Unsecure chicken perches

[batcatz]

yay. Selling first box of eggs to a neighbour! Shall I give them 3 big/3 small eggs or 4 big/2 small for £1.25? Help!

 

The small eggs are blue lavender araucana as she's not been laying long and silkie eggs.

 

 

What is fair for £1.25?

[Raina]

Hi, Just pick 6 at random!

 

 

We just gave our neighbours 4 eggs yesterday and she was really happy with them and we are giving her another 4 today!

 

 

She was talking to us saying she wanted some chickens of her own lol

[batcatz]

Cool, thanks.

 

I've decided on 3 small, 3 large. She is getting one of the precious blue eggs. lol. She liked the free sample of eggs I gave her a while ago.

 

I decided to start selling some as I have so many. I still have another 15 eggs. lol

[Saronne]

I tend to sell a mixed box to my neighbours, too. They don't seem to mind. I also sell them for £1.25 for 6.

 

 

Saronne x

[Space Chick]

I sell mine for £1.50 for 6 but tend to give 4 large and 2 small

 

I always put a blue or green and a white in too

[batcatz]

Ah cool. So £1.25 is about right. Delivering the eggs also includes a couple of hours chatting. She said she loved the free ones I gave her and really noticed the difference in colour to shop bought. So, she is going to text me when she wants some more. lol. She paid me £2 so that included money towards the next box. lol.

 

I have 2 other neighbours who I think will want to buy eggs. Just need to knock on their doors and ask.

 

I was so excited to sell my first box of eggs. haha

[jellykelly]

I have had some cards printed from Vista print to pop through our neighbours doors.

 

I'm offering delivery (up our street only) and 6 eggs for £1.50.

The card also invites neighbours to come in and see the chickens to see how happy they are!

[batcatz]

Wow, I sold them all! 3 boxes. I just have the 3 left that they laid today. I might make some cards or leaflets up so people can tick a box and post it back to me if they want to order more eggs.

 

The hens are well on the way to paying for their next bag of pellets. I wish my cats and parrot could pay for their keep too.

[Foot-tapper506]

Oh dear - I think I have been undercharging for mine! I sell my eggs for £1 for six but I didnt really start selling them to make money, but because I was over run with eggs. I dont really use that many in a week, and I have 4 hens who all lay an egg a day and it soon mounts up! I usually give half a dozen eggs to my neighbour if he shuts them in at night for me sometimes and of course my immediate family get them for free. I wasn't sure if you could sell them without being registered or something. They are now paying for their own keep though which is great. Not sure if it will pay for a WIR though get laying girls

[Lewis]

We never charge when people ask

... but said we would charge £1.50 for 6

[Guest]

we charge £1.50 for 6 and they go in the boxes as they're laid but then all our girls lay the same sort of eggs (except the bantams but we don't sell their eggs)

 

Asda charge approx £1.50 for 6 free range eggs so we figured that was fair as our eggs are even nicer than commercial FR eggs

[Guest]

Wow, I sold them all! 3 boxes. I just have the 3 left that they laid today. I might make some cards or leaflets up so people can tick a box and post it back to me if they want to order more eggs.

 

....

 

we got some postcards printed up and posted them thru our neighbours doors, we have a regular order at the moment of a dozen a week and other people just knock or phone as and when

 

go here and scroll down and you'll see the postcard

 

http://liverpoolpoet.blogspot.com/

[Snoxy]

Just read this interesting thread...

 

I just love to share the eggs our fab girls lay...I like people to experience the scrummyness of them

 

I occasionally give a box of 4 eggs away to a lovely neighbour who lives in our little Close...she is always very appreciative

 

I give my MIL some when I have a surplus...she brings shredding and egg-shells for our girls.

 

I also give them away to friends who really appreciate the quality of the eggs and who take an interest in our girls...those that don't...don't get any

 

We are a family of six and we all love eggs so use nearly all the eggs our girls lay...not sure I'd have enough left over to sell...but maybe when all six are laying. I love the idea of making up cards, leaflets advertising our eggs and think I would sell a box of six for £1.50 as a mixed boxed would include white and pastel green eggs.

 

Very best wishes...

 

Lou

[batcatz]

my chickens are buying me lunch tomorrow! hahha Chips in exchange for a box of eggs.

[Egluntyne]

Don't forget that when selling eggs 'at the door', you are not supposed to 'grade' them, ie sell them as 'large', 'medium' or 'small', but rather, sell them as they come.

 

Having said that, I like to give my customers 3 beige, 1 blue, 1 dark brown and 1 white if I can.

 

Looks ever so pretty, and there is no legislation about it.

[ali-s]

I sold my first ever eggs at work last week. I have always given any surplus away but decided to see if anyone would pay for them.

