We currently sell eggs to a handful of regular weekly customers, and it’s great to have a reliable market.  However, we want to resume selling eggs at the Farmers Market (especially after jumping through all of the necessary hoops to do so!).  For us, a small flock has been a worthwhile, reasonably-priced, enjoyable investment.  If you are starting from scratch (ha), you’ll have to spend a little bit more than we did when we recently expanded.

Start-up:

We had previously purchased the chick feeder, waterer, and heat lamp setup(approximately $5, $2, and $20 respectively - so, ~$27.00).

Brooder box - free (recycled cardboard and newspaper + duct tape we already had).

Straw - 1 bale - $8.25/ bale

Chicks - 12 x $2.50 = $30

Organic chick starter - $28 (50 lb bag)

= $93.25

Mail-ordering chicks gives you the best selection of breeds, but you must add expedited shipping (for us previously it was about the same cost as the chicks themselves, ~$30.)

We just purchased a larger feeder and automatic waterer to accomodate the entire flock once the chicks move out to the barn, ~$45 total.  Depending on how much fresh forage is available, our current 13 chickens need 50 lbs of feed every 2-3 weeks at $27/bag.  A bale of straw (for litter and to line nest boxes) would probably last 2-3 months if we only used it for the chickens.

When the original flock started laying, we calculated the cost of routine upkeep (food & straw) compared to expected production to make sure we would be making a profit selling the eggs.  We charge our weekly customers less than we do at the market, for a couple of reasons.    The big one is that the eggs we sell at our certified farmers market must be sized, candled/graded, and labeled accordingly, which takes time.  Regular customers are a guaranteed sale, requiring less effort (although we do ensure the quality and good size of the eggs).

So I’ve been holding down the ‘fort’ this last week and for this next week as Jared is on a tour. Before he left we tried to get as much done as possible, since while Jared’s gone, it’s a lot harder to get forward progress accomplished when I’m all by myself. Last week the Puget Sound region had record breaking heat in the high 90s-low 100s, which, by comparison to other parts of the country will make me sound like kind of a wuss, but we hardly ever see that kind… Read the rest of this article »

Sorry for the departure.  We’ve been working sun up till sun down and it’s been above average temps here in the pacific northwest.  All the farmers around here have a glow of joy about them as we’re actually getting a summer (and a tan!).  Our csa has enjoyed our heirloom variety tomatoes now for three weeks.  Although that’s great news and we’re stoked to be filling our CSA shares with those vine ripe goody balls, we’ re missing the income… Read the rest of this article »