No One Wants My Eggs

True, but there is no reason she cannot mail a flyer to all of her neighbors. For the cost of a stamp, she may get plenty of customers. The closer they are, the more convenient for them to stop for eggs. I even deliver to my close neighbors. The drop off an empty carton with their name on it and I return it in a day or two filled. My eggs are free, or I'd be providing the cartons as well.

There is a place near where my mom lives that has LOTS of chickens. They must be a commercial-sized operation, but here's how they do it.

They have a sign out by the road (very professional, has their company logo and all that) pointing you to their farm. You drive in and there are signs pointing you to the egg shed.

In the egg shed are commercial fridges, the kind with glass doors, and inside there are cartons of eggs. There's a sign saying how much a dozen eggs are, and a box to put your money in. It's completely an honour system.

We always get our eggs there when we go visit, they are real 'farm eggs'.

Might not work for you, but it's an interesting idea I thought I'd share.

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Apple Jack Creek
near Edmonton Alberta
author of Just Keep Knitting: a journey of healing through forgiveness, faith, and fibre and The Rookie's Field Guide to Supported Spinning

NONE of my neighbors buy eggs from me. I have plenty of regular customers from other places, but don't expect to make money off your neighbors. They just seem like they don't want you to have their money. At least here.

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I can't believe I deleted it!

A new family moved into our area not long ago. I noticed they had a sign about selling fresh eggs at the local restraunt ...everyone posts signs around here on stuff to sell...he is doing pretty good, also sells alot to church members, he brings them on Sunday and Wednesday and the locals buy them.. Good luck.
Also, the local feed store might help you...put up a sign there...

The best is by word of mouth. I've never had to advertise for my eggs and right now I have more customers than I can handle. All I did was give away some at work and at my husbands sportsman club and now I have lots of customers. Once they taste your eggs they will keep coming back. Do you have a free local paper, go ahead and take out a ad with your number and price per dozen.

You could also try to incite action by using something along the lines of:

Turn Here for Fresh Eggs

$2.00/dozen

Add a welcome sign a little ways further. And when they pull up by your door you could hang a sign that says "Please come in" or "Please ring bell for eggs".

Have you ever shopped for toys and seen those "Try me" buttons? It's an automatic trigger to get you to stop and try out the toy. Toys that don't have it are more easily overlooked.

That's the kind of message you need on your sign to get people past their reluctance to stop in to a stranger's house.

They need to feel welcome - like them stopping won't be imposing, and they need to feel compelled to pull in your driveway and ring the bell.

Things like "Fresh Eggs Now" "$x.xx/dozen" "Turn Left Here"

As someone is driving by, dozens of times and looking at that sign, one day they'll feel compelled to stop in. If you have a fabulous product, it sells itself, but first you have to get it to their tastebuds to convince them as well.

next time you have a brunch at church YOU bring the eggs and cook them up, blab about how fun it is to have your own chickens yaya, people will love the eggs and ask for more. I did that and could have sold a gazillion.

All I had to do at work was ask for egg cartons if anyone had some stashed away....immediately everyone started ordering!!!

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Eternal Optimist

as for all those eggs piling up in your fridge, I'd set them out by the road with a "Free Samples Today, Limit two per person." and leave out a price list and a few cartons to sell themselves on the honor system. Who knows... might get the ball rolling. Beats frying them up and feeding them back to the hens.

Give some to your local church.Trust me word will spread.

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....piffy on a rock bun ....

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Just put a sign out there with the price, the price always grabs the eye of passing moterists, a reasonable price where you are covering cost plus making a buck, we have people around selling(trying to sell) them that think they're gold. guess what, they have run out of rm to store them.

that's the way i see it to, everyone wants to keep up with the Joneses, but they don't want the Joneses to have anything.

Don't overlook giving away free samples at senior citizen centers. Locally participants range from those on SS to those on very comfortable retirement incomes. Joel Salatin offered them as door prizes at events, such as holiday parties. As I recall, he would also do a demonstration using an electric skillet on his free-range beef vs supermarket beef. Don't see why it wouldn't work with eggs also. For example, cooking up a supermarket egg next to one of yours. Serve on a plate for comparison tasting. While cooking detail the health benefit of yours over theirs - supported by a hand-out with further information and an order blank, or map to your place or such.

