As you are aware I am back in the chicken egg business again. To say that the business proposition does not make one wealthy is an understatement, but for the most part the sales pay for feed and scratch.
If I let myself start thinking on it, as I am now, I can get a bit perturbed. Why you ask? Well, it’s this way, if I sold my Farm Fresh, Pasture Raised Hen’s Eggs at the farmer’s markets over in Madison, I could get $3.50 a dozen for them. If I lived in Connecticut, like Red Bee Marina Marchese, I could get $5.00 a dozen! As it is, I live here in N. Alabama in a tiny farming burgh and try to sell mine for $2.50 per dozen… but the potential customers scoff at the price.
Here is a recent example of what I am up against:
I finally spent the money to put up a sign on the main road to point potential customers to the Farmlet. So after three days of not getting even a nibble… I got a customer!
The lady gets out of her car and carefully walks across the lawn. She’s one of those heavyset ladies with the tightly curled and blue tinted hairdo that ladies of a certain age are all so fond of. When she gets to the door and rings I open it and politely greet her.
She says, “How much foh yuh eggs?”
I say, “$2.50 a dozen”
Upon hearing the price I see her eyebrows have shot up and she is now clenching the clasp of her handbag and holding it to her ample bosom. After the momentary shock wears off she drawls, “That’s way moah the the stoah’s sellin’m foh!”
To which I politely explain that mine were after all laid yesterday, my hens aren’t kept in inhumane conditions, if she tries them she will surely like them because they have far better flavor than what she will find at the grocery. And finally, was she aware that the grocery store eggs can be well over a month old by the time she buys them?
She gives me a hesitant look, and I realize that I’m loosing her as a customer… so I quickly blurt, “If you bring me your carton back for me to refill it will give you .25 cents off of your next dozen!”
To which she replies “How much do ya’ll want for your eggs?”
I caved. I told her, “For you $2.00 after the discount.”
At that, she pried open her handbag and peeled two dollars out of her wallet to hand to me.
I have not seen her again and its been two weeks. Maybe she just doesn’t eat that many eggs?
Who can say?
In the meantime I have found an outlet for my surplus eggs! I am selling them at the Farmers Co-op downtown! So OK, I am still not getting rich, but at least I am selling all of my eggs now! And that’s a happy thing! “:<>
Here’s an update!
Yesterday the lady I told you about (above) came back to buy another dozen eggs. This was nice! But what made it spectacular was that she has reserved in advance three dozen for the 8th of August!
“Nah remembuh…” she reminds me, “… that’s three dozen on thuh 8th. of August. I wanna send some home with mah friend who’s visiten from Nawth Caralina!”
I love this lady!
* Click HERE to find out more information on the health benefits and differences of “Pastured” vs. “Free Range” and “Factory Farm” hen’s eggs.
Life on the Farmlet 
If I could I would pop over and get a standing order on your eggs. Truly fresh free range eggs are very hard to come by where I live.
LOL! My Aunt Eve, and one of my friends in California both asked me about the possibilities of mailing them eggs. While it may be possible I think it would be cost prohibitive. Do you have a back yard? How about setting up a chicken tractor with 2 or three hens in it? Something to think about! 🙂
A ”chicken tractor”? Unfortunately local bylaws disallow any such critters in town – they might disturb the barking dogs, you know. 🙂
Hi, Lynda. I do not have chickens where we are currently living. I pay $5.00 a dozen for fresh local eggs laid by happy, healthy hens. These girls have names. They have freedom, good food, good shelter, fresh water, and love. It is difficult to educate people when their only thought is cost – bottom line. Perhaps a video showing how the very unhappy, inhumanely treated hens are being used as machines might help to sway people?
Now I am wondering if your lady noticed the difference between your eggs and store bought? How could one not notice the difference in the color of the yolks? How could one not notice how fresh eggs stand up and all but salute while old store bought eggs kind of slither and blob all over the pan? How could one not notice the fresh flavor of really good eggs? The painful truth is that so many people have become inured to what they put in their mouths – they don’t notice their food at all. Worse, they don’t know and they don’t care how the animals are being treated.
Well, all of my hennies don’t have personal names… but a few of them do! My Buff Polish is named ‘Tippy’ and her Roo is named ‘Topper.’ And of course My Splash Blue Andelusian Roo is called ‘Grayson.’ All the Rhode Island Red’s are collectively called ‘Little Red Hen’ when being individually addressed, and of course the Black Australorps are ‘Little Black Hen.’ The Silkies are “Fluffy Butts,’ and the Silky Roo is ‘Kung Foo Roo’ (I need to write about how he got his name).
As for the blue haired lady, well I guess if she’s coming back to buy three dozen, two being for her friend, then I think she gets it! 😀
I’m not sure if this will be of help to you or not, but here goes. I grew up on a small farm in northwestern BC, and we always had a couple dozen hens. There were too many hawks/foxes/etc. to let them roam around, but at least they had a roomy 50×50′ pen. The problem was that that many hens pecking at any grass or weed that tried to grow tended to turn all of it into a dust bath. Fortunately, I was an inventive soul, and came up with a plan to give all of them a source of fresh greens that worked very well. First, I grabbed all of the old 2×4’s that were lying around, and started nailing them together into frames that I then covered one side of with chicken wire/rabbit cage mesh/etc., and laid them together in the run, mesh side up. Lastly, I sprinkled some of their grain thickly in the frames, covered it with an inch or so of soil, and watered it well. In no time at all, tender, young shoots started coming up, which the chickens went crazy over, but, because they couldn’t reach the bottom of the frame, they couldn’t get the whole plant. I did that every year until we moved to town, and you never saw such healthy, happy hens.
Hope this helps!
This sounds like a very good idea. If I ever have to lock them up for any period of time I will certainly do it. Thanks!
Cindy, A LOT of people in a lot of cities and towns are working to overturn these anti-city chicken laws. And it’s working! In the meantime… if you sneak in a couple I won’t tell! (A lot of people are doing that too.)
;D