Revenue

No, not the tax kind.  We have egg revenue! I know with only 7 chickens I cannot make  a  living off them, but I can let them pay for their feed.  A few weeks ago I had 4 dozen eggs.  I am getting anywhere between 4-6 eggs a day and we just do not eat that many eggs.  In fact when I got the chickens, the eggs were just a perk.  I never thought that the eggs we wouldn't have to buy would save us money in the end.

When I had eggs overtaking the fridge we started asking around to see if anyone was interested in our surplus.  Brent struck up a barter with a co-worker to trade the amount of eggs as needed for some home-harvested honey.  Personally I think you cannot compare fresh honey to commercially harvested honey.  It is so much richer and more flavorful, so for the price of 7 dozen eggs, we received a quart of honey.  Personally I think the bartering system is a great thing.  It worked for our ancestors, perhaps it is a better method for today's society rather than concentrating on money all the time.

We also were able to have three other families agree to pay $2 a dozen for our extra eggs.  At a rate of 2 dozen per week, our chicken eggs will pay for their food bill.  I'll take that.  Not only is it neat to make a little cash from the eggs, but it feels good knowing I can share fresh natural eggs from happy chickens to other families at a reasonable price.

Chick days will be starting up soon and it will be hard to resist all those cute fuzzy butts, but I am maxed out on chickens, space, and eggs so I will just have to visit and snuggle them and enjoy my little flock here at home.