Can You Sell Homemade Eggs? Rules, Permits, and How to Start

Twelve hens, a fridge stacked with cartons, and a neighbor who keeps asking if you have any extra. Somewhere around the third dozen you give away, the question changes from "want some eggs?" to "is it legal to sell eggs?"

It is. Every state page loaded for this guide lets a backyard flock owner sell eggs from their own hens to the people who will eat them. Eggs are not a baked good, so the rules for them come from a different place. In the states checked here, the egg rules start at the agriculture department, with their own rules about temperature, cartons and labels, rather than at the cottage food rules that cover cookies and jam. In Texas the health department adds a permit at the market, and Pennsylvania's market license comes from its retail food rules. Colorado is the one that also names eggs in its cottage foods act, at up to 250 dozen a month.

This guide covers what the federal rules say, what seven states actually require, where the line sits between selling at your farm and selling at a market, and what has to be on the carton. If you already know you are allowed and want to know what to charge and where to find buyers, our guide to how to sell eggs from home is the companion piece to this one.

Can You Legally Sell Eggs From Your Own Chickens?

Yes, in each of the seven states covered here, as long as the eggs come from your own flock and you sell them straight to the person who will eat them. What changes from state to state is the paperwork. Texas asks for no Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) egg license at the farm gate, though the Texas A&M AgriLife guide that TDA's egg page links to says a vendor selling eggs from their own flock to the end customer must get a permit from DSHS, the state health department, or from the local health department, so check with yours. Wisconsin lists a free registration for "egg producers who collect, package, and store nest-run eggs," meaning eggs that are not washed, graded or candled, and California asks every vendor, however small, to register and pay $75.

Here is what selling your own eggs usually does require:

• Eggs from hens you own, not eggs you bought to resell
• A clean carton labeled with your name and address and a date
• Cold storage, often at 45°F or colder, from the coop to the customer
• A registration or license in some states, and a separate one for a farmers market in several

Here is what it usually does not require for a backyard flock:

• A commercial kitchen or a separate egg room
• USDA grading or a USDA inspector
• Registration under the federal egg safety rule, which starts at 3,000 hens
• Sorting eggs into sizes like Large and Extra Large, outside California and Colorado, whose pages say all eggs sold there must be graded and sized, as long as the carton says they are ungraded or unclassified where your state asks for that word

What Does Federal Law Say About Selling Eggs?

Federal egg law is written for big farms, and almost all of it switches on at about 3,000 laying hens. Under that number, you are outside the heaviest federal rules. One federal rule does not care how many hens you have, and that is the label.

The federal pieces, in plain terms:

1. The egg safety rule starts at 3,000 hens. The rule at 21 CFR 118.1 covers a shell egg producer "with 3,000 or more laying hens at a particular farm that does not sell all of your eggs directly to consumers." FDA's own summary of the rule says it reaches virtually every egg farm with 3,000 or more laying hens.
2. USDA registration starts just above 3,000 hens. 7 CFR 57.690 requires egg handlers to register with USDA, but it exempts a farm that packs its own eggs from a flock of 3,000 hens or less.
3. Selling direct gets a pass on USDA's restricted egg rules. 7 CFR 57.100 exempts a farm selling its own flock's eggs directly to a household consumer, at the farm, on a door-to-door route or at its own place of business, from USDA's controls on restricted eggs, meaning cracked, dirty or leaking ones, with a cap of 30 dozen restricted eggs per sale. It separately exempts any flock of 3,000 hens or less. The same section says these exemptions do not apply where state or local law prohibits restricted eggs, and Pennsylvania and California both keep dirty eggs off the table.
4. Every carton gets the safe handling statement. The federal safe handling rule for shell eggs says "the label of all shell eggs, whether in intrastate or interstate commerce, shall bear" that statement. The only exemption written into it is for eggs treated to destroy Salmonella.
5. Stores keep eggs at 45°F. 21 CFR 115.50 requires shell eggs at a retail establishment to be stored and displayed at an ambient temperature no warmer than 45°F.

