Do you need a license to sell eggs?
Every state and country sets its own rules for selling eggs from your own hens. The places we have read are written up here, in plain words. Every other US state links to that state's own page on selling eggs.
Pick your country and state
United States
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Alabama
Can I sell eggs in Alabama? Yes — you sell only eggs from your own hens and none from anyone else, with no dozen limit.
Alabama's egg law does not apply to a producer who sells only eggs from their own hens and no eggs from anyone else, unless that producer applies for a permit. The law sets no dozen limit on that exemption. A retail dealer's permit is free. A wholesale egg dealer's permit is $5 a year. The law is about chicken eggs, and it does not say how cold a producer's eggs must be kept.
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Alaska
Can I sell eggs in Alaska? Yes — eggs from your own flock sold direct to the consumer, which Alaska’s shell egg regulations excuse from grading and labeling.
Alaska’s homemade food law says “Except as otherwise provided in AS 17.20.332 — 17.20.338, a homemade food produced, sold, and consumed in compliance with this section is exempt from state labeling, licensing, packaging, permitting, and inspection requirements” (AS 17.20.332(a), as enacted by chapter 34, SLA 2024; the Legislature’s print prints the range with a dash), and it names eggs: “The seller of eggs or a homemade food that is not a potentially hazardous homemade food may be the producer of the item, an agent of the producer, or a third-party vendor” (17.20.332(f)). The Shell Egg Regulations say “Eggs produced in Alaska shall be exempt from the grading and labeling requirements of this chapter when sold by the producer direct to the consumer” (11 AAC 32.170(c)). A sale to a store, cafe or restaurant is where the sources part, and the Department of Environmental Conservation’s pages and Food Code could not be read. Ask the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Division of Agriculture.
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Arizona
Can I sell eggs in Arizona? No small-seller exemption.
Arizona’s egg article limits the nest run eggs a person may sell to retailers or consumers: “twenty-five cases of nest run eggs from the person’s own production each calendar year,” a case being “a standard thirty-dozen egg case as used in commercial practice in the United States” (A.R.S. 3-715(A), 3-701(5); “this article” is 3-701 to 3-739). It says “No markings are required on cases, containers or subcontainers of eggs” when “sales are made by the producer from eggs produced on his own premises and sold direct to the consumer” (3-720(A)(4)), a list that does not name a carton, and a separate article says the producers of food products, eggs included, “shall never under any pretext be denied or restricted the right to sell and dispose of their products, except in the manner and to the extent provided in this article, and subject to inspection by lawful authority when the inspection is uniform as to the same product and without cost to the producer” (3-562(A); “this article” is 3-561 to 3-563). The Department of Agriculture’s egg page says nest run producers “must formally register their flock operation with the Arizona Department of Agriculture” with no state fee and puts the ceiling at “a maximum output of 750 dozen nest run eggs per calendar year,” while its own program line says “flock operations producing fewer than 750 dozen eggs annually” (the statute’s twenty-five cases is exactly 750 dozen), and the Department’s rules (3 A.A.C. 2, Supp. 25-4) charge the inspection fee to producers and name a producer in their license penalty. The sources leave open what a carton, a listing with a price, a farmers market or a store needs. Verify with the Department before you sell.
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Arkansas
Can I sell eggs in Arkansas? Yes — eggs from fewer than 700 hens, sold ungraded, washed and clean, marked ungraded with your name and address, and kept at 45°F or colder.
Arkansas lets eggs from a producer who owns fewer than 700 hens be sold ungraded, if they are washed and clean, packed and marked "ungraded" with the producer's name and address, in cartons with any old markings obliterated, and kept at 45°F or colder. That applies at farmers markets and fruit stands too, where the cold has to come from a powered refrigerator, not ice. The Department of Agriculture names no permit for that path, and its same page calls the Egg Handler Permit "required for individuals or businesses handling eggs for sale in Arkansas." The department is also amending the egg rule now. Ask its Egg and Poultry Section which applies to you.
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California
Can I sell eggs in California? No small-seller exemption.
