Man creeped out when neighbor demands his eggs, won't take no for an answer. UPDATE
"Do you have experiences with neighbors getting addicted to your eggs?"
homestead
I have 5 buckeye hens and one rooster who on paper (due to work I'm not really home enough to do a count) give me about 2 dozen eggs a week. Now, when I'm out of town that quickly leads to an excess of eggs in the fridge so I make sure my house eats the most recently laid (because fruits of my labor) and anything older is fair game for friends/family/neighbors to buy.
About a month ago, one of guys who own the junkyard by my house bought 3 dozen eggs and ate them all within a week. He kept coming over and trying to buy more and I had to sit down and try to slowly explain (he doesn't speak much English) that he bought all the extra eggs that were available so I'll need some time to get more.
His response is that his wife doesn't like the taste of grocery store eggs anymore and only wants the ones from my hens Honestly, it did feeel good to hear there's a noticable difference in quality from someone else.
Fast forward to today, the same guy sees my girlfriend collecting eggs from the coop for her breakfast. He tried to buy the 3 eggs in her hand on the spot along with trying call her a liar when she said there weren't any extras to sell at the moment.
Now, on top of building another coop and checking on new hens I purchased, I also have to play politician...over eggs. Anyone have similar experiences with selling produce/ eggs/etc to neighbors and whatnot or did I make a mysterious feed blend that turns people into crazy people?
There was no trespassing, he was working on the roof of the office and called down, not trespassing/harassing. Being as I'm not home, I don't know the tone of the conversation so "playing politician" means figuring out if it was said jokingly, out of frustration, or legitimately upset.
Worst case scenario, I'll be informing him of either a price increase for priority customers or that I'll only do business with his wife or brother to make sure cooler heads are the only ones interacting.
It is plausible that they're selling my eggs for a profit, however I'm really only selling older eggs so that the birds can pay for their own feed. As far as I'm concerned, I'm getting what I ask for with zero complaints about the cost so, unless we go through another egg shortage, I'm fine with what I'm getting since I'm not focused on turning a profit.
My homesteading is just like my hunting and fishing hobby. It's a mental write off and an easy way to justify how much things cost because it's busy work to keep me active and it puts food in the fridge so it's beneficial.
Duck eggs to me taste like chicken eggs, however Ive only eaten them scrambled with cheese and salt cured. Salt cured yolks are delicious with noodles, almost had a cheesy flavor, as far as scrambled the eggs just have a thicker/firmer texture. Still good either way.
This post is more about me asking anyone if they have had similar experiences. Seeing as this is the first interaction and I wasn't home to get a feel for the tone of the conversation. It's more of a " people are crazy" and not a horror story post...but if that changes I'll update.
Conveniently I got more hens (4 barred Plymouth, 2 RIR, and what I believe to be a white Plymouth) mostly because my girlfriend and I eat half a dozen eggs a day for breakfast when I'm home, and my bucket girls (birds) only gift me with 3-4 total eggs a day. So, they wouldn't be able to keep up with just us, not to mentinon anyone I've sold to.
Here were the top rated comments from readers after this initial post:
Responsible_Row_3819
Tell him if he truly wants to please the wife he would buy some chickens and put in the work to get quality eggs.
Battles4Seattle
Hmmm alternative idea. OP could get more hens so he’ll have more eggs to sell and make some money off the neighbor.
Gravelsack
"tried to buy the 3 eggs in her hand on the spot along with trying call her a liar when she said there weren't any extras to sell."
This dude would never get another egg from me ever again.
JDolittle
This is well beyond anything resembling reasonable behavior for anyone. Fresh eggs are much better than grocery store eggs, but this isn’t over-enthusiastically wanting to buy eggs, this has progressed to trespassing and harassment. You might want to put up a security camera on your chicken coup. This nut seems pretty likely to be willing to escalate to helping himself to your eggs when you aren’t watching.
As someone who has had fresh from the butt eggs and mostly must settle for crappy grocery store eggs, and who knows exactly what I’m missing… this nutter is unhinged and his behavior is unreasonable. I’m sure you’re chickens eggs are fantastic, but the dude needs to find himself a different egg dealer who’s willing to deal with his crackhead self.