That fourth point is easy to miss, and it covers a carton sold 5 minutes from your house as much as one shipped across the country. Colorado's egg page repeats it for small flocks, and Pennsylvania's farmers market guidelines list it on the carton. Wisconsin says a flock owner selling directly to household consumers on the farm is exempt from the state's grading and labeling rules, so the state rules do not all line up with the federal text. The same Wisconsin page still lists a labeled carton, with your name and address, the pack date, a sell-by date and "ungraded and uninspected," among the conditions a small flock owner meets to skip the food processing plant license, so print that label anyway. The statement costs nothing to print, so the simple move is to put it on every carton.

What Do Seven States Require to Sell Eggs?

Seven states, seven different answers, and the table below is the fastest way to see the pattern. Most of them draw a line at your farm gate and a second line at the farmers market, and a few draw a third line at flock size or weekly volume. California is the outlier: it has no small-flock exemption from its registration at all.

Scroll sideways to see every column.

Every row was read on September 23, 2026, on the state's own pages and one guide a state links: the CDFA Egg Safety and Quality Management page and its egg handler renewal form, the Colorado Department of Agriculture egg producers page and the CDPHE cottage foods page, Florida Administrative Code rules 5K-4.033 and 5K-4.020 (the FDACS web page did not render, so the rule text itself was used), the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's Farmers Market and Farm Stand Guidelines, revised February 2026, the Texas Department of Agriculture Egg Quality Program page and the Texas DSHS regulatory clarification on selling yard eggs at a farmers market, revised May 19, 2017, the Texas A&M AgriLife guide on selling yard eggs that TDA links from its egg page, the Washington State Department of Agriculture eggs page and the Washington Department of Revenue business license fee page, and the Wisconsin DATCP Egg Sales and Licensing page. "Rule does not name venues" means the page did not say, not that no rule exists. These seven are examples. Check what your own state requires right now before you sell.

If your state is not in that table, start with its department of agriculture and search for the word "eggs" rather than "cottage food." Our guide to cottage food laws by state is useful for everything else you might sell next to the eggs, but the egg rule almost always lives with the agriculture department.

Do You Need a License to Sell Eggs From Home?

Usually not at your own farm, and often yes at a farmers market. Texas says outright that individuals "who sell un-graded eggs from a personal flock to the end user" do not need its egg license. Washington says producers selling "from their own flocks at the place of production, directly to consumers for their own personal use, are not required to be licensed or buy egg seals." California is the one state here that answers yes for everyone.

Finding your own state's answer comes down to one page and one phone call:

• Search your agriculture department for the egg page. Try "[your state] department of agriculture egg license" or "egg producer." Six of the seven states in this guide had an egg page or an egg section that loaded; Florida's egg page would not render, so this guide read the rule text instead.
• Find the size line. Look for a count of birds, hens or dozens. Wisconsin uses 150 birds, Colorado 250 dozen a month, Florida 30 dozen a week and 3,000 hens. Write the number down with the date you read it.
• Read the farm answer and the market answer separately. Most states treat them differently. A page that says you are exempt at the farm may say two paragraphs later that the farmers market needs a license.
• Copy the carton list word for word. Label rules are where states differ most, down to single words like "ungraded," "unclassified" or "uninspected."
• Call and ask one question. "I keep twelve hens and want to sell my own eggs at my house and at the Saturday market. What do I need from you?" Note who answered and the date.

Can You Sell Eggs at a Farmers Market?

Yes, but the farmers market is where four of the seven states add paperwork, from $40 to $80 in Washington, where the $30 dealer license comes on top of a $50 or $10 processing fee, to Pennsylvania's $103 license for a market stand. The logic is simple once you see it: at your own farm you are a farmer selling a farm product, and at a market table you are running a small retail food stand. All four say so in writing.