California asks every seller of eggs to register: FAC 27541 says “Any person engaged in business in this state as an egg producer or egg handler, or any out-of-state egg handler or egg producer selling eggs into California, shall register with the secretary” (“this chapter” is FAC 27501 to 27690), and the Department of Food and Agriculture’s program page says “There are no exemptions to the registration requirement” and answers a small flock owner with “Yes, you are considered an egg handler and therefore must register.” The statute says “It is unlawful for any person to sell to any retailer, consumer, or institution consumer, any eggs which are ungraded as to quality and size, except that the director, upon the written application of any producer, may find and proclaim that an emergency exists which prevents the normal marketing of eggs by the applicant and other producers in the same area.” (FAC 27651), the Department’s program page says “All shell eggs shall be graded and sized.” and the one small-flock line in the rules excuses only markings: “Size, grade, name and address markings are not required on containers or subcontainers of eggs in any of the following situations:” “If sold to household consumers without advertising by the producer on the premises where produced, from a flock of 500 hens or less” (3 CCR 1354.2(a)(3)). Proposition 12, a separate program of the same Department, asks a farm that keeps egg-laying hens to sell eggs in California for a Certificate of Compliance, and its brochure answers a question about a minimum flock size with “No, Prop 12 (2018) applies to all covered animals, regardless of flock or herd size.” The sources read leave open whether an online listing is “advertising,” what a carton, a farmers market, a store or a restaurant needs of a small flock, and how Proposition 12 reaches a few hens sold to a neighbour. Verify with the Department before you sell.
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Colorado
Can I sell eggs in Colorado? Yes — eggs you produce, sold only on your farm, at a farmers' market or through a community-supported agriculture program, under 250 dozen a month.
Colorado’s Egg Law says “Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a person who produces and sells only on the premises at which the poultry eggs were produced, at a farmers’ market, or through a community-supported agricultural organization, less than two hundred fifty dozen poultry eggs per month is exempt from this part 1” (C.R.S. 35-21-105(1)(a); “this part 1” is 35-21-101 to 35-21-108, which holds the dealer’s license), and the Department of Agriculture says a small flock selling in those places is exempt from its licensing. A sale to a grocery store, restaurant or other institution takes a Class I license from the Department, and the Cottage Foods Act lets a person sell whole eggs too, “a person may not sell more than two hundred fifty dozen whole eggs per month under this section,” and “A person selling whole eggs must meet the requirements of section 35-21-105, C.R.S.” (C.R.S. 25-4-1614(2)(b)(II); “this section” is 25-4-1614). Whether the Department’s washing, refrigeration and carton rules reach an on-farm seller, whether an egg stand needs a retail food license from the Department of Public Health and Environment, and what the Cottage Foods Act adds to an egg sale are not settled by the sources read; check with those two agencies.
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Connecticut
Can I sell eggs in Connecticut? Yes — your own eggs sold direct to household users, clean, kept at 45°F or below, not adulterated, and labeled with your name and address, the quantity and safe handling instructions.
Connecticut’s egg law is Part II of Chapter 423 of the General Statutes (§§22-40 to 22-49). It grades and labels every egg sold in the state, and §22-47 excuses a producer selling eggs of their own producing direct to household users from that whole part, provided the eggs are cleaned of exterior debris, kept at 45°F or below, not adulterated, and labeled with the producer’s name and address, the type of egg if not chicken, the quantity and safe food handling instructions. Grading, washing or packing eggs for anyone else takes a registration from the Department of Agriculture (§22-48a). The statutes read do not define a household user, and they do not say whether a town or district health director treats a farm’s egg stand as a food establishment needing a local permit. Ask the Department of Agriculture and your local health department before selling.
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Delaware
Can I sell eggs in Delaware? Yes — your own flock’s eggs, not sold at an established place of business away from where they were produced, and not advertised or displayed to the public with a price, a size, a quality, or words such as fresh, farm fresh or fancy.
Delaware's egg law does not name a license. It exempts a producer from the grade rules and the container rules only when the eggs are from their own flock, are not sold at an established place of business away from where they were produced, and are not advertised or displayed to the public with a price, a size, a quality, or words such as fresh, farm fresh or fancy. A sale that misses any of those conditions uses the label: grade, size, the word eggs, the count, and the packer's name and address on the container, or a sign beside eggs kept in full view, with "UNCLASSIFIED" if they are not graded or not sized. The chapter defines eggs as chicken eggs. Ask the Department of Agriculture whether a price on the carton is a display to the public.