 

I charged £1.20 for six. I have got a couple of orders for when I return after my holidays. One women said I was charging too much and that you can buy half a dozen free range eggs from Lidl for 99p. I had no idea how much eggs cost in shops as I haven't had to buy eggs for ages, one of my customers said that they pay £1.20 for free range at their local butchers so I decided to charge the same.

 

I bought some egg boxes from Flytes so fancy and also some labels. The labels have printed on them "Fresh Eggs laid especially for you by" I added line " happy garden hens"

[phantom_zone]

I love the old "its cheaper in Lidl's" !

 

Isn't everything? I mean...a scooter is cheaper than a Porsche isn't it??

[Guest]

I love the old "its cheaper in Lidl's" !

 

Isn't everything? I mean...a scooter is cheaper than a Porsche isn't it??

 

 

[batcatz]

Yay ali-s! That's great. How funny about Lidl being cheaper. I wonder how long since those eggs have been laid. Your eggs will be much fresher, prettier and laid by happy garden hens.

 

I've sold about 5 boxes now. A repeat order from a neighbour who texted me while she was in Asda... she prefers my eggs. yay. I've stopped having my usual 2 dippy eggs for breakfast everyday so I can supply eggs. lol.

 

I must make some labels.

[docsquid]

We never intended to sell eggs as we only have three chickens, but we have sold a few to friends who insisted on paying. We also sold two boxes of four the other weekend - a friend came round and brought another lady who we didn't know. The friend's friend saw two boxes of four (that I had boxed up for DH's Mum) and offered to buy them as she was short of eggs!

 

Might need more chickens if we are going to sell eggs though

[ali-s]

Andy took 2 boxes of eggs in to work but didn't like to ask for any money. They were very well received and told Andy they were the best eggs they had ever tasted. Also said they would happily pay for more

 

I know I could easily sell eggs here at the cottage. The lane we live on leads to the Castle and is popular with tourists, kite flying families and local dog owners. There is a clause in our cottage deeds that says we cannot run a business, open a shop, park any comercial vehicles or have any comercial operation on our land. I wouldn't want to get into any legal trouble by putting up an egg for sale notice at the end of our drive. I am probably breaking the rules by selling the eggs at work

[Lavenders_Blue]

There is a clause in our cottage deeds that says we cannot run a business, open a shop, park any comercial vehicles or have any comercial operation on our land. I wouldn't want to get into any legal trouble by putting up an egg for sale notice at the end of our drive. I am probably breaking the rules by selling the eggs at work

 

I think this is pretty common on house deeds. I don't think selling a few spare eggs at the gate counts as a business/shop - if it did I am sure you would be required to go through all sorts of checks first such as environmental health, packing and labelling rules etc not to mention Inland Revenue.

 

Plus any covenants that you break would have to be reported by someone else who knows that covenant exists in the first place (neighbour?), and they would have to take you to court to challenge you which would be incredibly costly.

 

I am not supposed to keep chickens or run a business according to my house deeds but anyone who objected would have to know this is in my deeds and then take me to court to challenge it. As it happens - my neighbours like the girls and buy their eggs too!

 

So if you want to sell a few spare eggs at the gate I wouldn't worry unduly about it.

[kez]

I've just started selling a few of our spare eggs - usually 6 - 12 a week.

 

I charge 25p an egg, 90p for 4, £1.30 for 6. So they normally buy 6 as they're getting a better deal

 

If I had a bigger garden and more hen accommodation I would get lots more and I'm sure I wouldn't have any probs selling more eggs.

 

We're thinking of moving and top of the list for a suitable property is a bigger garden for more chooks

[sunshinesupernova]

wow - you are doing well. We're pretty rural and only have a couple of egg customers as loads of people nearby have chickens.

 

We sell ours for 70p for 6 - just gone up from 60p - and that's 2 beige, 2 blue, 1 white and one dark brown

[beach chick]

just read this thread with great interest, as I sold my first box of 6 for £1 today, to a neighbour! he caught me on the street the other day and INSISTED on paying... and said if I wouldnt take the money I should keep it for the children, bless him! up until now I've just given them away to family/friends/neighbours. anyway, dropped them into his porch, and he came round to give me the box back a couple of hours later, with his money, came and admired the girls etc etc etc.

 

so I think I will do a little flyer and put it through the doors of the 12 or so houses that back on to our field.

 

having read all this though, I think I will charge £1.50 for a mixed box of 6 - could include a white egg, a blue one and a banty one as well as standard browns, or could be just be brown ones - do you think that's ok if I just say 'mixed box' depending on what's available? obviously stress the "hens you can see from your garden" line - or is that dangerous, am I asking for problems?, freshness etc etc.

 

another question, how do you cope with demand? we are getting 5-6 eggs a day at the mo from 8 girls; and some days 7 or 8 - obviously far too many for us all to eat, but what do you do if someone wants some NOW and you dont have enough? I guess its a case of building up regular customers who might wait a day if need be for the better quality.