# How much to charge for chicken eggs and meat ?



## AJones33 (Nov 13, 2012)

Recently, people have been asking to buy chicken meat and eggs from me. What's a gold price to sell them and make a profit ?


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## kahiltna_flock (Sep 20, 2012)

I have no idea about the meat aspect. I would call around your area and see what the going rate is. I get $5 a dozen here in Alaska. Cost of living is a bit more up here. If I were doing 100% organic I could get $7-8. hope that helps


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## AJones33 (Nov 13, 2012)

Yea that helps. Thank you


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## Sundancers (Jun 20, 2012)

kahiltna_flock said:


> I have no idea about the meat aspect. I would call around your area and see what the going rate is. I get $5 a dozen here in Alaska. Cost of living is a bit more up here. If I were doing 100% organic I could get $7-8. hope that helps


Congrats!!!

I get 2.50 but like you said the cost of living is a little different.  (Sorry) I can't help on the meat aspect either. We keep an can our own...


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## Tony-O (Jul 19, 2012)

Getting $2.50 a dozen right now. but may have to raise it a quarter if the feed prices keep rising. 
I only sell my chickens, ducks, guineas, etc. as live birds. Prices vary as to the size, type and sex. If my customers want to eat them, it's up to them to either do it, or have it done. To many government regulations when selling dressed birds to the public, for me to get into.


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## TheLazyL (Jun 20, 2012)

Midwest area - I'm getting $3 a dozen and no profit.


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## ChickenAdmin (Jun 4, 2012)

I'm with the popular opinion it seems $2.50 a dozen.


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

I beg to differ. If your getting $3 and your not making ends meet, then you need to charge $3.25 or $3.50. Within a 50 mile radius you can pay $1.50 to $6.50 for the same sandwich. There are different neighborhoods within the Midwest. Charge what you need to. Believe me, you'll still sell your eggs.


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## TheLazyL (Jun 20, 2012)

Energyvet said:


> I beg to differ. If your getting $3 and your not making ends meet, then you need to charge $3.25 or $3.50. Within a 50 mile radius you can pay $1.50 to $6.50 for the same sandwich. There are different neighborhoods within the Midwest. Charge what you need to. Believe me, you'll still sell your eggs.


My start up costs put me above the Cadilac price range for recouping my costs..

8 + 1 Buff Orpingtons

$X,200. for the coop

$X00. for the run

Another X00.00 for feeder, waters, web cam and miscellaneous.

And $XX,000 for a Kawasaki Mule for chicken chores like hauling chicken poop for compost and picking up eggs.

$15 a month for feed.

7 months later I sold my first 2 dozen eggs for $3.00 per


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## ChickenAdmin (Jun 4, 2012)

Energyvet said:


> I beg to differ. If your getting $3 and your not making ends meet, then you need to charge $3.25 or $3.50. Within a 50 mile radius you can pay $1.50 to $6.50 for the same sandwich. There are different neighborhoods within the Midwest. Charge what you need to. Believe me, you'll still sell your eggs.


Ultimately that's the issue. You have to charge what you need to charge for your area and your over head.


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

Your business start up should be used over 10 years or something. So I'd use the cost of feed and labor. Also wouldn't figure the donkey in the calculations. That's just me. But don't be afraid to charge what you need to charge.


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## doubleoakfarm (Jan 1, 2013)

For our meat birds we figure our cost for chicks and feed plus processing fees ( or labor if you do it yourself). Processing for us includes fuel/mileage. To that we add in labor. Our set up takes about 10-15 minutes two or three times a day to move the house, feed and water. Multiply that times 8 weeks (or how long you grow them) and what you want to make per hour. Once you have your costs covered you can decide if you want to add a profit. Divide the total cost either by your number of birds or total pounds depending if you intend to sell by weight or by bird. Our birds end up selling for about $15-20 each. If I'm not going to make money I'd rather put it in my own freezer. I've never had a problem selling out. 

We do the same for eggs. Figure the cost for feed, egg license (if required where you live), egg cartons, labor and any profit you wish to make. We sell eggs for $3 and always sell out even though others charge less. If feed keeps going up we will raise our prices again.


We do include a small amount to help recoup start up costs.


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## ChickenAdmin (Jun 4, 2012)

doubleoakfarm said:


> For our meat birds we figure our cost for chicks and feed plus processing fees ( or labor if you do it yourself). Processing for us includes fuel/mileage. To that we add in labor. Our set up takes about 10-15 minutes two or three times a day to move the house, feed and water. Multiply that times 8 weeks (or how long you grow them) and what you want to make per hour. Once you have your costs covered you can decide if you want to add a profit. Divide the total cost either by your number of birds or total pounds depending if you intend to sell by weight or by bird. Our birds end up selling for about $15-20 each. If I'm not going to make money I'd rather put it in my own freezer. I've never had a problem selling out.
> 
> We do the same for eggs. Figure the cost for feed, egg license (if required where you live), egg cartons, labor and any profit you wish to make. We sell eggs for $3 and always sell out even though others charge less. If feed keeps going up we will raise our prices again.
> 
> We do include a small amount to help recoup start up costs.


I've never sold a bird. Do you sell a lot of them?


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## Catherine (Dec 21, 2012)

The egg man who delivers eggs here in the arts district charges 4 dollars a dozen. I use to think that was pretty stiff price even with the delivery but now I think he is not making much at all and appreciate him more. I do buy cat nip from him though ) My 2 girls give me an egg a day , med to large size . Ethel is bigger than Lucy and I can see she is the top dog in the family. Mr chicken and Lucy are closer .... Ohhh I got mr chicken to eat out of my hand a few days ago, a first!!! Exciting as he is a feral chicken and was free ranging up till a month ago. He is slowly being domesticated ! Hope the like the new coop we got them. It's almost ready ,paint is still curing and the platform needs to be painted too which means a trip to store for more paint. Is there a standard height for coops to be up off the ground? We'd like a feeder to hang under it so it will stay dry as possible for outdoors. Thanks, Catherine


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## doubleoakfarm (Jan 1, 2013)

Austin said:


> I've never sold a bird. Do you sell a lot of them?


We have a small store and also go to several farm markets and have a CSA program, so yes we sell a number of meat birds along with eggs. We are just small though. We only raise about 30 at a time. That is how many fit in our moveable pasture pen.


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## ChickenAdmin (Jun 4, 2012)

doubleoakfarm said:


> We have a small store and also go to several farm markets and have a CSA program, so yes we sell a number of meat birds along with eggs. We are just small though. We only raise about 30 at a time. That is how many fit in our moveable pasture pen.


I've never raised meat birds, how long does it take to get them ready for sale?


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## doubleoakfarm (Jan 1, 2013)

When we raise just for meat we often choose Cornish cross. They take about 8-10 weeks depending on how big you want them and if they are fed properly. They are different than layers to raise so I would do some reading before get started. We put them in a pasture pen we can move daily because they are very messy


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## ChickenAdmin (Jun 4, 2012)

I'll read up on it more. I've never gotten into meat chickens, only egg.


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## doubleoakfarm (Jan 1, 2013)

Austin said:


> I'll read up on it more. I've never gotten into meat chickens, only egg.


It's a big step because at the end of it all those birds you've been raising are going into the freezer which is very different than just eating eggs. Definitely not for everyone.


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## pprkepr (Jan 17, 2013)

We raised several batches of cornish cross this past year. We still have a lot in the freezer. We also have two flocks of laying hens and plan to add more. We dont sell our broilers but use them for barter and trade with others in our area.they love it and so do we


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