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District of Columbia
Can I sell eggs in District of Columbia? No small-seller exemption.
The District of Columbia has no agriculture-department egg law in the sources read for this page. DC Health's cottage-food law lets a registered home business sell the foods on the department's approved list, and the code says that list includes temperature-control foods named in 25-K DCMR 103.5. The pages read do not include that list, so they do not say whether shell eggs are on it. A 2018 checklist still posted by DC Health says a cottage food business may not sell a food that has to be refrigerated, and the department's inspection page says shell eggs are stored at 45°F. Those two do not answer the list. The farmers-market law names shell eggs as a farm product and does not say a farmer may sell them without a license. Ask DC Health whether a sale of your own eggs from home needs a food-establishment license.
Egg laws in District of Columbia
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Florida
Can I sell eggs in Florida? No small-seller exemption.
A farm selling fewer than 30 dozen eggs a week is not an egg dealer under Florida law. The Limited Poultry & Egg Farm permit ($100/yr, up to 3,000 hens, eggs sold in Florida only, no wholesale) is the state's food permit for a small egg farm, and FDACS's rule says a farm under the line "shall be permitted" under it. Selling 30 dozen or more a week makes a farm a dealer, which takes a dealer's food permit.
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Georgia
Can I sell eggs in Georgia? No small-seller exemption.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture says a person who produces shell eggs and sells them at retail needs an egg candling certificate, which the statute issues at no cost. Its small-producer guideline, revised in 2008 and still linked from that page, calls some direct sales restricted eggs: your own flock, at the farm, door to door, or at your own place of business, to a household, no more than 30 dozen in a sale, from 3,000 hens or fewer. Those sales still need the certificate. The guideline says they do not need a Food Sales Establishment license. A sale to a store, a restaurant, or anyone who will resell does. The statute does not use those words or that line, so ask the department whether the 2008 guideline is still the rule.
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Hawaii
Can I sell eggs in Hawaii? No small-seller exemption.
The Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity’s retail sheet says “SHELL EGGS (chicken) sold in Hawaii shall be: GRADE B or better (Grade AA, A, or B)”, labeled with origin, grade, size, quantity and commodity, and “REFRIGERATED at 45° F or lower”. The rules set the consumer grades and require origin, grade and size on containers (Hawaii Administrative Rules §§4-46-3 and 4-46-5), and a permit only for eggs below consumer grade B (§4-46-6(c)). The Commodities Branch’s page says “At retail, egg cartons and containers must be properly grade labeled” and “A Dealer’s License is required when selling or handling Hawai‘i-grown agricultural products obtained or purchased directly from a farmer or producer”, without saying whether that license reaches eggs or a farm’s own sale. No text read names a license for an ordinary egg sale or says whether a small flock or a direct sale is excused. The statute they rest on, Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 147, part V, sits behind a human-verification page and was not read, so this page calls no seller legal or exempt. The rules copy is an unofficial compilation of October 5, 2002 and the sheet prints “10/02”; whether either has changed since is unread.
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Idaho
Can I sell eggs in Idaho? Yes — your own eggs, sold directly to consumers at the place you produce them.
Idaho’s egg chapter says a distributor “shall not refer to a producer when engaging in the sale of eggs or egg products to a distributor or when engaging in the sale of eggs directly to a consumer at the place of production” (I.C. 37-1520(g)), and the State Department of Agriculture’s rule lets a producer sell eggs from the producer’s premises directly to consumers at the place of production without grade designations (IDAPA 02.02.11.012.01.b). The Idaho Direct-to-Consumer Commerce Act, in force since 2026-03-20, names eggs, asks for a notice to an informed end consumer and at least two years of records, and is a second route the rule and the Department of Agriculture’s page have not been conformed to. A sale to a store takes its own route for a flock of 300 hens or fewer, and a restaurant is not settled. The sources do not say how these fit a farmers market or a farm selling by online request.
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Illinois
Can I sell eggs in Illinois? Yes — nest-run eggs from your own flock, sold to household consumers on the premises where the flock is kept, whatever the size of the flock.
