Post by brigitte on Feb 19, 2018 8:03:48 GMT -5
I know this varies wildly, but Im wondering what you all think about the price for a dozen eggs.
I finally sat down and did the research to determine just how much cost I was putting into those eggs, excluding the milk they drink a lot of (which makes the eggs extra special and in demand). I have finally got a steady market for them and now, after five years, a $13K eggmobile, $10K henhouse and $5K house for older hens.
We have to set aside the roadside stands where hobbyists sell eggs for $3/dz and don't know or care that they aren't making much if any money because its not their goal.
When you sell to retail stores in this state you meet certain labelling requirements- stating the farm, keep refrigerated etc. The custom printed labels cost about 20 cents each and are easy self sticking. The boxes- and we are forbidden from recycling any of them by law- cost 34 cents each even in bulk. Delivery to the store is gas and vehicle depreciation- about an hour round trip. The feed/cost to raise the chicks under (increasingly expensive) heat lamps, cost for feed to supplement the milk and grass, wood shavings for bedding inside and replacements for losses is somewhere close to $2 per dozen.
I recently increased the price from $4.50/dz to $5/dz, which is on the average to low side of the price regionally for eggs raised on pasture locally. But now the store adds in its profit margin and I think those eggs are going for $7.50/dz- maybe to increase after my hike. Even though I am mighty determined to get the real value, I do feel a bit guilty about these prices.
I walk into a Cumberland Farm (gas station) or worse yet a WalMart and the tasteless eggs are on sale for $1.99. Some people don't care or can't afford the better product, and I wish that were different. I want to engage them in conversation but that wouldn't be polite.
When one of the clerks at the store (a good store that sells lots of good local produce) said some of the customers were asking what the chickens were fed (organic vs. Nonorganic) and apologized for asking, I said...no I wish more people would ask. A dozen eggs from chickens raised on organic feed might cost twice as much, and there would be no guarantee the organic feed wasn't harvested from a field that had nonorganic pollen wafting over it, or a chemical residue in the soil from years of weed fertilizers.
So I printed up a little sign saying the chickens are on grass, even in the winter when I take the time to lay them a bed of second cutting hay on the snow, and that they are mostly heirloom breeds eating lots of fresh milk to supplement quality, though not organic, layer feed. The eggs sell out.
But I still feel a bit guilty about the price.
I finally sat down and did the research to determine just how much cost I was putting into those eggs, excluding the milk they drink a lot of (which makes the eggs extra special and in demand). I have finally got a steady market for them and now, after five years, a $13K eggmobile, $10K henhouse and $5K house for older hens.
We have to set aside the roadside stands where hobbyists sell eggs for $3/dz and don't know or care that they aren't making much if any money because its not their goal.
When you sell to retail stores in this state you meet certain labelling requirements- stating the farm, keep refrigerated etc. The custom printed labels cost about 20 cents each and are easy self sticking. The boxes- and we are forbidden from recycling any of them by law- cost 34 cents each even in bulk. Delivery to the store is gas and vehicle depreciation- about an hour round trip. The feed/cost to raise the chicks under (increasingly expensive) heat lamps, cost for feed to supplement the milk and grass, wood shavings for bedding inside and replacements for losses is somewhere close to $2 per dozen.
I recently increased the price from $4.50/dz to $5/dz, which is on the average to low side of the price regionally for eggs raised on pasture locally. But now the store adds in its profit margin and I think those eggs are going for $7.50/dz- maybe to increase after my hike. Even though I am mighty determined to get the real value, I do feel a bit guilty about these prices.
I walk into a Cumberland Farm (gas station) or worse yet a WalMart and the tasteless eggs are on sale for $1.99. Some people don't care or can't afford the better product, and I wish that were different. I want to engage them in conversation but that wouldn't be polite.
When one of the clerks at the store (a good store that sells lots of good local produce) said some of the customers were asking what the chickens were fed (organic vs. Nonorganic) and apologized for asking, I said...no I wish more people would ask. A dozen eggs from chickens raised on organic feed might cost twice as much, and there would be no guarantee the organic feed wasn't harvested from a field that had nonorganic pollen wafting over it, or a chemical residue in the soil from years of weed fertilizers.
So I printed up a little sign saying the chickens are on grass, even in the winter when I take the time to lay them a bed of second cutting hay on the snow, and that they are mostly heirloom breeds eating lots of fresh milk to supplement quality, though not organic, layer feed. The eggs sell out.
But I still feel a bit guilty about the price.