What the four states ask for at the market:

• Washington: an Egg Handler/Dealer license through the Department of Revenue, $30 for the first location and $15 for each additional one, plus the Department of Revenue's business license processing fee, $50 if you are opening a new business or $10 if you are adding the endorsement to one you already have, so the first year runs $80 or $40. WSDA's off-farm guidelines, linked from its egg page, also call for a stick-on egg seal on each dozen sold at a farmers market, at $2.68 for 1,000 dozen, while the egg page itself ties seals to direct-to-retail sales, so ask WSDA whether yours need them. WSDA's page says this covers eggs "from a chicken, goose, turkey, duck, guinea, or any species of fowl." It adds that local health districts have jurisdiction over farmers markets and may inspect vendors for their own local rules, so check with yours too.
• Wisconsin: a transient retail food establishment license. DATCP's egg page does not give that license's fee, so ask DATCP what it costs before market day. The Wisconsin DATCP egg sales and licensing page says that license is still required at farmers markets and on egg routes, even though a flock owner with 150 birds or fewer is exempt from the food processing plant license.
• Pennsylvania: a Retail Food License for a stand selling eggs off the production farm, $103 the first year, $82 to renew and $14 for a temporary license. That is PDA's fee; if your county or city runs its own health department, that department licenses the stand and sets its own fee. The state calls eggs "pre-packaged TCS Foods," meaning foods that need temperature control for safety.
• Texas: a permit from the state health department or the local retail food authority, according to a Texas DSHS regulatory clarification last revised in May 2017.

Colorado is the opposite case. Its agriculture department exempts a small flock selling under 250 dozen a month on the farm, at a farmers market or through a community supported agriculture group, known as a CSA. The same page adds that Colorado's retail food rules may also require egg sellers to hold a retail food establishment license, and it sends you to the state health department's Retail Food Program, CDPHE, to find out, so call them before your first market. The market itself can still set its own vendor rules on top of the state's.

Can You Sell Eggs to a Store, Bakery or Restaurant?

Usually not without a license, even with a flock of 20 hens, because every state small-flock exemption in this guide that names a buyer covers sales to the person who eats the eggs. Selling to a business that resells or cooks your eggs moves you out of that direct-to-consumer lane. In Colorado, Washington, Wisconsin and Texas, that sale, or selling graded eggs, is what moves a backyard flock into a licensed lane.

How the states handle it:

• Colorado: a flock under 3,000 hens that wants to sell to "a grocery store, restaurant, or other institution" needs a Class I Egg Producer license and an inspection of how the eggs are washed, candled, graded and stored.
• Washington: direct-to-retail sales need the Egg Handler/Dealer license plus egg seals, sold by WSDA at $2.68 for 1,000 dozen.
• Wisconsin: a small flock owner who sells at retail or wholesale needs a food processing license.
• Texas: a flock owner who sells graded eggs needs a TDA egg license, and the ungraded exemption only covers sales to the end user.

Colorado's inspection is lighter than people expect. The page says a commercial kitchen is not required and that inspectors "will not inspect the housing of the hens or ask about your feeding or gathering practices." They check the washing, the candling, the cooler and the carton.

What Has to Go on an Egg Carton?

Your name and address, a date, and the federal safe handling statement are the three pieces that show up almost everywhere. After that, each state adds its own words, and those words are the part people get wrong, because they are specific. Wisconsin wants "ungraded and uninspected." Pennsylvania wants "Unclassified" if you did not weigh the eggs. Texas wants "ungraded." Colorado wants a whole sentence.

The pieces to print, in the order most states list them:

1. Your name and address. All seven states in this guide ask for it; for Washington the list is in WSDA's off-farm guidelines, linked from its egg page. California adds the zip code, and Colorado asks for the address where the eggs came from.
2. A date. Wisconsin and Colorado ask for the date the eggs were packed. Pennsylvania asks for the date of lay. Wisconsin also wants a sell-by date no more than 30 days out.
3. The safe handling statement. Federal rule 21 CFR 101.17(h) spells it out word for word: "SAFE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS: To prevent illness from bacteria: keep eggs refrigerated, cook eggs until yolks are firm, and cook foods containing eggs thoroughly."
4. "Keep Refrigerated." Pennsylvania and California both list it as its own line.
5. What is in the carton. Pennsylvania wants the net contents in letters at least 3/16 of an inch high, and California wants the quantity.
6. Your state's grade word. "Ungraded" in Texas, "Unclassified" in Pennsylvania for unweighed or mixed sizes, "ungraded and uninspected" in Wisconsin.
7. Colorado's disclaimer. "These eggs do not come from a government-approved source." Colorado's labeling list also asks for the grade (AA, A or B) and the size of the eggs.