The OP responded here:
The_Almighty_Lycan
While I agree he was unreasonable, I also know I am the more patient and less dramatic in the relationship so there may have been a miscommunication as far as tone, hence playing politician. If he was just frustrated or not understanding the situation , that warrants a conversation to get on the same page in order to continue on where as actually being angry about it would be where I cut ties with him.
cette-minette
At my old house I had a neighbour who always wanted more. Took me a long time to work out that she had learned my work times and was taking eggs from the coop when she knew the coast was clear. Eventually I came home to find her stuck in my tayberry patch having gone in too deep after my plums. I padlocked the gate after that.
threefrogsonalog
Don’t play politics, no more eggs for him and tell him not to call your gf a liar ever again.
4 days later, the OP returned with an update.
"UPDATE"
homestead
So, I made it home a little bit early today and sure enough, that guy was up on the roof when I went out to check on the birds and get everyone fed/watered. I told him to give me a moment so I could continue with my morning routine and went into the junkyard's office to talk to his brother who speaks better English.
Though everyone's concerns of a hostile situation/harassment were valid, I went in neutrally to try to see if it was legitimately something to worry about or a misunderstanding because of a language barrier. The result is that it indeed was a misunderstanding.
From what I was told, it is 4 households that have been buying eggs when they're available, even though I've only met the two brothers (which explains them burning through so many eggs so quickly).
I was also been told that they buy fresh eggs off of a few other people; however, since my house sits right behind the junkyard, it is simply just more convenient for them to purchase from me. The misunderstanding was when I said "no extra eggs available", that we had eggs and we're just selling to other people (which I said is my right and what not).
But, luckily, It all got cleared up and I informed them that we also eat about half a dozen eggs per day for breakfast when I'm in town, and that with winter soon approaching, they'd have to find another source because my hens would slow down or completely stop laying.
I always try to be patient and clear things up if there are any misunderstanding instead of cutting ties with people. Homesteading is a very expensive way to live poor, and you never know how the people around you can turn out to be a beneficial relationship. So, I always opt to be friendly at first.
Seeing as I drive an old pickup, friends at a junkyard can very obviously be useful. Also, after this interaction, I was given a business card to contact them. They have a concrete and roofing business as well, which I feel can be very beneficial when I eventually find a place to call home and need help.
By trade I am an electrician, so my plan with homesteading is to be self sufficient enough to sell extra produce for things I don't feel like buying myself while also being able to trade work with people to lighten the bill when I need things done. Never waste an opportunity to make friends, we're all only human and it's borderline impossible to do everything alone.
Here were the top rated comments from readers after this latest update:
Lessa22
I really appreciate seeing posts from some of the more outlier subreddits so thanks for that.
StreetofChimes
Same. I loved the chowder one. Who knew chowder Facebook groups existed? Let alone be so exciting.
IllustratorSlow1614
The only thing I would have done differently is to not confirm I’m away so frequently leaving my partner home alone. If the neighbours are observant they’ll eventually figure it out, but that’s different to having it outright confirmed.
OP might feel confident talking to the neighbour, but I don’t like how he called his girlfriend dramatic when a man was in her space, bothering her about eggs and calling her a liar for not having any extra to sell to him.
I don’t think men appreciate how scary it can be for women to be put on the spot like that, especially when their partner is away, especially when the person bothering them is a neighbour they can’t hide from.
My husband travels for work and when he’s out of the country I don’t tell anyone apart from my support system. I’m home alone with three young children, we would be an easy mark for someone nefarious. A good way to protect ourselves is not make it widely known we’re alone.
notsoorginalposter
I love drama from the non-standard drama subs. Although I didn't read the comments, based on his response it seems like people jumped to his neighbor being some sort of threat to OOP, his family, or his chickens which is insane.
HobbitGuy1420
I'm not surprised Reddit tried to push for more extreme actions.
Redditors are always...
...egging people on.