Even if you aren't, putting up a SORRY, SOLD OUT sign occasionally indicates you are making sales.

When selling at a farmers' market be aware of local health restrictions. Likely eggs need to be kept refrigerated, in some manner, to no more than a certain temperature. Also, regulations vary regionally as to the egg carton. At a minimum I suspect you would have to include the name/address of seller and date of packaging. Might be a sticker placed over commercial seller logo. And, consider carrying product liability insurance if the market doesn't have a group coverage policy.

Years ago I heard Joel Salatin at a conference. He said he sold to restaurants for twice the normal wholesale price per dozen. What he did was to have small, free-standing, table stand-ups made up saying, for $.25 extra per egg, diners could order eggs fresh off the farm. At that time it was about $5.50 extra per dozen to the restaurant over the price of eggs already built into the menu price. (As an eye catcher on table stand-up, perhaps hens free-ranging.)

Be aware though, farm fresh eggs can 'taste funny' to those not use to them. Old marketing story which may or may not be true. In remote Alaska eggs are somewhat a luxury item, having to be flown in. They may have been in storage for months. Local guy decided to cash in on that by building a facility to support hens year-round. Locals wouldn't buy them, saying tasted funny, as they were use to the taste of commercial eggs which had been in long-term storage. My younger sister lived for a while on the small farm of her parent-in-laws. She said at first the eggs tasted funny also as she hadn't had farm fresh ones before.

On pricing, up to you. Since you are offering a much better quality, once your market is established, certainly no less than the same size supermarket eggs.

donsgal and anyone in our area,
We sold eggs for .80 a doz, in 2005 we went to $1.00 doz this year we went to $2.00. We get very few neighbors that buy but none of them ever turn down the free ones. We sell very few, give them to ones who can't work (not won't work) and the retired. If you are around Monett/Sarcoxie pm and we would swap/sell and if you are hurting just bring an empty carton or three.
Glenn

Free samples and word of mouth is what did it for me. None of my neighbors buy eggs, but my co-workers, my wife's co-workers, the stay at home mom's group and the home school moms group my brother's wife is a member of do, and a number of other folks. When the eggs were piling up in the fridge I started giving away free dozens or half-dozens to folks that I thought were likely customers. It took about six weeks and now I am always behind in orders. Mine sell for $3.00 a dozen and I may go to $3.50 this summer some time if feed prices don't come down by then.

.....Alan.

All my customers come from work. I gave free samples when I first started as well. I sell them for 2.50 a dozen but I have one customer who buys 5 doz every two weeks for 4.00 a dozen because she wants to ensure she gets them. I also sell duck eggs. I listen on craigs list here but they flagged it and took it off.. not sure why...maybe it is a louisiana/ food thing.

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Christanie Farm...living life as it was intended

I skimmed through the responses so I'm not sure if this one has been listed but it seems to me that the best response is when you have a place for people to pick up the eggs right there without bothering you. Have a little stand or at least a cooler with a few doz eggs in it (and some freezer packs), plus a box for them to put $ in. Price clearly marked obviously.

I totally agree with june02bug. Mailboxes are property of the US mail. You can hang the fliers on the OUTSIDE of the box, but not inside unless you've paid postage.

This can get you arrested for trespassing. The grocery store parking lot is private property and belongs to the store. This would be no different than setting up a tailgate bar-b-que operation in a resturant parking lot and hijacking their customers.

I sold most of the chickens because I had a neat sign out on main highway for 2 weeks and no-one stopped. Price a little cheaper than local grocery. I took some to my beauticians' shop and sold at a discount to just get rid of them. Now that the chickens are gone feed needs have reduced in half. People can get elsewhere as they didn't want mine. And they do know that feed prices have increased but here they expect you to not even get your feed expense back.I am glad I don't have to deal with the public now.
Several months ago my dh said that he could take them to St. Louis where he was working then and sell to his co-workers. Then he changed his mind and said that the men he works with would expect them to be given to them. I have permanently solved my problem by decreasing the flock. I also have sold some baby chicks the banties hatched to recoup some expense.