Our guide to cottage food labeling requirements covers the full label list if you sell baked goods or jam at the same table, because those labels follow a different set of rules than the eggs do.

Can You Reuse Egg Cartons to Sell Eggs?

Often no, and it is an easy rule to break without knowing it. 3 of the 7 states in this guide ban reuse in writing, and Colorado bars another farm's name on the cartons its licensed producers use. In Texas the stated reason is not the old brand name on the lid. It is that a paper carton cannot be cleaned, so it cannot be trusted a second time.

What the pages say:

• Texas: the DSHS farmers market clarification for backyard eggs says plainly, "Reuse of egg cartons is prohibited," because egg cartons do not meet the durability, strength and cleanability rules for reusable food containers.
• Florida: eggs from a Limited Egg Farm Operation "must be packaged in clean, un-used cartons."
• Washington: WSDA's off-farm guidelines tell sellers to "use new packaging (pulp cartons, etc.)."
• Colorado: licensed Class I egg farms must use clean cartons with no other farm's name or identification on them.

How Cold Do Eggs Have to Be When You Sell Them?

45°F or colder in most of the states checked here, and colder than that in two of them. The federal ceiling for eggs held at a retail spot is 45°F, and Wisconsin and Colorado set theirs lower. A cooler with ice packs at a market can drift past that on a warm Saturday, so a thermometer in the cooler is worth more than any sign you put on the table.

Swipe the table to read all three columns.

Read September 23, 2026, on each source's own page: the eCFR text of 21 CFR 115.50, CDFA's egg program page, the Texas DSHS regulatory clarification No. 9, the Pennsylvania Farmers Market and Farm Stand Guidelines revised February 2026, WSDA's Shell Egg Producer Guidelines for Off-Farm Sales linked from its egg page, the Wisconsin DATCP egg page, and the Colorado Department of Agriculture egg producers page. Verify your state's current rules before you set up a cooler plan.

A setup that meets every number in that table is a fridge at home set to the colder number, a hard cooler with frozen ice packs for the trip, and a cheap probe thermometer that you actually look at. Washington's page calls shell eggs "a perishable food" that "must be handled properly with care under cold and sanitary conditions," and that is the whole idea in one line.

Should You Wash Eggs Before You Sell Them?

In Colorado you must, in water between 110°F and 120°F, and the page tells you exactly how. In the other states here, the rule is about clean eggs rather than a washing method: Pennsylvania says "dirty, leaking or cracked eggs must be removed prior to sale," and California says "dirty eggs cannot be sold to consumers." Either way, a dirty egg does not go in the carton, and 2 of the 7 states say so in writing.

Colorado's method, from its Department of Agriculture egg page:

• Wash with unscented dishwashing liquid or another food-grade detergent
• Use water no cooler than 110°F and no warmer than 120°F
• Sanitize afterward by dipping or spraying with a chlorine solution of 100 to 200 parts per million
• Mix 1 tablespoon of bleach into 1 gallon of water for a 200 parts per million solution
• Refrigerate the washed eggs at 33°F to 41°F

Plenty of small vendors do sell unwashed eggs, and some of them say so on the listing. Before you do, find your state's answer to two questions: is washing required, and does an unwashed egg still have to be kept cold? Colorado answers the first one yes, and every state in the temperature table above answers the second one for eggs offered for sale.

Do You Have to Grade or Candle Your Eggs?