Illinois’s egg law lets a producer sell “nest run eggs” from its own flock, “regardless of the size of the flock,” to household consumers on the premises where the flock is located without an Illinois Egg License (410 ILCS 615/8(a)), and “without candling or grading those eggs” (615/6). The Department of Agriculture says the buyer must pick up at the same place the hens are kept. Selling anywhere else, at a farmers market or to a store or restaurant, takes an Illinois Egg License ($15 for a limited license) and eggs that are washed, candled, graded, refrigerated and in new, labeled cartons. The Department’s page on online sales speaks of eggs “delivered or shipped,” and the sources do not say how a pickup arranged online is treated. The statute sets nest-run eggs at 45°F from 36 hours after lay; the Department’s rule still says 60°F.
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Indiana
Can I sell eggs in Indiana? Yes — eggs from your own flock, sold and delivered on the premises where you produce them.
Indiana’s egg law says farmers and other bona fide egg producers “who sell and deliver, on the premises where produced, eggs produced by their own flocks on their own premises are exempt from this chapter” (IC 16-42-11-8). The State Egg Board’s licensing page says no license is required “if you sell only from the location where eggs are produced,” and that the buyer must pick up from that same location. Selling anywhere else takes a Board permit: $20 for a farmers market, $30 and up for retail, more for sales to stores and restaurants. The Board also says using “an online platform to sell eggs with delivery to the end consumer requires a retail permit,” and its sources do not say how a pickup arranged online is treated. The chapter sets no hen or dozen limit, and the Board regulates chicken eggs only.
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Iowa
Can I sell eggs in Iowa? Yes — eggs from your own flock, sold directly to consumers or at a farmers market.
Iowa’s egg chapter leaves “a producer who sells eggs as provided in section 196.4” out of “egg handler” (Iowa Code §196.1), and the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s rule says “Producers who sell eggs produced exclusively from their own flocks directly to egg handlers or to consumer customers are exempt from regulation as egg handlers” (rule 21—36.1). The Department’s page says selling eggs directly to home consumers and at a farmers market takes no IDALS license, the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing says a market’s food license “is not required in order to sell wholesome, fresh shell eggs to consumer customers,” and a sale to a retail store, bakery, restaurant or warehouse takes the egg handler’s license. The sources read do not settle whether a small flock selling only direct must register, what an exempt seller must candle, label and chill, whether an online request for pickup changes anything, or how a duck or quail egg is treated.
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Kansas
Can I sell eggs in Kansas? Yes — ungraded eggs from your own flock of fewer than 250 hens; above 50 hens, washed and clean, prepackaged, labeled ungraded with your name and address, sold to consumers only and kept at 45°F or below.
Kansas’s egg law says “A producer of eggs when selling ungraded eggs of the producer’s own flock production is exempted from the provisions of this act if” the producer “owns 50 or fewer hens,” or owns “more than 50 hens but fewer than 250 hens” and the eggs are washed and clean, prepackaged, labeled ungraded with the producer’s name and address, in cartons not reused unless every brand marking is obliterated, sold to consumers only and kept at 45°F or below (K.S.A. 2-2508(d)). Graded eggs, and eggs sold to anyone but the end consumer, take an egg license and an inspection fee, the Department of Agriculture says. Its pages give the top of the second band as 250 hens or fewer where the statute says fewer than 250, and the sources read do not settle a flock of exactly 250, whether an online listing with a price is an advertisement, or whether a farm’s egg stand off a market is a food establishment.
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Kentucky
Can I sell eggs in Kentucky? Yes — eggs sold only directly to consumers, no more than 60 dozen in a calendar week.
Kentucky's egg law says no one sells eggs without a license, and it excepts a producer who sells only directly to consumers and no more than 60 dozen eggs a calendar week. Selling more than that, or to a store, a restaurant or anyone who resells, takes a Department of Agriculture egg license, from $20 a year. The exemption is from the license, not from the rest of the law: exempt sellers can be inspected, cartons can't be reused, and eggs held above 45°F for four hours or more are withdrawn from sale. The law covers duck, quail and other birds' eggs too.
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Louisiana
Can I sell eggs in Louisiana? No small-seller exemption.
