Rockefeller


Some things are not passed down in your genes. My father was an excellent businessman. I have as much entrepreneurial chutzpah as an average potato. Such is life.
Above are my egg " takings" for the week. I keep them in a preserve jar in the kitchen cupboard. It's been a good week....I shall have enough money to buy the animals' feed, and should have enough left over in order to buy the dogs flea treatments and some wormer for Albert.
If I am lucky I shall have just enough to treat myself to an arthouse film at Theatre Clwyd next week or maybe a cheeky scotch egg

Some people have the impression that selling eggs is a money spinner.
I can tell you right now that it's not.
 Now , to be fair, I generally only sell to a few locals, friends and people at work, People that do me favours will get eggs for free, neighbours and friends get discounted eggs and gifts of a half dozen or so can lubricate good will with the most crusty of characters.
Customers that may be used to supermarket bought eggs go crazy over mine, as they have that amazingly strong taste and bright yellow yolks of those eggs you used to remember having when you were a child.
But 14 regular buyers won't finance a cruise of the Queen Mary!



66 comments:

  1. Well done on your egg sales. Thats an impressive amount if you can do all that with your earnings.

    Your right people think its such a money spinner. i only have a few chucks and our eggs are used by us and the family. Occasionally the odd neighbour may buy the odd few but I will never be rich from it.

    X x

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  2. I agree egg sales ( unless you keep a LOT of hens) are " feed money" only. If I factored in the set up cost of houses, timber and time building runs etc etc I know we would never make a profit :)

    Still nice to be able to buy feed for them, from what they have earned :)

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  3. If only I could have hens and have eggs!
    John, there's an interesting article on parking fines on the Martin Lewis newsletter this week, you may want to check it out.

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  4. we give away our eggs from our 4 chickens ( 3 ex batts) ....the 4 egg, egg boxes cost about 33p each... so along with their food ( they have gourmet aspirations) they lay the most expensive eggs known to mankind.
    But they are pets....
    Madness.

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    1. I am lucky.. The refugees I took in last autumn, love to free range and all are banging out eggs throughout the winter

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  5. My next door neighbor keeps 9 hens and when they have a surplus some of us get an email "Anyone need eggs?". They are slightly more expensive than supermarket eggs but I am sure they don't break even. And I have the bonus of watching the hens in the yard. I save and reuse the egg box.

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  6. 14 people who admire your eggs in a small village is not bad going, John.

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  7. Anonymous11:22 am

    How many locals read your blog? Maybe sales will pick up.

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  8. I'd buy some but we get free range eggs delivered with our weekly veg box! I can't wait until I can keep my own chickens.

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    1. Emergency flower show meeting in a week or so Hannah...will email you x

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  9. Not bad though John …… better than a kick up the bum and pays for all of those other things.
    I can buy eggs from my butcher who gets them from someone with their own chickens but, if I don't do that, I buy Cotswold Legbar free range from Waitrose. They are the best supermarket eggs. The yolks are orange and taste wonderful. XXXX

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    1. Some months the reality is often very different x

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  10. Do fellow bloggers get eggs for free?? Asking for a friend.

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  11. I have never bought eggs that were as rich yoked as fresh...no comparison

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  12. I used to keep hens as pets. By the time you have bought (or made) their living acommodation, layers pellets, corn, worming stuff, red mite powder, cider vinegar, cleaning solutions and disinfectants, bits and bobs to deal with prolaspses and other injuries etc etc; PLUS the vets bills - you are left with very expensive (but very tasty) eggs!

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  13. Truly a labor of love, that helps to pay part of the cost. Now to find someone who wants to spin the wool and convince the sheep to let you near them.

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    1. You are a relative newbee travel!
      Last year a local lady made me a woolly hat from my own sheep's wool!

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  14. Anonymous12:47 pm

    I'm sure you didn't go into hens just to get rich lol. They are paying for their keep and providing for those among them who can no longer lay which is more than a lot of us humans do.

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    1. Yes Delores..... At least 12 hens ( including the little muddy colour hen) are now retired

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  15. I'm stunned to learn that you're turning a profit, however small.
    It seems that every time I look you're handing out free eggs over the fence to another deserving - or not so deserving - soul.

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    1. It's only thanks to the " refugees"
      The 30 of them arrived last autumn....and most of them are laying very well

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  16. The best eggs I have eaten were from Natalie's hens (Knatolee's World) and now I only buy local.

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    1. Nat is a true professional when it comes to hens

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  17. Have you ever used a 'honesty' box to sell your eggs, John? I have seen a few here in Southern Ireland.