Grading is required in California, and Colorado's page says that before being sold in Colorado, "all eggs shall be graded" into the state's consumer grades and weight classes. It is optional for a small flock in Texas, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where a word like "Ungraded" or "Unclassified" still goes on the carton, and the Washington and Florida sources used here do not address it. Candling, which means shining a light through the shell to spot cracks and blood spots, is a different question: Wisconsin expects it even on eggs labeled Ungraded, and Colorado requires it on every egg sold off the farm. Selling graded eggs is also how you trigger a license in Texas.

Grading can mean real money in Texas: the step from ungraded to graded is the step from no TDA license to a licensed egg dealer. How grading plays out in 5 states:

• Texas: ungraded eggs from your own flock need no TDA license. If you sell graded eggs from a personal flock, "then you DO need an Egg License."
• Wisconsin: "Ungraded is a grade," and "Eggs labeled Ungraded must still be candled to remove defective eggs."
• Pennsylvania: skip the weighing and mark the carton "Unclassified."
• California: "All shell eggs shall be graded and sized," into grades AA, A and B and sizes from pee-wee to jumbo.
• Colorado: the page says all eggs sold in Colorado are graded into grades and weight classes and all eggs sold off the farm are candled, and a Class I inspection for store and restaurant sales checks that the eggs were candled and graded before packing.

A homemade candler is allowed. Colorado's page says "a homemade candler may also be used" for eggs sold off the farm, and a bright flashlight pressed against a hole in a piece of cardboard, in a dark room, is a simple version to build.

How Many Eggs Can You Sell Before the Rules Change?

More than a backyard flock will ever lay in most of these states. The lines that matter are Wisconsin's 150 birds, Colorado's 250 dozen a month, Florida's 30 dozen a week, and the federal 3,000 hens. Everything above those numbers is a licensed egg business.

What those numbers mean in eggs:

• Florida, 30 dozen a week: 360 eggs a week, or about 51 eggs a day, and 1,560 dozen over 52 weeks. Even if every hen laid every single day, that takes more than 50 hens.
• Colorado, 250 dozen a month: 3,000 eggs a month, or roughly 100 eggs a day in a 30-day month. That is a flock of at least 100 hens laying every day.
• Wisconsin, 150 birds: a count of birds rather than eggs, so it is the easiest one to check. Count everything that lays, not just the hens you think of as your egg flock.
• Federal, 3,000 hens: the line where the federal egg safety rule begins, with USDA registration just above it. No backyard flock is anywhere near it.

The line a small vendor actually crosses is not a number. It is the moment a coffee shop asks for ten dozen a week to cook with, or a friend offers to sell your eggs at her store. Those are the sales that move you from direct-to-consumer into the licensed lane in most of these states, well before any flock-size line.

Can You Sell Duck, Quail or Other Eggs?

Yes, and in the states that address it, the same rules follow the eggs whatever bird laid them. Washington's farmers market rule covers eggs "from a chicken, goose, turkey, duck, guinea, or any species of fowl." California requires registration from anyone handling eggs of "all species of fowl," and it answers the duck and quail question directly.

What changes for eggs that are not from chickens:

• Grades and sizes may not apply. California says size and grade standards "are not currently in place for eggs from other species of fowl, like ducks or quail."
• The label is shorter in California. Duck and quail cartons follow "I.R.Q.": the Identity of the species (duck eggs), the Responsibility (farm name, address and zip code), and the Quantity of eggs in the container.
• Registration and licensing do not go away. California's FAQ says a vendor who sells duck or quail eggs but not chicken eggs still has to register.

If you pickle any of those eggs, you are in a different category entirely. Our guide on selling pickled eggs under cottage food law explains why a jar of pickled eggs is a botulism question rather than an egg law question.

How Do You Take Egg Orders Without a Group Text?

Once the paperwork is sorted, the hard part of selling eggs is not the law. It is the Tuesday text thread: who wants a dozen this week, who wants two, who already paid, and who is picking up at the porch cooler on Saturday. An order page fixes that.