Louisiana's statute exempts a producer with fewer than 500 hens who sells eggs directly to the consumer from the farm from the egg license and the assessment. The Department of Agriculture and Forestry's egg page, and its license rule as amended in November 2025, say everyone who produces eggs needs the $100 Egg Marketing License, and neither mentions that exemption. The sources don't say whether a farmers market stall or a delivery counts as "from the farm." Louisiana's egg law covers chicken eggs only. Ask the department's Egg Commission before you rely on the exemption.
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Maine
Can I sell eggs in Maine? Yes — eggs of your own production sold direct to consumers, which the egg statute excuses from its grade, size and descriptive-term rules.
Maine’s egg statute (7 M.R.S. §§631 to 643) puts a grade and size on every egg sold, and then excuses producers who sell eggs of their own production direct to consumers from the grading, labeling and descriptive-term sections. It sets no license and no dozen or hen limit, and the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s 2026 farm stand FAQ says small-scale producers may sell eggs direct to consumers with labeling and handling requirements still applying. The Department’s 2021 vendor sheets still list a size, a grade of at least B and 45°F, no source says in words whether an egg stand needs the Department’s food establishment license, and a town’s food sovereignty ordinance can replace the State’s enforcement for direct sales.
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Maryland
Can I sell eggs in Maryland? No small-seller exemption.
Maryland's egg rules say a person may not sell shell eggs to a consumer unless they are registered with the Secretary of Agriculture. A packer who keeps 3,000 or fewer chickens and sells shell eggs only from those chickens registers and pays no registration or inspection fee. The statute says poultry where the rules say chickens. Everyone else who packs pays $30 a year and 8 cents per 30-dozen case. The department's guidelines say eggs are sold as Grade AA or Grade A, never ungraded, and held at 45°F or below. A flock whose eggs are sold is a commercial flock under the Salmonella rule. Its tests count birds, a random 300 per house for the blood test or 500 after a positive environmental sample, and nothing read for this page says what a smaller house does. Ask the Department of Agriculture.
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Massachusetts
Can I sell eggs in Massachusetts? Yes — farm fresh eggs kept at 45°F or below, which the state’s Retail Food Code says need no board of health permit.
Massachusetts’s egg law is Chapter 94 of the General Laws (§§90A to 92A) and the Department of Agricultural Resources’ poultry rule, 330 CMR 5.00. Every carton sold at retail carries a grade (AA, A, B or “not graded”) and a size (or “not sized”), and the sections read set no license, dozen limit or hen limit. The Department of Public Health’s Retail Food Code says no board of health permit is required for farm fresh eggs stored and kept at 45°F or below, at a farmers market, a temporary or on-farm operation that sells only those eggs, or a mobile one that transports only those eggs, but it is a set of minimum standards, and a city or town board of health may make health regulations of its own. A separate rule on hen housing (330 CMR 35.00) bars the sale of eggs from hens confined in a cruel manner. Ask your town or city board of health and the Department of Agricultural Resources before selling.
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Michigan
Can I sell eggs in Michigan? Yes — fewer than 3,000 hens, sold only directly to consumers or first receivers, in containers labeled “packaged in a facility that has not been inspected by the department,” and not through the internet, by mail order or on consignment.
Michigan’s Food Law says the act “does not apply” to a person who produces eggs from fewer than 3,000 hens, sells only directly to consumers or first receivers, sells only in containers labeled “packaged in a facility that has not been inspected by the department,” and does not sell eggs through the internet or by mail order or consignment (MCL 289.7114(10)). The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s pages call the same conditions an exemption from a license, say such firms are “still subject to inspection by MDARD or local agencies,” and, on its shell-egg page, say “grading and sizing is required” for anyone selling eggs. A sale to a store or restaurant fits only if the buyer is a first receiver, a business that candles, grades, sorts, packs or packages eggs, and MDARD says a producer meeting the four conditions, including sales only to consumers or first receivers, needs no license, while the sources leave open how the statute’s “does not apply” and MDARD’s inspection language fit together. The cage-free housing law carves out farms under 3,000 hens in one subsection and not another.
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Minnesota
Can I sell eggs in Minnesota? Yes — eggs from the flock on your own farm, which Minnesota’s food licensing law leaves out of its license.