    Anybody unfamiliar with the idea:

    People collect their eggs and leave the right money. That's the idea any way.

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    1. I have tried that but people generally like to find me when they came for eggs,,,,many customers get their eggs delivered

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  18. i drive an hour away to buy my eggs. i just can't buy them from a store. it's good that at least you can cover the feed costs.

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    1. An hour?
      NOW THATS A SERIOUS EGG EATER XXX

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  19. I am impressed by anyone who has enough extra eggs to sell any, much less make a profit on the endeavour. The neighbors used to tell my dad how lucky we were to get all those "free" eggs from our chickens!

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  20. My normal diet is Vegan, however I will on occasion scarf down a free range egg PDQ! Love that the "
    girls" are helping you help the other critters!! That's the perfect co-op

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  21. How right you are that the eggs from small egg-producers like yourself are always so much tastier than the supermarket offerings. Some of the latter have been quite disgusting - watery, flavourless, anaemic. I do my best to avoid them.

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    1. It's grass........and bugs...and worms that adds the flavour!

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  22. You have a good thing going there John. I am sure you know that.....we do!

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    1. If you were nearer jimbo I would give you some for Ron.......

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  23. Lovely Hubby forgot to deliver eggs to all our regular customers the other week (he takes them all into work with him on a Monday morning and forgot to pack them in the car) and some of them had to buy supermarket eggs for the first time in ages. There were a LOT of comments about the superiority of the colour and taste of ours .... I think I'll make him forget just every once in a while to keep them eager for more :-)

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  24. "homegrown" eggs are wonderful...and of course you're right...no cruises on the proceeds!

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  25. No cruises John but a whole heap of goodwill.

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  26. ...and plenty of chicken sh** for the garden too, as a by product

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  27. Who needs a cruise? Sounds like you do just well enough. :-)
    Have a good weekend!

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  28. You could set up scotch eggs for currency. All you need to establish is the exchange course; 1 egg = one scotch egg, or half a dozen eggs = one scotch egg, or whatever adds up most fairly.

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  29. I used to smallhold with a friend and we had a Jersey cow, sheep,a few pigs and some goats. It was a great time but not without its heartache when animals got sick or when my favourite goat went to the butchers because she was getting old and our feed and vets bills were too high. I only keep chickens now and the eggs are lovely, but not cheap. I'll never keep any animal now that I'm not prepared to give a home for life. So I'm a rubbish business woman!

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    1. Jan
      I would kill my mother for a jersey cow....

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    2. Does your mother know this? Ours was called Buttercup, she was a sweetheart and when we first milked her my friend and I pretended we coped fine. We later admitted to sobbing into the pail those first few days while we got the hang of milking her. So much more difficult than the goats!
      We had so much cream we used to have marmalade on toast for breakfast with cream on top!

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  30. I buy my eggs at a local healthfood store. They get the eggs from locals about a half hour away. If the store ever closes, i'll make the run to the farm myself and pick up the eggs. They are yummy and worth the higher price.

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    1. I leave bits of shit on my eggs just to remind people they come from real birds

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  31. When we re-homed our “ladies” after forty years of raising our own egg layers we just could not stand store bought eggs and quickly found a source of fresh brown eggs. I don’t mind spending four dollars for a dozen fresh.

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    1. What's four dollars in pounds?
      £ 3 quid for a dozen here in trelawnyd x

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  32. When daughter goes to the CSA for her veggies she can pick up a dozen eggs for me from the local farmer. So good.
    I don't think you would want to cruise, the last few months news are filled with cruises that have had horrible thing happening to them. The movie and a scotch egg sound better to me.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. I have always wanted to go on the Queen Mary!

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    2. well I must admit I would love to sail on the Queen Mary or travel on The Orient Express.

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  33. do you charge accordingly for free range eggs? cos i am pretty certain those things are about as valuable as gold

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    1. £ 1.50 for 6.
      £ 1.00 for 6 ( to friends)
      £ 2.00 for 6 duck eggs
      X

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  34. I don't think Rockefeller was as content or well liked as you.

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    1. That's sweet of you tom.......I suspect the same thing applies to you x

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  35. You may never be financially rich - but the love you have, and share so generously is worth BUCKETS AND BUCKETS of money in the bank.

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    1. A bit more money would be nice sometimes.....

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  36. When I lived in another state I had a friend with chickens. She often gave me eggs. I miss them. They were the prettiest eggs ever.

    Love,
    Janie

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