Homegrown is $10 per month billed annually, or $12.50 billed monthly, with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing, and it gives your regulars one link where they order, pay and pick a pickup time. When the hens slow down in winter, you set a smaller quantity for the week, and the count updates as each order comes in, so you can see what is left without scrolling back through texts. Local Line is built for farms and starts at $109 a month on its Core plan billed monthly, against Homegrown's $12.50, or $87 a month billed annually, against Homegrown's $10. At monthly billing, Local Line takes the sales from about 18 dozen eggs at $6 each month just to pay for the subscription. Venmo moves money for a small fee but keeps no order list, and Square Online's Free plan charges more per online card payment. Homegrown does not register you with your state, print your carton labels or keep your cooler cold. It handles the ordering and the payment, and your customers create a Homegrown account the first time they order.

Scroll right for the full fee stack on each row.

We checked these on each company's pricing page on September 23, 2026: findhomegrown.com/signup, Local Line's supplier pricing page, Square's pricing page, and Venmo's fees page. The $6 dozen is an example price, not a published one. Vendor cost per order is the card processing on $6, and the 50-order column adds one month of subscription where there is one: $10 or $12.50 for Homegrown, $109 or $87 a month on the annual plan for Local Line. Venmo charges 2.99% instead when a goods and services payment goes to a personal account.

A group text works fine for three neighbors. Past ten regulars, the time goes into keeping track rather than keeping hens. If your egg list has outgrown your messages, you can set up an order page for your eggs on Homegrown and send one link instead of twenty replies.

What Gets Small Egg Vendors in Trouble?

Almost never the flock size, since the federal lines start at 3,000 hens and the lowest state line in this guide, Florida's 30 dozen a week, takes more than 50 hens laying every day. Most of what follows costs little to fix: new cartons, a thermometer, one line on a label, or in Washington a $30 dealer license on top of the business license fee. The problems come from the small things that feel harmless: a used carton, a warm cooler, a missing word on a label. None of them are hard to fix once you know they are there.

The mistakes that show up again and again in the rules above:

• Reusing store cartons. Prohibited at Texas farmers markets and for permitted Florida egg farms, and Colorado's licensed egg farms cannot use a carton that carries another farm's name. The AgriLife guide TDA links tells every Texas seller to always use new cartons, at home too.
• Leaving eggs out at the market. Every rule in the temperature table sets 45°F or colder, and Wisconsin and Colorado both set 41°F.
• Selling to a store on a handshake. Colorado, Washington, Wisconsin and Texas all move you into a licensed lane for sales to stores or restaurants, or for graded eggs.
• Skipping the safe handling statement. The federal text covers all shell eggs, whether or not they leave your state.
• Assuming the farm exemption follows you to the market. In Washington, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania it does not. In Texas the TDA license exemption does follow you, but the health department has written farmers market rules of its own: a permit, 45°F or colder and new cartons.
• Holding eggs too long in Pennsylvania. Five days from lay is the limit there for a small flock.
• Assuming California is like everywhere else. It registers every vendor, including a child with a hobby flock.

What Should You Do Before Your First Sale?

Six steps, most of them free, and all of them doable in a weekend. Do them in this order and you will know exactly which paperwork your state wants before a single dozen changes hands.

• Load your state's egg page and save it. Note the date you read it and the size line, whether it is birds, hens or dozens.
• Decide where you will sell first. Farm gate, porch cooler, farmers market or all three. The market is usually the one that needs a license.
• File what the page asks for. Washington's $30 license plus its business license application fee, California's $75 registration, Florida's $100 permit, Pennsylvania's $103 market license or Wisconsin's free nest-run egg registration, whichever applies to you.
• Buy new cartons and print the label. Name and address, the date, the safe handling statement, "Keep Refrigerated" and your state's grade word.
• Set up the cold chain. A fridge set between 33°F and 41°F meets every temperature in this guide, plus a cooler and a thermometer for the trip.
• Set up how people order and pay. A sign-up sheet, a text list or an order page, but one place where the orders live.