Minnesota’s food licensing law does not apply to “persons selling the products of the farm or garden occupied and cultivated by them” (Minn. Stat. §28A.15), and the Department of Agriculture says most producers selling eggs from their own flock need no food handler’s license and, with fewer than 3,000 laying hens, no inspection. Eggs sold on the farm are “permitted”; eggs sold away from it, at a farmers market or to a store or restaurant, must be cleaned dry, candled, graded, sized, kept at 45°F and labeled, and the Department asks such a producer to register at no charge. The sources read do not settle how the egg chapter’s own-farm exclusion fits its grading rule, what a farm selling only at home must put on a carton, or how the Department treats an online request for pickup.
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Mississippi
Can I sell eggs in Mississippi? Yes — your own eggs, offered on your own premises, which Mississippi’s egg marketing law exempts.
Mississippi's egg marketing law exempts a producer selling eggs of their own production on their own premises, or selling fewer than 6 dozen a week. To sell your own eggs off the farm, at a market or anywhere else, straight to consumers, a flock of 500 or fewer hens needs the Department of Agriculture and Commerce's Retail Food Sanitation License–Eggs, $10 a year, and NPIP testing of the hens. That license comes with a carton label, a 30-day pack-date limit, and 45°F. The sources don't say whether a sale at the farm needs the department's general $10 retail food license. Ask the department.
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Missouri
Can I sell eggs in Missouri? Yes — only eggs from your own flocks, not sold at an established place of business away from your premises.
Missouri’s egg law says no one may “buy, sell, trade or traffic in eggs in this state without a license,” except “those who sell only eggs produced by their own flocks, provided such eggs are not sold at an established place of business away from the premises of such producer” (RSMo 196.313; 2 CSR 90-36.015). The Department of Agriculture’s FAQ says a farm whose customers “strictly come to your house or farm” needs no license, a farmers market takes a retailer’s license, and selling to a convenience store or restaurant takes a dealer’s license. The sources read do not settle whether a roadside stand on the farm or an online request for pickup is “away from the premises,” what an unlicensed farm must grade and label, whether an online listing with a price is advertising, or whether a local health department asks an egg stall for a permit.
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Montana
Can I sell eggs in Montana? Yes — your own eggs, bought by the consumer at the place you produce them or at a farmer’s market.
Montana’s egg part says “This part does not affect the sale of eggs by a producer when the consumer purchases the eggs at the place of production or at a farmer’s market” (MCA 81-20-206; the part is 81-20-201 to 81-20-209), and the Department of Livestock says that selling “from your backyard flock to friends and neighbors, directly from your farm or home” needs no license. The Department of Public Health and Human Services says a farm with 3,000 laying hens or fewer selling direct on the farm or by subscription needs no license from it, no inspection and no grading, and its market guide lists clean, uncracked eggs at 45°F or lower among the foods a farmers market seller needs no food license for. The Department of Livestock’s no-license statement names sales from the farm or home only; whether its licenses reach a market sale is not said. Selling to a store or cafe takes an egg grading license ($5 a year). The sources do not settle what an online request and pickup is, what an exempt seller must put on a carton, or whether a county or market asks for more. No dozen line limits the sale.
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Nebraska
Can I sell eggs in Nebraska? Yes — the eggs you produce yourself, or eggs from no more than four producers at the same time, which the Pure Food Act leaves out of the food establishment permit; your cartons still carry the Department’s packer number.
Nebraska’s Pure Food Act says “A food establishment which produces eggs and only stores, packages, sells, delivers, or otherwise provides for human consumption the eggs it produces, or only stores, packages, sells, delivers, or otherwise provides for human consumption eggs produced from no more than four producers at the same time, is exempt from the requirements of subsections (1) through (6)” of the permit section, and the permit is the food establishment permit. A separate section asks anyone who “for remuneration packs and sells, offers for sale, barters, or otherwise provides eggs for human consumption” to label them with a packer identification number, which the Department of Agriculture issues free to a flock under 3,000 hens. No hen or dozen line limits the sale.
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Nevada
Can I sell eggs in Nevada? No small-seller exemption.
