorry for my rant.

See there's another very valid point that R.Roo brings up. What are they being fed, does it make it any better? Who knows. I think it really boils down to personal taste.

I charge $3 a dozen during peak lay, and now that we're in the winter time and I don't supplement with lights, I charge $4 a dozen. Funny, really, that I charge more for Free Run eggs than Free Range -- hmmmm

"Farm Fresh" in a grocery store is a brand, not a fact. It was once mentioned in another discussion that store bought eggs can be anywhere from 2 days to well over a month old.

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Also, unless the product says that the birds were free range, they were not.

I'm agree with BCKev and Fowler. I think a lot of people probably just aren't educated. It also depends where you live. The "best" eggs in the supermarkets in the town I live near sell for $6.00 per dozen. People are buying them, and they really don't know what they are buying, what conditions the chickens are living in, what they are being fed, etc. They are depending on a label. It's all about marketing. I have more customers than I have eggs to sell at $4.50 per dozen.

I also have a hard time getting a fair price for eggs in my closest town. Just like Hidden was saying, the town where I work is a farming community so quite a few people bring eggs to town to sell. People quickly find out who is selling cheapest.

What bothers me the most, though is that incredibly outdated way of thinking that buying farm-direct means the price should be the same or cheaper than what you would pay at the grocery store down the street. These people unfortunately are completely out of touch with how food is produced in commercial operations. They do not see the value of buying from small producers. They will buy whichever carton of eggs costs 50 cents less and be pleased with themselves.

Kiebler, time to pull out the big guns and go for the throat! Next time someone asks you to justify your price, simply say, "Ethical eggs cost more, tortured chickens can produce eggs cheaper. If you are in to animal cruelty and abuse, that lady sells hers for $1.50 per dozen."

I started selling eggs at $2 a dozen and lay pellets were $6 a bag. Now lay pellets are almost $12 a bag and my eggs have only gone up to $3? What's wrong with tis picture.

People are cheap and quite stupid. But like the farmer that R. Roo quit on, I would also rather see my produce rot in the compost pile than sell it to someone who doesn't want to pay a fair price. I'm sorry this happened to you and i can imagine how mortifying it was. But since this woman has such an obvious lack of social decorum and class, hit he rihgt where she likes to pla ball. Tell her you'd be embarrassed to buy eggs for less than $3, knowing how much it costs to raise them, and that $3 is a dignified price, not a desperate price.

Bang on, Uno!

I think your price is very fair. I sell for $2.00 but only because that is what my neighbor sells hers for and we kind of work together. If she is short she sends them here and vice versa so I put my egg price at hers.

That being said, when I take my eggs to town it s $3.50 per dozen. When asked why I charge so much I just say point blank, I am trying to cover some of my costs in feeding and caring for my birds. I can't give away the produce of my birds for cheap and still expect to be able to feed them. My animals need to help pay for their own costs. The cost to build large pens, buy the feed, buld good coops, buy any antibiotics ext is very costly. If you don't like my price please feel free to purchase elsewhere. I have found after I say this, they will usually change attitude and purchase my eggs.

I really don't understand this. Free range eggs in the shops go for anywhere upwards of 5-6 dollars; isn't his true even in SK? How can anyone think $3 is too much???
I charge $5, and can't meet demand (except in mid-spring); some of my customers say they're too cheap. Of course these are ultra-pampered chooks, fed whey, seaweed (c/w small crabs and sand fleas), and garden greens.

Locally, eggs here are $3.50 at any roadside stand. One place I know of is $3.
I charge $4, but I also deliver them to my customers while I work (I'm a courier)otherwise I would charge $3.50 as well (maybe).
I have NO problem selling them at that price and I bet I could get more.
I too, get the occasional comment like that, but I tell them to go buy them there then. I don't need their business when I have so many other people that will gladly pay $4 and most usually give me $20 and tell me to bring them a dozen every Friday until the money runs out.
People that complain about the price aren't worth keeping in my opinion. They're the first ones to be a thorn in your ass, complaining about size, quality, color, etc. Tell em to go pound sand and sell your eggs to someone that APPRECIATES them.

Hillbilly wrote: People that complain about the price aren't worth keeping in my opinion. They're the first ones to be a thorn in your ass, complaining about size, quality, color, etc. Tell em to go pound sand and sell your eggs to someone that APPRECIATES them.

Yep.

You can't compete with $1.50. She is selling at a loss and undercutting the market. You could have a word with her to bring her online with fair pricing but I wouldn't expect her to go along.

Yes, "Farm Fresh" is a company name it doesn't mean the eggs are either from a family farm, nor that they are fresh, at least by my standards.

But if anyone ever asked me if my chickens were special, they would certainly get the full spiel on how exactly they ARE special, especially compared to caged layers.

