Marketing and Sales - Raising Poultry - page 337

Eggs Balut are eggs, usually from duck, that are incubated for 17 of the 28 days and,
if fertile with the developing duck inside, removed from the incubator, boiled and
eaten out of the shell.
Mud eggs are infertile eggs removed from the incubation process and then coated
with a mixture of alkaline clay. In many instances they are rolled in rice husks and
stored in containers for several months while the contents of the egg change to a dark
black ammonia-smelling solid. The egg comes out of the process with the consisten-
cy of a hard-boiled egg, only black and very odoriferous. (There are other methods to
make these in different regions of Asia.)
Other Products
Don't assume that just because you've always sold your products independent of over-
sight by a regulatory agency that you've been doing so legally. Even if my list below
suggests you have no worries, check into it, as you never know when the laws might
have changed.
Feathers used for stuffing pillows, blankets, and clothing, and for tying flies and
making things for decorative purposes, are generally considered a safe commodity and
no known laws regulating the sale of poultry feathers exist in this country.
Eggshells used for decorating are also a safe commodity. At this point, no laws gov-
ern their sale, providing they have been cleaned of all manure and waste material.
Manure sales are another story. Increasingly, laws are cropping up regulating where
and how manure can be spread and moved, and how long you must retain it before incor-
porating it into the soil. Compost manure properly before you consider selling it. Giving
a few buckets or wheelbarrowfuls to a neighbor for a garden is one thing, but a full-scale
manure-selling business requires carefully checking into local Department of Agricul-
ture laws.
Niche Markets
For some raisers, the best way to start out selling is to identify a niche market — a
group of customers that demands a product that cannot be regularly obtained through
mainstream retailers.
Specialty eggs, specialty meats, feathers, and so on are niche-market products for
which there is no huge consumer need, but a need exists nonetheless. A benefit to selling
some of these things is that so far they necessitate little, if any, compliance with govern-
mental rules and regulations. A disadvantage to trying to meet a niche-market demand