Nevada’s egg sections say “It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to sell or offer or expose for sale any eggs intended for human consumption” unless each container is marked with the size and quality and “the name and address of the producer, dealer, retailer or agent by or for whom the eggs were graded or marked” (NRS 583.170(1); “NRS 583.110 to 583.210, inclusive” are the egg sections), and they set no small-flock or dozen line. The Department of Agriculture says a producer certificate is needed to sell eggs ($50 the first year, $30 to renew without an inspection), and the statute that orders certification speaks of farm products “other than any livestock, livestock product or poultry” (NRS 576.128(1)). The health side moved to the Department in 2025 and the sources leave open what an egg stand needs from it. Verify with the Department before you sell.
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New Hampshire
Can I sell eggs in New Hampshire? Yes — eggs sold only from your residence, farm store or stand, or to local stores, with your name, an address or website and a phone number on the carton.
New Hampshire’s egg law is RSA 428:22 through 428:29, rewritten by a 2026 act that took effect August 4, 2026. A producer who sells only from a residence, a farm store or stand, or to local stores labels the carton with a producer’s name, an address or website and a phone number, and otherwise is not under the rest of the egg subdivision, including its 45°F rule. The Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food says no state license is needed from it or from the Department of Health and Human Services, and no source gives a dozen or hen limit. The Department’s egg page and the Agr 905 egg rule still read as they did before the 2026 act, and the sources read do not say whether a town health officer or the Department of Health and Human Services treats a farm’s egg stand as a food establishment.
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New Jersey
Can I sell eggs in New Jersey? No small-seller exemption.
New Jersey’s Egg Act (N.J.S.A. 4:3-11.10 to 4:3-11.28) covers eggs marketed to consumers, institutions and retailers and, as read, has no exemption for a small flock. It requires a grade, size-weight class, count and packer’s name on the container and a keeping temperature of 60°F or lower. N.J.A.C. 2:71-1.23 allows one exception, restricted eggs marketed under the federal exemptions, and the federal rule exempts a flock of 3,000 hens or fewer from its restricted-egg controls. The Department of Agriculture’s farm-market sheets say such a flock is exempt from grading and give different limits (30 dozen and 50 dozen), and neither sheet cites the Act or the rule. Ask the Department of Agriculture and your local health department before selling.
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New Mexico
Can I sell eggs in New Mexico? No small-seller exemption.
New Mexico’s Egg Grading Act says “The Egg Grading Act shall not apply to any person selling eggs from his own production when produced from a flock of less than three thousand birds, provided they are sold as ungraded” (NMSA 25-6-6; “this act” is 25-6-1 to 25-6-16). Section 25-6-7, in the same act, says “Retailers may sell the eggs specified in Section 25-6-6 NMSA 1978 to consumers only when such eggs on hand, offered or placed on sale are clearly marked ‘ungraded.’ Ungraded eggs shall be cartoned when sold at retail” and “Any person proposing to sell ungraded eggs shall, prior to any such sale, notify the department in writing of his intent to sell ungraded eggs, specifying his location, the number of laying hens owned or in his possession, the place of production and the general area of the state in which the eggs are to be sold.” The Department of Agriculture’s page says “There is no fee to register to sell ungraded eggs.” “A small dealer’s license is required of any person that buys, sells or traffics in more than five cases and less than two hundred cases of eggs in any one week,” with larger licenses above that (25-6-12(A), (B), (C)), and the act’s fee is “one-half cent ($.005) per dozen; provided that the board may index the amount of the fee for inflation until July 1, 2031 using the consumer price index for all urban consumers: all items published by the United States department of labor” (25-6-9). The sources leave open how the “shall not apply” sentence fits the sections after it, and what the Environment Department asks of a farm’s egg stand, a farmers market, a store or a restaurant. Verify with the Department before you sell.
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New York
Can I sell eggs in New York? No small-seller exemption.
New York’s egg law is Article 13-A of the Agriculture and Markets Law (§§160-a to 160-e) and 1 NYCRR Parts 190 and 191. Eggs sold to consumers must be sold by the State’s grades, and a producer selling eggs of their own production is excused only from the notice of grade and size on the carton or sign; New York City’s own rules ask for that notice with no such exception. The Department of Agriculture and Markets’ shell-egg sheet says such eggs must still be graded and of Grade B or better, and keeps every egg at 45°F or below. The sources read do not say whether a farm selling its own eggs needs the Article 28 retail food store license, and the Department’s farmers-market guide says a carton must show the grade and size that the shell-egg sheet excuses. Ask the Department of Agriculture and Markets and your local health department before selling.