I have been selling my "Farm Fresh eggs for $5.00 a dozen but will be putting them up. When I started selling eggs, I was able to sell them for $4.00 (feed was $9.99 + tax per bag). Now the feed has gone from $12>99 in the summer to 14.99 in the fall and now is $16.99+tax, over $17.00 per bag, and the feed store says that they will be raising the price shortly. What bothers me is my friend was going to Powell River for new Years eve and told me that they still pay $12.99 a bag...same brand as we get, same size. I think that we are a captive audience. I work in a huge place so my co workers know what goes into the farming and are quite willing to pay up to $6.00 for both duck and chicken eggs. I can sell Banty eggs for $4.00 as special low cholesterol eggs (haha) and they know that they are just a day or two old, not a month old. My question? Where will the price of feed stop? Why are we (on the Sunshine Coast) paying so much per bag?

Ours sell at $4.50 per dozen, but there is usually some delivery involved. It is is difficult to sell eggs in Barriere because there are several that have been established here since time began. Eighteen per cent lay pellets are $15.25 with a large purchase discount.

Thank you Thank you! All of you...I really do appreciate all of your input and support. *Deep cleansing breath....Ahhhh* I feel much better for standing firm today . Yes, yes, agreed and Hear Hear!! to all of your comments. Sue...I agree wholeheartedly with your comment about special eggs. DH and I were chatting over dinner tonight about my little "eggsperience" at work today and I told him what I should have told her. Darned right my eggs are special! My heart, and back, and sweat, and money, and yes...sometimes tears, as well as my kids darned hard work all goes into giving my girls a wonderful, free-range home to spend their days plump and happy. For this...we get beautiful, oh-so delicious FRESH eggs as a gift from every fluffy, noisy hen on this farm. So yeah...you bet I think my eggs are special!

Hidden....I love the question you posed to me; as to whether or not I would pay that price and the answer is...Absolutely! I would and I have. I have been buying eggs from small farms for many, many years now....long before I found myself in my perfect place in life to finally relish in the joys of raising chickens myself. In all these years I have actually never paid less than 2.75/dz and that was over ten years ago. I never once doubted that the seller deserved every penny that I paid them...and it certainly never occurred to me to ever question them regarding the value of there product-I could taste the value.

Unfortunately for many of us...other people selling the same product at a much lower price certainly does make things a little more challenging but I am sticking to my guns and not lowering my price. I have a large beautiful sign which I will be putting up at the end of our road on our fence, which runs along a secondary highway. This road creates a decent (yet modest) amount of traffic-especially in the summer. We actually live across the road from a Provincial park, literally less than a mile from the campground gate, and so in summer there will be many a vacationing camper passing our place. I am hoping this will be a small aid in my direction...what is camping anyway without bacon and eggs right?

As for our local grocery selling the "Farm Fresh" eggs, unfortunately for me, they really are farm eggs; sold to the grocery by a local hobby farmer. During our dinner dialect this evening, DH and I just could not wrap our heads around it. If the grocery charges 2 dollars...what in Gordon's name is the farmer profiting!?? It hardly seems possible but there it is. Ah well...I shall not worry overly much over that one

On a personal note....I seem to be a bit of a big kid because even after months of this new venture of mine...and after a few hundred eggs collected....I still adore going out to the coop and scooping up those warm fresh eggs. It always feels like a little gift they've given me. I'll often play a game with the kids...we'll try to guess how many we'll find that day and the closest one gets to start Hi/Low during dinner (another little game we play--My Hi today was....; My Low today was...). Our Hi/Low game ensures that each one of us gets to share about our day . As for the joy of peeking into nests and under fluffy butts to find eggs....well....maybe one day the thrill will wear off.

Then again....I sure hope not

Kiebler, if you do post that sign on the end of your driveway, think about the title, ETHICAL EGGS.

When people ask me to categorize my raising practices, I say Ethical Eggs. Not stuck in cages, they are let out when it's safe and kept in their fenced yard when hawks and coyotes are in the neighbourhood. THey have room to do all their instinctual chicken activites, live much longer than an 18 month old battery hen, and eat a varied diet of all the good things that chickens love to peck at. Ethical Eggs. I think that's a good description for most of us.

And stick to your prices!

uno wrote:"Ethical eggs cost more"

Uno--just wanted to mention how much I LOVE this line. Four little words that mean so much.

Oh how funny! Uno I was just commenting on your term "Ethical Eggs" when you were submitting your post

Cuckoomama, you should not be paying tax on livestock feed as this is a product that is suppose to be free of tax.

Tell them to stock up on eggs at $3/doz. Once the caged laying birds are fazed out, the price is going to go threw the roof! And it is coming, many farms are fazing out of growing caged eggs, and many large egg buyers are fazing out of using caged eggs.