Need some help with eggs

We recently had a party, and two of the guests have a small farm about an hour north of Milwaukee. They have a large garden raising veggies and fruits for their own consumption. They also raise two or three pigs each year, again for their own consumption. Which brings us to my request for help. They also have two dozen chickens that produce eggs before they become Sunday dinner.

As a hostess gift, they brought us a dozen eggs grabed from the barnyard as they were leaving.


You know what is comming next, on Sunday morning I made a couple of those eggs, sunnyside, for breakfast. In the bowl, the yokes stood 3/8's of an inch above the whites, with that golden color you only get from eggs from chickens allowed to, for the most part, fend for them selves. Eating these eggs took me back to small town Spain, and far far away from those little white thingys that, if consumed, are not worth the calories or cholesterol.

I called the young couple and told them that they could probably do well selling these at a Chicago area farmers market. Now for the help, from LTHer's, which market do you think this product would be best sold at, and is it too late in the season to start. One other question to help them, what do you think people would pay for a dozen of these farm ultra fresh eggs?

Thanks in advance for your kind help.

At Trader Joe's the other day, I saw normal TJ-brand extra-large eggs for $1.29/dozen, and fancy free-range, organic "omega 3 eggs" for $3.99/dozen. With those prices in mind, I think I'd gladly pay $5-6/dozen for eggs so good they make my knees buckle. I think that'd be a totally worthwhile once-a-month-or-so indulgence, and would still be cheaper than going out for brunch & whatnot.

On a side note, Costco had 36 large eggs for $1.29. Nothing special about them (I didn't look closely, but I'd wager they were non-organic, non-free-range factory eggs), but holy crap that's so many for so little!

PPL pay a lot for those things - 4ish a dozen, and up. HOWEVER, usually the major mkts where they will get exposure charge the sellers an arm and part of a leg. They'd really have to look at how much $ they'd have to pay out vs how many eggs they'd have to sell. Those markets don't just let ppl with a card table show up and peddle their wares. It costs money - sometimes a LOT.

Two things worth considering:
1. Teaming up with a csa, and preselling their eggs and delivering them to one spot only. Usually the csa customers would more than likely already be interested in eggs like this. My csa guy is about an hour N of Milwaukee and teamed up with an egg seller this year. He also regularly teams up with other farmers in his area for apples, mushrooms, and other things to bulk up his offerings.

2. Selling them under the table.

Hi there


For those of us who don't have a weekly source, fresh eggs are such a treat. I've looked in the past for a good source of fresh farm fresh eggs with limited success. I've tried a wide variety of brands at the regular grocery stores, Whole foods, Trader Joes among other places as well. I really didn't find anything that warranted the higher price, no matter what the brand or organic marketing label the product was a disappointment.

I found that many of the Farmer's Markets don't have a very fresh product either. After talking to the owner of the stand they say all the right things...and swear that they're selling fresh farm fresh eggs that he and his wife just got done wiping clean the night before. But I get home and crack one in the 10" frying pan and the whites nearly fill the entire pan. What a disappointment!

The better eggs that I've found have been right from the farm. I would suggest getting to know your source and don't assume quality from any place. The best eggs I've had is from a friend of my brothers. Sometimes he'll bring the eggs over and they're still warm!

good luck!
dan

Sorry to go OT, but do you have to "clean" these eggs "fresh" from a chicken? Do you wipe 'em down w/ a lysol wipe? Just wondering as I'm contemplating joining the all-time-high fad of raising your own chickens and purchasing an Omlet®.

I'm a sucker for farm signs that read "fresh eggs." My husband tells this story about a farmer in Wisconsin...but I digress.

I buy eggs in a couple of places. At the Oak Park Farmer's Market, Wettensteins gets $5 a dozen. At Heritage Prairie Farm Market, I think the eggs are in the $3.50 range (I haven't bought any in a while) and the one's I got were quite fresh. Right from the Wisconsin farmer, we probably paid about $2.50 and got a great story to boot. Then there are the times I just need eggs and I get Phil's Fresh Eggs for the going rate at the supermarket.

Diannie wrote:I'm a sucker for farm signs that read "fresh eggs." My husband tells this story about a farmer in Wisconsin...but I digress.

I buy eggs in a couple of places. At the Oak Park Farmer's Market, Wettensteins gets $5 a dozen. At Heritage Prairie Farm Market, I think the eggs are in the $3.50 range (I haven't bought any in a while) and the one's I got were quite fresh. Right from the Wisconsin farmer, we probably paid about $2.50 and got a great story to boot. Then there are the times I just need eggs and I get Phil's Fresh Eggs for the going rate at the supermarket.

During the Farmer's Market season I buy the eggs there. Like Traders Point Creamery's milk, farm eggs taste like something completely different & better than regular eggs. I think Fox & Obel sells them for close to $5/dozen. If the markets aren't going, e.g. winter I will buy them there. It is cheaper than getting eggs out at most places & tastes way better.

My husband fishes most weekends in WI, so our friends there usually score some from the neighboring Amish farmers. There I can get a dozen for the same cost as a regular dozen in the supermarket. apx. $2/dozen.

From a taste perspective, the Costco eggs are probably fine for baking or anything where the eggs aren't the star of the dish.

How many chickens do your friends have? I have a friend here in the city with I think fewer than 5 chickens & she says she averages 1 egg/day per chicken. Depending on the number of chickens they own, they may not have enough egg production to warrant selling at the Farmer's Market.

From the original post, the couple had 24 chickens which on an average week would produce somewhere in the vicinity of 10 dozen (120 eggs) per week. I don't think someone an hour north of Milwaukee could even come close to charging enough to be at a farmers market here. I think they would be much better off seeing if a local avenue was available.

Jay K wrote:

Sorry to go OT, but do you have to "clean" these eggs "fresh" from a chicken? Do you wipe 'em down w/ a lysol wipe? Just wondering as I'm contemplating joining the all-time-high fad of raising your own chickens and purchasing an Omlet®.

Eggs pass through the cloaca going from the ovaries to outside. A hen's cloaca also handles excretions from the intestines and kidneys while providing a passage in the other direction for semen if roosters are around. Washing eggs may or may not be necessary, but a certain amount of excrement is not rare on freshly laid eggs.

scanz wrote:From the original post, the couple had 24 chickens which on an average week would produce somewhere in the vicinity of 10 dozen (120 eggs) per week. I don't think someone an hour north of Milwaukee could even come close to charging enough to be at a farmers market here. I think they would be much better off seeing if a local avenue was available.

Agreed. Clearly I scanned the post & missed the "two dozen chickens"