What would you pay for a dozen free-range chicken eggs?

[CrispyBiscuit]

At the request of many friends who want to purchase our eggs, my son wants to start selling them.  I don't know what to charge.   I hear eggs are expensive nowadays in the stores, but I don't know what they sell for as I don't buy eggs/don't pay attention to that section.    We have 22 hens and they free range all day (dawn to dusk) on our 11 acres.    They are fed all natural feed (which they don't eat a heap of as they get a great deal of their nutrition from the yard/bugs/etc.).  -- All this to say that they eat ALL natural.   We put NO chemicals on our yard and we routinely feed them scraps from our all natural veggie garden.   Eggs are mostly large with a few medium in size.   My flock is comprised of large breed layers (Rhode Island Red, Delaware, Ancona, Barred Rock, etc.)

 

What would you be a reasonable price to ask for a dozen of such free range eggs? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2016 by CrispyBiscuit

[HRAAB]

In our area, I have seen them priced from $3.50 to $5.00 a dozen.

 

I have an overabundance of eggs right now and have a couple people wanting to buy so I'm tossing around what I should ask.

[rdj2027]

I paid $7.50 for a dozen of large eggs. These were store-bought pastured, certified organic eggs.

Edited March 9, 2016 by rdj2027

[G5052]

In our area, I have seen them priced from $3.50 to $5.00 a dozen.

 

Same here. Depends on organic feed, etc. 

[KarenNC]

Depends on certification. Direct from the farmer, pasture-raised goes for $4.50 for large, $5 for jumbo. For certified organic with no GMO feed from the farmer is $6 a dozen here.

Edited March 9, 2016 by KarenNC

[Halftime Hope]

Here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I pay $2/dozen for eggs to a friend who has pastured chickens much like what you describe.  The feed she gives them is "all natural" but isn't labeled organic or non-GMO.  She sells well *under* the going market rate for similar home-raised eggs, which is about $4/dozen. (She raises the chicken for the love of chickens and is happy to have customers like me who buy from her and pay for her feed.) 

 

If I wanted all organic, non-GMO fed pastured chickens, I'd have to pay $5/dozen eggs to a local farmer.  In the grocery store, eggs like the ones I buy sell for $6 or 7/dozen, or $8/dozen for all organic, non-GMO pastured eggs.

[eternalsummer]

The person I buy eggs from seasonally has a small farm (sheep, pigs, etc.) and sells eggs for $4/doz.

 

I only buy from her because she is the only person I can find who doesn't buy chicks from the pullet factory (we do pastured eggs for moral reasons, and a pullet factory kind of negates that.); she just lets her hens brood sometimes and raises/eats the roosters.

 

I would pay $7/doz happily.  I would pay up to $12/doz. unhappily.  If they were $20/doz. I'd get them for special occasions.

[HRAAB]

I'm appreciating our hens right now.  The way we eat eggs, we would be in debt buying them at some of these prices.

[Kalmia]

$5.00 a dozen with organic feed.

[Doodlebug]

I buy free range eggs from a friend to support their children's side business.  I pay $5.00 and get at least a dozen eggs.  But sometimes, I get 18 for $5.00.  It just depends on supply.  

 

 

[MercyA]

I would happily pay $4 a dozen. A friend only charges $2 a dozen for eggs from similarly happy hens, but this is the woman who charges the same amount for unbelievably good, hour long art classes.  :svengo: (She's one of the most generous people I know.)

[plansrme]

I pay $5/dozen for something similar.  I buy 12 dozen every other week and split them with two other families.  

[Tap]

$3 TO 5 from a casual neighbor or small family farm ( not ran as a business ie no taxes being paid on products sold)

$4 to 6 from a full time farm, csa or farmers market

$6 to 9 for organic standards but not certified (usually a farm waiting to be certified)

$8+ for certified organic

Edited March 9, 2016 by Tap

[Pam in CT]

Depends on certification. Direct from the farmer, pasture-raised goes for $4.50 for large, $5 for jumbo. For certified organic with no GMO feed from the farmer is $6 a dozen here.

That's about what they are here too.

[Rachel]

$3-$5/dozen is the price I see around here.

[Ottakee]

Wow....we way under charge. We have 10 free range hens. We usually charge $2/dozen but then again often give them to a few friends for free....who then do other favors for us.

[Rachel]

Wow....we way under charge. We have 10 free range hens. We usually charge $2/dozen but then again often give them to a few friends for free....who then do other favors for us.

That's cheaper than regular commercial eggs at the store here.  

