Are your egg sales lagging while chicken feed costs are rising? It can be frustrating to see farmer’s market vendors effortlessly raking in double or triple the prices you are asking for your eggs with no takers. Let’s fix that! Here are 10 actionable ways to quickly boost egg sales income from your flock.
Quickly Boost Egg Sales
If you’re drowning in eggs and looking to have the hens help pay to feed themselves, here are some ideas that can rapidly increase your egg sales and even net you a higher price per dozen:
1. Take Crisp, Clear, Farmhouse Styled Photos
Pictures are everything these days. Fresh, attractive images generate instant interest. Use your smart phone’s camera, natural lighting and a little bit of staging to create eye-catching images that sell. Eating eggs should be photographed indoors near a window on a white or natural wood background in a way that makes them look inviting and delicious. Tea towels, fresh herbs, baked pastries, clean kitchen utensils and gathering baskets add farmhousey charm.
Hatching eggs can be photographed outdoors in a basket, bird’s nest, bucket of straw or other natural setting that highlights their beautiful colors.
2. Only Sell Clean Eggs
If you’ve handed buyers cartons of eggs dotted with chicken poop, you know why they aren’t coming back. Wash your eggs with clear water to remove smudges, air dry them and then package for sale. Washed eggs will require refrigeration. If you need to communicate that to buyers, carton stamps are a cute way to let them know their eggs should go into the fridge.
Hint: Using nest boxes thickly lined with straw that is refreshed every 48 hours is one secret to getting naturally clean eggs if you want to sell them unwashed. (I’ve also got stamps for unwashed eggs!)
3. Dress Up Those Cartons
Buyers cannot resist farmhousey looking cartons! Stamped pulp cartons have an alluring country charm that makes egg selling easy. You can command top dollar for your eggs and you’ll feel confident handing over such a nicely presented dozen. Your eating and hatching egg pictures should feature your hand stamped cartons so buyers can see the care you put into your product. My clients report a nearly instant increase in interest and sales after posting fresh images of their new stamped egg cartons online. Readers can use coupon code BUY2DEAL to save $5 on any stamp order of $67 or more in my Etsy shop.
4. Get The Word – With Pictures – Out
We are a visual people who like pretty pictures but social media rules can make it difficult to advertise there. Do not list eggs on Facebook Marketplace where your account will be reported (and possibly suspended) within minutes. Instead, use the beautiful images you took to offer them on your private neighborhood social media page, where you are less likely to be reported, and have a nearby friend or two post them for you on their neighborhood pages. Ideally your hens will have regular access to pasture grass and natural bugs so you can advertise your eggs as pasture raised. It may be a little slow at first but word-of-mouth will spread as people view your images. 1 or 2 good quality, crisp pictures are a must.
5. Supply Farmer’s Market Vendors
It can be a big investment to become a farmer’s market vendor yourself but what about supplying an existing vendor with eggs? When you visit your farmer’s market, gather business cards or photograph contact information printed on their display banners. Message the vendor directly with images of your eggs, attractive cartons and asking price per dozen. Keep in mind your asking price will need to be around half of the going rate of eggs other vendors are selling so your vendor can make a few dollars for each dozen they sell. If farmer’s market vendors are not interested, contact local natural markets who tend to have even higher demand for pastured eggs. Be aware that your cartons will need to be on-point, with Federal Safe Handling Instructions visible and all state laws met for selling your eggs. The upside is that all your eggs for the week are sold at once for guaranteed income.
6. Contact Local Home-Based Bakers
Would you be willing to sell several dozen pasture raised eggs for a reasonable bulk price? Use social media to locate nearby independent bakers and message them with your name, how close you are, the price you’re asking and images of your clean eating eggs. The baker may ask permission to use your images to advertise that she’s using premium eggs so consider using a water mark logo on your images. (I can help design your logo!)
7. Supply Small Local Restaurants
If you have ten or more dozen eggs per week you need to move, contact independently owned breakfast shops, cafes or bakeries to offer your eggs. Many states allow restaurants to buy directly from flock keepers and most eateries are interested in advertising that they source local foods. Carefully read your state laws, which are likely to require that the address where the hens are kept appear on the outside of your carton when the eggs are delivered to commercial establishments.
8. Craft Pre-Made Teacher Gifts
Busy parents sometimes need someone else to handle the teacher gift cuteness. Most feel guilty giving less than a $10 gift card so will not hesitate to spend $4 or $5 on an attractively packaged half dozen eggs for the plethora of teachers their children have. If you offer this service near any holidays or teacher appreciation week, expect to sell out very quickly. Do not over-sell more eggs than your hens can lay, even if that means only meeting the orders of one or two families. Thanksgiving and Easter are the best times of year to do this so have spring and autumn themed twine, tags and accessories. (Affiliate links.)
Click Here to Learn How to GIFT Wrap Egg Cartons!
9. Offer Local Delivery to the Elderly
This may seem like a strange idea but people are willing to pay a pretty penny for you to drop off hand gathered eggs and spend a moment visiting with an elderly loved one. Most seniors who live alone only need a half dozen eggs but the in-person delivery is an opportunity for an elderly individual to have a non-invasive check-in that they genuinely look forward to. The eggs + service is a grouped charge of $10-$12 per half dozen and the deliveries can be scheduled for the same day each week. Do not be surprised if all your eggs are needed to satisfy a small, local route that generates a lot of interest. Ideally you will market this to the adult children and caretakers of the elderly who are more likely to see your post on social media or find the information you post on a church or community bulletin board. There is potential to partner with a local dessert baker to deliver more than just eggs or switch off delivery weeks and generate a trickle of steady income if you have the time.
10. Donate to Generate
If you’re sitting on a heap of eggs you need to move right now, consider donating a couple dozen to a local church organization or assisted living community. Stamp the cartons with your information, affix a custom label or tie on a cute business card so people who receive the eggs can get in touch with you in the future. Another idea is to take them up to your child’s school as a gift for the teachers or to your favorite salon as a surprise for the staff who may be very interested in saving themselves a trip to the farmer’s market by purchasing directly from you from now on.
Bonus Tip: Sell Hatching Eggs Instead
If you are able to keep a rooster and breed colored egg layers or purebreds, you will make more money per dozen by selling them as hatching eggs. Hatching eggs should be unwashed, stored with the pointed end down and the carton should be tilted back and forth by elevating one side then the other with a book or piece of 2×4 wood scrap. Eggs should be incubated within 7 days of being laid so only the freshest eggs can be sold as hatching eggs. I’ve got information here and here on how profitable hatching egg sales can be!
Let’s Get Going!
I hope these tips give you some great new ideas on how to quickly boost egg sales!
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