- ✓Compare selling per head and selling per kilo, and choose according to the flock and the buyer
- ✓Build and maintain a list of buyers
- ✓Sell eggs: tray, size, freshness, regularity
Per head or per kilo?
Per head: one price per chicken, simple, quick, everyone understands. An advantage for the farmer if the flock is uniform and light; a disadvantage if the chickens are heavy (you give the kilos away). Per kilo: fair for both parties, rewards weight, but requires a scale, time, and trust in the weighing. Rule: a heavy, even flock is sold per kilo; a light or uneven flock is negotiated per head, by category (large, medium, small). The NEXTEKCI video “The market debate” in the Academy covers this choice.
In all cases: weighing in front of the buyer, signed sales sheet, and your cost per kilo (level 4, lesson 3) in mind: below it, you refuse.
Whom to sell to
| Buyer | Advantages | Points to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Market traders and markets | Volume, speed, cash payment | Prices pushed down, negotiation per head |
| Restaurants, maquis (open-air eateries), hotels | Better price, regularity | Small quantities, demanding on weight and cleanliness, sometimes credit |
| Slaughterhouses and processors | Large volumes, known schedule, price per kilo | Standards (fasting, withdrawal period), often lower price, contract |
| Private individuals (festivals, WhatsApp) | Best price, direct payment | Many small sales, logistics |
| Institutions (canteens, army, schools) | Regular volumes | Calls for tender, slow payment, paperwork |
The aim is to have two or three different buyers, so as never to depend on a single one. And to sell the whole flock within one to two weeks: keeping birds for lack of a buyer costs feed every day.
Building your list of buyers
- A buyers' notebook: name, telephone, what he takes (type, weight, quantity, frequency), how he pays, how the last sale went.
- A WhatsApp message one week before the sale: photo of the flock, average weight from the weighing, number available, date, price or “market price”. The buyers reserve.
- A deposit for large quantities; never credit without a track record; payment before loading or at loading.
- Keep your word: the date, the announced weight, the number. The buyer who is served as promised comes back and brings other buyers.
- Festivals are prepared in the calendar (lesson 4); the festival sale is reserved one month ahead.
Selling eggs
Eggs are sold by the tray of 30, often by size (small, medium, large): grading increases the revenue. Freshness and cleanliness make the price: collection 3 to 4 times a day, eggs stored in a cool place, pointed end down, delivered within the week, never washed with water (this removes the shell's natural protection; a dirty egg is brushed dry or sold separately). Regular customers (shops, bakeries, restaurants, households) want regularity above all: the same number of trays every week. A well-managed brown layer gives about 300 eggs a year, that is 10 trays: your sales schedule is calculated from the laying rate.
For the entrepreneur
- ›Two or three buyers, a notebook, a WhatsApp message one week before each sale: that is your sales department.
- ›Sell a heavy, even flock per kilo, a light or uneven flock per head by category; never below your cost per kilo.
- ›No credit without a track record; a deposit on large quantities; keep your dates.
For the technician
- ›Provide the average weight from the weighing and the sorting by category one week before the sale.
- ›Weighing in front of the buyer, signed sales sheet, withdrawal periods checked.
- ›Eggs collected 3 to 4 times a day, graded by size, stored in a cool place pointed end down, never washed.
The 3 questions to ask your technician this week
- Is the flock uniform and heavy (sale per kilo) or uneven (sale per head by category)?
- What average weight and what number are we announcing to the buyers this week?
- How many trays of eggs a week can we promise a regular customer?
Key points
- •Per kilo for a heavy, even flock; per head by category for a light or uneven flock; never below the cost per kilo.
- •Two or three different buyers; the whole flock sold within one to two weeks.
- •Buyers’ notebook, WhatsApp message one week before, deposit, no credit without a track record, word kept.
- •Eggs: tray of 30, grading by size, collection 3 to 4 times a day, cool place pointed end down, never washed, regularity.