GET READY
I've wanted to do this article for a long time. Homesteaders and farmers barely if ever break even when it comes to selling eggs. The local farmers market has vendors that sell home grown eggs and road side signs all around are easy to find offering eggs for sale. Where we live, eggs are everywhere and almost everyone has chickens.
I learned a few years ago when we started raising chickens, just how much money we paid for feed. It's a lot and that is mainly the reason why its hard to make any profit selling eggs. The only way you make money is to have a HUGE operation where thousands of eggs are laid by your flock daily.
But why?
What ticked me off was the REASON that a simple farmer or homesteader can't make a small profit on their eggs. Store eggs are priced cheap. Why should I pay $3.00 or $4.00 for your eggs when they are so much cheaper at the store? Well, this is literally like comparing apples to oranges. Sure you can buy cheap white shelled eggs for almost nothing. But you're paying for nothing and that is what your getting. Nothing! No taste and no nutrition.
The egg business is full of a bunch of liars. Cage free is not cage free. It just simply mean by regulatory definitions, they have a 1 square foot cage as opposed to a 1/2 sq. foot cage. Organic Free Range only means they have them outside for a certain period of time and only during certain times of the year. The biggest difference is the freshness of the eggs you buy. Many eggs you buy won't include "born on" dates showing you how old the eggs are.
Everyone wants fresh tasty eggs. But very few are willing to pay for them. Walmart is a discount shopping experience but even Whole Foods is misleading to you about the living conditions of their chickens and the age of their eggs and the time it takes to bring them from farm to table. Take your most expensive Whole Foods egg and crack it open to lay next to a yesterday laid farmer's egg. See the difference?
Take a look at this package of the most expensive Walmart Organic (supposedly) Cage Free dozen. The cost is going to be well over $4 once you take into account tax. The average schmuck is going to think just looking at the price and labeling that, "heck, these eggs are the best eggs you can buy". The schmuck wants fresh tasty eggs, but he drove past the farmers market on the way to their local grocer. He could have had eggs laid literally yesterday at probably a cheaper price.
How Old Are These Eggs?
Now here is the kicker. Take a look at the "Best By" date on the package. The carton didn't give a born on date. This photo was taken on December 18th, 2017. The eggs are considered "Best" until a whole month later! The eggs were not laid on the day I took the picture on the 18th. How long did it take the eggs to get through the farm, travel to packaging and sit in a truck before being put on the shelf. 1 week? 2 weeks?
Again, people will pass over roadside signs at farms "because their eggs are too expensive" and drive to the grocer to pay for older, less nutritious and MORE EXPENSIVE eggs than the farmers around them!
This time of year, the egg laying season is ramping up for local area farmers! Find a farmer with chickens and buy their eggs. They will be healthier than anything you will find in the store, they will taste better and be cheaper than the most expensive "Organic" eggs your grocer will carry. Enjoy!
Happy Chickens Produce Happy Eggs!
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