Egg Pricing
Today's blog is meant to be used as a reference to send people that may ask, "Why do duck eggs cost more?" I will be explaining pricing, all the options of purchasing eggs, and our loyalty program.
Let's just rip off the band-aid and put the prices out there right away:
6 pack chicken eggs = $3
6 pack duck eggs = $4
12 pack chicken eggs = $5
12 pack duck eggs = $7
12 pack half chicken and half duck eggs (half and half) = $6
18 pack chicken eggs = $7
18 pack duck eggs = $9
18 pack half and half = $8
Okay, take a minute to digest all this.
1. We are offering multiple sizes of egg cartons: 6 cell, the traditional 12 dozen eggs, and an 18 cell.
2. We are offering a "half and half" of half chicken and half duck eggs. Duck eggs are excellent for baking but have a more "eggy" taste when eaten cooked (which some people may not appreciate). I have also read that the way the eggs taste depends a lot on what they are fed.
You may ask...how do I tell which eggs are chicken eggs and which are duck eggs? Easy...the chicken eggs are brown and the duck eggs are white! More about egg color in a bit...
3. We feel that these prices are comparable to prices you would see in the grocery store for pasture raised eggs. I recently went to 2 different grocery stores in our town and found that one dozen pasture raised chicken eggs ranged in price from $5.50 to $8.50.
I do not want to go into all the differences and benefits of pastured eggs but I found a great article that breaks it all down (cage free vs. free range vs. conventional vs. pasture raised).
Regular vs Pastured Eggs - What You Need To Know
We feel our chickens fall under the pasture raised definition the best. While they are in the barn this winter, we have been supplementing their feed with green wheat fodder, dried herbs and vegetables and roasted squash. We are SO excited to finally get our girls out on pasture this spring!!!
4. I think the loyalty program is pretty self explanatory. If you return 10 of our egg cartons (yes, they MUST be ReMARKable Eggs cartons) to us, you will get a free dozen chicken eggs. This will help us to re-use the egg cartons/labels to help cut down on costs. (Yes, we could use other egg cartons that are given to us but we are trying to set forth a professional look.)
You may ask...how do I tell which eggs are chicken eggs and which are duck eggs? Easy...the chicken eggs are brown and the duck eggs are white! More about egg color in a bit...
3. We feel that these prices are comparable to prices you would see in the grocery store for pasture raised eggs. I recently went to 2 different grocery stores in our town and found that one dozen pasture raised chicken eggs ranged in price from $5.50 to $8.50.
Regular vs Pastured Eggs - What You Need To Know
We feel our chickens fall under the pasture raised definition the best. While they are in the barn this winter, we have been supplementing their feed with green wheat fodder, dried herbs and vegetables and roasted squash. We are SO excited to finally get our girls out on pasture this spring!!!
4. I think the loyalty program is pretty self explanatory. If you return 10 of our egg cartons (yes, they MUST be ReMARKable Eggs cartons) to us, you will get a free dozen chicken eggs. This will help us to re-use the egg cartons/labels to help cut down on costs. (Yes, we could use other egg cartons that are given to us but we are trying to set forth a professional look.)
Egg colors
We know that it is fun to open a dozen eggs and see lots of pretty egg colors. Eggs range in color from light pink and white to dark chocolate brown, olive green and baby blue. So, why doesn't ReMARKable Eggs provide all these fun colors? Simple...its due to the economics of running an egg business.
The Araucana chicken is probably the most common blue egg laying chicken. One hen can produce about 200 eggs per year. Many sex link hybrids (Mark has Gold Sex Link) can produce up to 300 eggs per year. Let's just say for easy calculation that the sex link chicken produces 8 more dozen eggs each year (96 more eggs/year). Then, multiply that by 70 chickens. That is 560 dozen more eggs to sell. We need to have product to sell (eggs) to make the business work.
Why do duck eggs cost more?
Back to our original question, why do duck eggs cost more?
Messy
Ducks are messy! We carry gallons and gallons of water (translate to extra labor) to the ducks every day and they just waste most of it! We are still experimenting with different watering systems for the ducks. I will probably make an entire blog post about this subject in the near future...
Because they are so messy with their water, we have to use twice as much pine shavings in their area of the barn. Pine shavings are not cheap! We are doing the deep litter method in the barn this winter. Click on the link to learn more details about the deep litter method. Basically, you keep adding fresh shavings over the soiled ones all winter long and it starts to slowly compost over the winter. In the spring, we will clean out all the bedding and put it in a pile to finish composting. In a year or two we will have some grade A compost for sale! If you have ever used a composting toilet, it is similar to throwing a handful of sawdust in the bucket after you go.
Because they are so messy with their water, we have to use twice as much pine shavings in their area of the barn. Pine shavings are not cheap! We are doing the deep litter method in the barn this winter. Click on the link to learn more details about the deep litter method. Basically, you keep adding fresh shavings over the soiled ones all winter long and it starts to slowly compost over the winter. In the spring, we will clean out all the bedding and put it in a pile to finish composting. In a year or two we will have some grade A compost for sale! If you have ever used a composting toilet, it is similar to throwing a handful of sawdust in the bucket after you go.
Duck eggs are larger and more nutritious
Two duck eggs are the equivalent to three chicken eggs. Another way to look at this is that a dozen duck eggs is the same as 18 chicken eggs! Duck eggs are more nutritious (more Omega 3's, iron, B vitamins, and protein) than chicken eggs but do contain more calories, cholesterol and fat. Here are a couple of great articles comparing chicken and duck eggs:
The Pros & Cons of Eating Duck Eggs vs Chicken Eggs by Mother Earth News
Chicken Eggs vs Duck Eggs Nutrition by Nature Word
The Pros & Cons of Eating Duck Eggs vs Chicken Eggs by Mother Earth News
Chicken Eggs vs Duck Eggs Nutrition by Nature Word
Ducks eat more
Along with drinking more water, they eat a lot more than the chickens and it takes more feed to produce an egg. I read that a chicken will eat about 4 oz of feed a day and a duck will eat 6-7 oz a day.
The ducks are also crazy loud. We don't want to hold this against them but it is almost to the point that we need to wear ear protection when we go in the barn! We know they are just being their ducky selves.
There are lots of things we also enjoy about the ducks (cold hardy, better immune system, can forage for a large part of their food needs) but we have found that they do require more inputs in terms of labor, feed and bedding.
Guess the Date of the First Egg Contest
A big thank you to everyone that has participated in the Guess the Date of the First Egg Contest! There are over 50 guesses! We put the nest boxes in the barn yesterday. Here is the nest box for the chickens. It is a roll-away design so they lay the eggs in and then they roll out the back into a compartment that can be easily collected from.
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| We know this pic is a little dark. We will make a little video soon of how it works... |
We have read that ducks do not care to use nest boxes and will just lay their eggs on the floor in various places (another con for the ducks). We did read that they sometimes like to have a little privacy so we bought this big, white tote at the Goodwill for $4 and Henry cut out an opening for them to go in and use for laying eggs...
We will make a Facebook live video on the day we find the first egg! If you are not following us on Facebook, click here: Remarkable Farms
Let us know if you have any questions about the pricing!
Have an Eggcellent day!
Denise (and Mark)
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