[Onceuponatime]

I pay 3.50 a dozen for eggs from my neighbor's sister's chickens. I actually raised the price myself because I thought she wasn't charging me enough.

[Tsuga]

At the request of many friends who want to purchase our eggs, my son wants to start selling them.  I don't know what to charge.   I hear eggs are expensive nowadays in the stores, but I don't know what they sell for as I don't buy eggs/don't pay attention to that section.    We have 22 hens and they free range all day (dawn to dusk) on our 11 acres.    They are fed all natural feed (which they don't eat a heap of as they get a great deal of their nutrition from the yard/bugs/etc.).  -- All this to say that they eat ALL natural.   We put NO chemicals on our yard and we routinely feed them scraps from our all natural veggie garden.   Eggs are mostly large with a few medium in size.   My flock is comprised of large breed layers (Rhode Island Red, Delaware, Ancona, Barred Rock, etc.)

 

What would you be a reasonable price to ask for a dozen of such free range eggs? 

 

Greater Seattle area here, hens lay less in the winter, food is fairly expensive:

 

• Certified (because they have to pay for that process), at the grocery store or market near my home: $6, certified organic, free-range.
• Not certified, but near my home at the grocery or market: $4.50.
• If I had to drive out to the farm, or at a rural market, I'd expect to pay about $4. Like on the side of the road.

I pay more for certification in a market because I simply have no other way to verify what you're telling me.

 

We buy certified organic eggs because free range is not available at our store.

[mamiof5]

We buy them for $4 a dozen or $5 for 18 egg carton

[Acorn]

2.75 for free range and over 4 for certified organic

[happypamama]

Regular eggs at the grocery store run $1.65-$2.50 a dozen here right now. The boutiquey farm markets and the like charge $4-5 a dozen for free range/semi free range/organic eggs. I pay $2-$3 dozen for free range/semi free range (like, they might have a big pen that gets moved around the yard) which may or may not be 100% organic, from friends, and I'm totally happy with that.

[Mergath]

We pay $2 to $3 a dozen for non-certified free range eggs from local farmers. I don't buy organic from the store, but they're significantly more.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Mergath

[umsami]

Here in Florida, I'd expect to pay in the $6-$8 range.

[Ailaena]

 

I have been trying to find people to sell me eggs here for years; I'd pay you $6 for a dozen of them bad boys :D

[Heatherwith4]

I sell our chicken/duck eggs for $3/dozen. Occasionally I'll charge $4 during the winter when production is really low.

[Laurie4b]

I pay $3.50/dozen

[LibraryLover]

I pay $9 for eggs from chickens I know who are truly ranging.  Crazy, yes. But that's the way it is. When I was selling eggs, $4 barely covered it.  (My chickens were living as yours are, but it wasn't cheap, especially in winter. Think about the whole process.)  How much do you spend on feed per month? What about your time caring for them, cleaning out the pens?  Good food costs more, and people who care about that are willing to pay a bit more as they know grocery store eggs are truly crap.

Edited March 9, 2016 by LibraryLover

[kbutton]

$1.50 to $4.50 in our area. The lower price would be families (or grandparents) doing 4H who can't use all the eggs and want to offset their cost. The higher price is from a farmer who is pretty serious about her stuff and sells all kinds of farm products. I do know that the farmer tends to lose more chickens to coyotes and raccoons than the grandma helping out her grandkids, and it can be costly to replace birds. I think the grandma brings her birds into a barn each night.

 

As far as I can tell, the big difference in the actual eggs is that the farm eggs have prettier shells (many colors, not just brown). They both have golden, glowing yolks and taste amazing.

 

I could not tell you what these eggs would fetch in a local health food store. 

[KungFuPanda]

$3 per dozen from a friend.  She doesn't produce enough to sell in the winter, but when it's warm we get lots.  I think this is fair since there is no middleman to pay or official hoops for her to jump through.  Also, I pick up the eggs at activities we both attend, so no shipping issues.  I save my empty cartons for her when I do buy eggs.

Edited March 9, 2016 by KungFuPanda

[Okra]

Now, I want chickens......

[Ali in OR]

People at church or work bring them when they have an abundance and sell them for $2-$3 dozen. I pass a sign on the way home sometimes that says $5 a dozen which seems expensive to me.

[kubiac]

I've seen them at $9/doz at farmer's markets here in Southern California.

[Tsuga]

:svengo:

I've seen them at $9/doz at farmer's markets here in Southern California.

 

California wins. Holy cow! Or rather, at those prices, holy hen!