Before you file anything, verify your state's current rules with the agriculture department. Egg rules change with new laws and new fee schedules, and the version you read today is the one to follow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal to sell eggs from my backyard chickens?

Yes, in all seven states checked for this guide, if the eggs come from your own flock and you sell them to the person who will eat them. What varies is the paperwork: no state egg license at the farm in Texas or Washington, though Texas guidance also says farm-gate vendors need a health department permit, state or local, a free registration in Wisconsin if your eggs are nest-run, $75 in California and a $100 permit in Florida. Check your own state's agriculture department page before your first sale, because the rules change.

Do I need a license to sell eggs at a farmers market?

In four of the seven states here, yes. Washington requires a $30 Egg Handler/Dealer license plus the business license application fee, Wisconsin a transient retail food establishment license, Pennsylvania a $103 Retail Food License for the stand, and Texas a permit from the health department or local food authority. Colorado's agriculture department exempts a small flock selling under 250 dozen a month at a farmers market, though the same page says the state's retail food rules may also require a retail food establishment license from CDPHE.

Do backyard eggs need the safe handling statement?

The federal rule at 21 CFR 101.17(h) says the label of all shell eggs, whether or not they cross state lines, carries it, and the only written exemption is for eggs treated to destroy Salmonella. Colorado and Pennsylvania both list it for small flocks. It is 23 words and can go inside the carton lid if "Keep Refrigerated" is printed on the outside.

Can I sell eggs to a local restaurant or grocery store?

Usually only with a license. Colorado requires a Class I Egg Producer license and an inspection for sales to a grocery store or restaurant, Washington requires its dealer license plus egg seals, and Wisconsin requires a food processing license for retail or wholesale sales. Selling to the person who eats the eggs is the sale every state small-flock exemption in this guide that names a buyer is written for.

Is it legal to sell eggs in reused cartons?

Not in every state. Texas prohibits reusing egg cartons for eggs sold at a farmers market, and Texas A&M's yard egg guide tells every Texas seller to always use new cartons. Florida requires clean, unused cartons from a permitted egg farm, and Colorado's licensed egg farms cannot use cartons with another farm's name on them. New cartons are cheap enough that most small vendors switch once they start selling at a market.

Do I have to refrigerate eggs I sell?

In the six states here that publish a number, yes. Federal rules hold eggs at a retail establishment at 45°F or below, Texas, Pennsylvania, California and Washington name 45°F, Wisconsin 41°F, and Colorado keeps eggs between 33°F and 41°F, including on the drive to the market. Washington's egg page says eggs must be handled "under cold and sanitary conditions," and the off-farm guidelines it links set the number at 45°F or less, in storage and in the cooler on the way to the market. This guide found no Florida temperature figure. A cooler with ice packs and a thermometer is the standard setup for a market table.

Related Reading

More on selling eggs, once you know you are allowed to:

• How to Sell Eggs From Home: what to charge, where to find buyers and how to handle more demand than your hens can keep up with
• How to Price Farm Eggs: what a dozen costs you to produce and what to charge for it
• How to Sell Eggs From a Farm Stand: display, freshness and marketing for a roadside or farm stand
• Best Platform to Sell Eggs Online: the order and payment tools egg vendors use, compared
• Can You Sell Pickled Eggs?: why a jar of pickled eggs sits under a different rule than a carton of fresh ones

Start Taking Egg Orders

The legal side of selling eggs comes down to a handful of things you can finish in a weekend: find your state's egg page, file what it asks for, buy new cartons, print the label and keep the eggs cold. In the seven states in this guide, that paperwork runs from no egg license at all at a Washington farm gate to $103 for a Pennsylvania market stand, which is about 17 dozen eggs at $6.

After that, the work is the weekly back and forth over who wants how many dozen. Spring is when most flocks lay the most, and it is also when a text thread gets out of hand, because everyone who asked in February wants their dozen at once. A single order list, with a pickup day and a count of what is left, keeps you from promising eggs your hens have not laid yet.

If you want one link your regulars can order and pay through, start your Homegrown storefront and have it ready before the spring laying season picks up.