Here we are a few weeks before Easter and I have a fridge full of americauna eggs. I have blue, green, pink and an occasional purple. My egg signs are up and tomorrow I may be going roadside on the highway just out of town limits.

What price should I ask for the assorted colored eggs? I am charging $1.75 for the regular brown eggs.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), March 15, 2002

Answers

Hi Laura,

Some thoughts...

Why charge more unless you have very few of them or plenty of regular trustworthy buyers. Choose a fair price for all of your eggs and don't play seasonal games unless you have done the market research to know that you won't hurt your steady customer base by doing that. If you sell your naturally colored eggs for the regular price after Easter and for the rest of the year, you might end up with some hurt feelings. If you charge a premium and can get it for the Easter market, will you be able to get that same premium or at least some premium the rest of the year? If you can do that go for it...otherwise price them based upon their value throughout the year. (seasonal demand issues need to be factored in of course) Let production cost be your initial guide and then think hard about the seasonal demand and justification for premium. I am assuming that 1.75 is agood price to get....I have not bought nor sold an egg for quite a spell myself.

Sorry, I am babbling but I believe that price should be based upon honest assesment and the actual cost of production coupled with demand issues. I think honest relationships with my customers have paid off in steady income regardless of market fluctuations. Yes, I charged more for early season tomatoes to offset the propane it cost to produce them and the price went down to a constant as the outdoor season came on. I sold pumpkins for the same price all season and never had to dump any (yes there were more in bad yield years and less in high yield years). I sold early sweet corn for the same price as late because it cost no more to produce and it never lasted more than an hour at the market anyway. If someone said to me that I was too high, I told them to go to the grocery store then. If they told me I was too low, I said that I was making a fair profit and that I slept well at night.

Anyhow, I am not telling you what to do because we each need to make our own decisions and I totally respect that, but do think about the value of intensely loyal customers who trustyou and who you trust.

Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), March 15, 2002.

When we were selling to co-op customers, we mixed all the colored, brown, and white eggs as we got them. If someone made a SPECIAL request for all one color (or certain mix) we would charge .25 more per dozen. That was based on the idea that we could not always guarentee certain colors and if you took what we had you got the regular price; if you had a special order it involved more on our part so you paid a little more.

If you charge more per dozen there should be a reason behind it and you must be consistent. As already mentioned, don't do it just because you can due to the season. Customers become upset easily enough without questioning your prices.

-- Scotsirish (notreal@anywhere.net), March 15, 2002.

I think it is Aracauna, but, with this new wave of patriotism lately, americauna eggs might sell better! ;-)

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), March 15, 2002.

I agree ~ I think $1.75 regular price and 25 cents more for colored ones, if they are singled out specially, are good prices. Good luck with your egg sales!

Rebekah, actually Ameraucanas are a recognized breed of chicken, separate and apart from Araucanas. True Araucanas are from South America and rather hard to find purebred in the US. I like the thought of the "patriotism" of Ameraucanas!

-- Wingnut (wingnut@moment.net), March 15, 2002.

Laura, we sell our Brown and Colored Eggs for $2.00 a dozen. We've been selling them for almost 10 years. We also sell Duck Eggs for $3.OO A DOZEN. The eggs are Fresh Farm Eggs. Good lUCK.Mountain Ashe ACRES Farm.

-- Gary and Pris (MTASHEACRES@AOL.COM), March 16, 2002.

WOW, you guys have found customers that will pay over $1.00 dz?? In our area of KY, the folks act like $1.00 a dz is too high. Most try to compare the price they pay at Walmarts($.67dz) with my price. Each week I have to re-explain the difference in free range,non-medicated eggs from healthy,happy hens & factory farm eggs. So far I've found buyers, but there is NO way I could hope to get any more for mine, & most are XLG/Jumbo size! I too wouldn't want to upset my regular customers by charging more for a product that costs the same to produce just due to the holiday. Just my opinion Peace, Kathy

-- Kathy Aldridge (beckoningwinds@yahoo.com), March 16, 2002.

Actually, the colored eggs do cost more to produce. I can only expect 200 per year from each Ameraucauna hen, while my barred rocks and RIR produce closer to 340 eggs per year.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), March 16, 2002.

Hello Laura,

Eggs her sell for about one dollar a dozen. If your eggs are colored I am sure you should be able to get more.

Sincerely,

Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), March 16, 2002.

340/200 = 1.7, so your year round price for americauna eggs ought to be 1.7 * 1.75 = 2.98 a dozen, assuming that your 1.75 is the fair price based upon cost of production.

Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), March 16, 2002.

Thank you, Oscar. It is, indeed, a math problem and I am so terrible at math.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), March 17, 2002.

I just checked our local Safeway last night and found naturally nested eggs at $2.89 a dozen and Organic eggs at $5.69/doz. Regular eggs were $1.89.

-- Mac in Ak (nospam@aol.com), March 18, 2002.

Yup, Mac, the nearest stores that carry organic, free range, fertile, all vegetable fed or any variation or combination of those eggs, are 65 miles away and they start at $2.89 and go as high as $6 a dozen. I just want to cover my feed and labor costs, eat fresh eggs and make new friends.

Since many of my friends and neighbors sell eggs, I have to charge as much as they do, but these colored eggs are beautiful. I was just going to do all brown eggs, but this ameraucauna flock was given to me and they are producing fools right now.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), March 19, 2002.

I sell my eggs to my chiropractor and another friend for $2.00/doz. These people know and appreciate homegrown eggs but just can't keep their own birds at this time. I only wash off an egg if it has obvious dirt on it. If I've had to wash eggs, I tell them so they can refrigerate them.

-- Lav, Maryland (lavenderbluedilly@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.

Howdy from NM, Laura. I'm selling mine, mixed colors & sizes, for $2/doz at work. People are paying way more, like >$3/doz for the "organic free range" eggs in the store from a company called Taos Farms, so I figured $2 is about right for eggs from my certified 'happy' free-range chickens. Can't guarantee organic, but no one cares that much. I also give a 10% discount for a returned egg carton, so it all works out. debra in nm

-- debra in nm (goatgirl@unm.edu), March 19, 2002.

if in a small town , you maybe able to put up a flyer at the store, nat dyed eggs and all that , but for your regs, unless they are buying specially large quantities, use the same price

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.