flowerweaver
Deeply Rooted
As a small egg farm, I can tell you I lose money selling eggs at $4.50/dozen. I would ask more, but the market here won't bear it and I'd lose money taking them to the city. I do it to offset my own cost of eggs and because all my 50+ chickens are pets. I use their manure as a source of nitrogen for my vegetables. They live a happy life free ranging on 4 acres. I even feed the old ones that don't lay anymore; it's assisted living because I am kind (and vegetarian). My customers enjoy meeting them and seeing the quality of life they are living.
I can almost guarantee the Costco free range egg chickens live about 250,000 birds a building with a small 10x10 foot porch in which they 'free range'. They also have cheaper feed cost buying in a large quantity.The closest place I can get organic feed is a two day round trip and I'd have no place to store a semi-full of grain. I can't grow it, so I have to buy it by the bag, which is expensive. I also don't have enough woodland to make shredded bedding, so I have to buy that too (it is composted).
The other thing people like to complain about the cost of is honey. I had to feed my two hives daily sugar syrup for three years to keep them alive through the drought. A commercial beekeeper would have let them die, and restocked after the rains returned. But I care about my bees, too. Everyone wants to buy my local honey, especially now that it's out that most store bought honey is watered down from China, but it's not for sale. The previous year was the first time my bees actually made honey, and I let them have it all as a reward. This year I robbed them and I'm keeping it all. After five years of work, I'd have to sell it at $100 a jar to make up for the time and expense.
Once, I bought a lovely woodcut of a waterfall for my dining room. I thought the price was exorbitant, but I wanted it. A decade later, I took a woodcut printing class. It was so difficult and my result looked like a 3rd grader had done it, that I felt like I should look the artist up and send her more money!
I can almost guarantee the Costco free range egg chickens live about 250,000 birds a building with a small 10x10 foot porch in which they 'free range'. They also have cheaper feed cost buying in a large quantity.The closest place I can get organic feed is a two day round trip and I'd have no place to store a semi-full of grain. I can't grow it, so I have to buy it by the bag, which is expensive. I also don't have enough woodland to make shredded bedding, so I have to buy that too (it is composted).
The other thing people like to complain about the cost of is honey. I had to feed my two hives daily sugar syrup for three years to keep them alive through the drought. A commercial beekeeper would have let them die, and restocked after the rains returned. But I care about my bees, too. Everyone wants to buy my local honey, especially now that it's out that most store bought honey is watered down from China, but it's not for sale. The previous year was the first time my bees actually made honey, and I let them have it all as a reward. This year I robbed them and I'm keeping it all. After five years of work, I'd have to sell it at $100 a jar to make up for the time and expense.
Once, I bought a lovely woodcut of a waterfall for my dining room. I thought the price was exorbitant, but I wanted it. A decade later, I took a woodcut printing class. It was so difficult and my result looked like a 3rd grader had done it, that I felt like I should look the artist up and send her more money!