[LucyStoner]

$5/dozen is the going rate here for buying eggs from backyard hens. This is in a HCOL metropolitan area.

 

I have a friend who gives them to me, but I do often reciprocate with other stuff so it's not like I am ripping her off. I once tried to pay her what she was charging other people and she was like "Katie, you don't pay for eggs."

[Elfknitter.#]

I've seen them at $9/doz at farmer's markets here in Southern California.

Yeah, I think the one near my work sells them in the $8/ doz range.

[happi duck]

$4

[Amy in NH]

I charge my friends $2/dozen, although I know they'd be willing to pay $3. These are mostly jumbo size eggs. I'm not looking to make money off my friends for something have in surplus; but it does pay for their upkeep.

[cmarthur]

We sell ours for $4 a dozen. They are true free range and we feed them organic, non GMO feed. Similar eggs sell for $6 to $7 dollars in our stores, but we sell to friends so we are not making a profit.

[Carrie12345]

I occasionally pay up to $4/dozen.  I would be willing to pay more, more often, but it's not in my budget for the number of eggs we actually eat (when you include the extra driving for my area.)

[mom31257]

I pay $3 a dozen for free range eggs from chickens also fed non-GMO feed. 

 

 

[ScoutTN]

Here I buy eggs from pastured chx, who get soy free, non-GMO feed for $4.50-$6.00 from the farmers. $7-8 at the store for pastured, organic.

[plansrme]

Wanted to add that we always collect our egg cartons and return them to our egg lady.  If she runs low on cartons (she says cartons are expensive), she or I will raid the recycling bin at Publix.  The bins are not locked and can be opened from the side, so you don't have to stick your hand through the chute.  I figure that recycling the cartons for eggs, instead of shipping them off for processing into flip-flops or something, is a goal that any recycler or even Publix would support, so I have no qualms about grabbing a few cartons here and there.

 

This is my favorite time of year for her eggs, as the yolks take on a green tinge.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Egg prices started coming down again, but for awhile the free range and non free range were similar in price with sometimes the free range stuff being cheaper.

 

If I bought something like that from a friend, I'd probably give them $10 for a dozen.  That might seem high, but I dunno I guess I'd feel compelled because I can't imagine there is much money to be made in this situation and I'd want to support what they are doing.  Although if I had a large family and went through a dozen in a day I couldn't afford to pay that much for eggs.  As it is now I probably go through a dozen per week or two weeks.

 

[Lori D.]

I pay $3/dozen -- two different friends have backyard chickens and are all-organic and free-range run of the backyard. Both friends have the chickens for fun and not as a business, so that $3/dozen works well on both sides -- just enough for them to cover some of their feed costs, and the convenience of me taking their extra eggs off their hands as they need that, but also me being patient if they don't have any extra that week. I also save cartons to make it easier and cheaper for them. And, for me, it's convenient, organic, and a deal.

 

In our area, depending on what store you go to and what "type" you get, a dozen eggs run anywhere from $2.50 (regular commercially-produced eggs) to $5-6 (organic free range).

Edited March 9, 2016 by Lori D.

[HomeAgain]

I would pay about $4.  And now I'm really missing good eggs!  They taste so much better than generic store bought ones.  OT: Dh and I were watching a programme the other night about a farm-to-kitchen restaurant that was developing free range, organic chili eggs.  They fed the chickens peppers as part of their diet - the chickens can't taste the capsaicin in the chilis but they carry over to the yolks and turn them bright red with a bit of spice.  I'd love to try one of those, lol, it's my favorite dish in one neat package.

[foxbridgeacademy]

In Southern Indiana they go for $3-$4 per dozen (bring your own carton). I'm finding they're about the same here in Middle TN.

[FriedClams]

$3 per dozen from a friend. She doesn't produce enough to sell in the winter, but when it's warm we get lots. I think this is fair since there is no middleman to pay or official hoops for her to jump through. Also, I pick up the eggs at activities we both attend, so no shipping issues. I save my empty cartons for her when I do buy eggs.

This is my story, except I pay $2/doz. I'm very blessed that my dear friend has hens!! I don't know what they charge but church friends also have hens and I'd be shocked if they charged more than $3/doz.

[Denise in Florida]

I live in NE Florida.  I pay $4.00 per dozen at the farmer's market.  Honestly, I would be willing to pay more but that is apparently the rate they have chosen to charge.  For comparison commercial eggs are $2.89 or more per dozen at the store. 

 

 

[chocolatechip]

Around here I see $3.50-$4.00 pretty consistently.