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North Carolina
Can I sell eggs in North Carolina? Yes — your own eggs, sold ungraded on the farm where they are produced or in no more than 30 dozen a week, which the egg law excuses from a grade and a size, and the egg law names no license.
North Carolina's egg law does not require a license to sell eggs. A producer marketing eggs of their own production is exempt from stating a grade and a size when the sale is on the farm where the eggs were produced or processed, or when ungraded sales are no more than 30 dozen a week. The state's rules let those eggs be called "ungraded eggs." The egg law is about chicken eggs. It does not say whether a farmers market also needs a health permit.
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North Dakota
Can I sell eggs in North Dakota? Yes — eggs sold to an end consumer, which the Department of Agriculture says are exempt from egg dealer licensing.
North Dakota’s egg statute says eggs sold other than to an end consumer “must be candled, labeled, and meet all other requirements as the commissioner deems necessary,” and “All eggs sold or offered for sale to an end consumer are exempt from this requirement.” The Department of Agriculture’s sheet says eggs sold to an end consumer are exempt from egg dealer licensing and requirements, and asks small flock producers who sell at wholesale or for other commercial use for a $10 license. The Department’s rule, though, says all eggs offered for sale must be candled and carry a pack date, and the sources do not settle how the two fit. No hen or dozen line limits the sale.
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Ohio
Can I sell eggs in Ohio? Yes — eggs from 500 or fewer birds, sold direct to the consumer from the place they are produced, which Ohio’s retail food law leaves out of the retail food establishment license.
Ohio’s retail food law (R.C. 3717.22) excuses a person who keeps 500 or fewer birds from a retail food establishment license when the eggs go direct to the consumer from the place they are produced, and R.C. 3715.021 takes that person out of “food processing establishment.” The Department of Agriculture’s small-egg page says such a farm no longer registers, may sell from the farm, to a retailer or restaurant and at a farmers market (where it must also license with its local health department), and is held to the same labeling as a large producer. The egg chapter (R.C. 925.01 to 925.13) defines a “producer” as more than 500 birds and exempts only those, while its carton rules say “No person,” and the Department’s label list and the statute’s differ in three places. The chapter’s 45°F and records rules bind a “producer and processor,” and the Department’s page does not speak to them.
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Oklahoma
Can I sell eggs in Oklahoma? Yes — ungraded eggs from your own flock, sold direct to the consumer, which Oklahoma’s egg law exempts.
Oklahoma's egg law exempts a producer selling ungraded eggs from their own flock, and says nothing in it prohibits selling eggs produced on the farm direct to the consumer. From November 1, 2026, Senate Bill 2110 says that covers sales on the farm, at a farmers market, or otherwise off the farm, up to 150 dozen a month. Until then, the Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry's guide says a farmers market seller needs an egg packer license, and an on-farm seller gets "no delivery." Grading or packing eggs for sale takes a $35 packer license. Ask the department which applies to you.
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Oregon
Can I sell eggs in Oregon? Yes — your own eggs, sold and delivered directly to an individual consumer, which Oregon’s egg statute leaves out of the egg handler’s license.
Oregon’s egg statute says “Unless the person holds a permit issued under ORS 632.730, a person may not sell or distribute within this state any eggs to consumers or to retailers without having first obtained an egg handler’s license from the State Department of Agriculture. The license is not required:” and lists, first, “Of a producer selling and delivering eggs of the producer’s own production directly to an individual consumer” (ORS 632.715(1), inside ORS 632.705 to 632.815). The Department’s licensing page says “Producer is not required to have an egg handler license when the following applies:” “Producer is selling and delivering their own eggs direct to an individual consumer (including farmers' market), but labeling is required.” The same page says “Producer is required to have an egg handler license for the following:” “Selling or distributing eggs to consumers, retailers, cafes, bakeries, hospitals, schools, boarding houses or institutions.” The statute defines “consumer” to include a restaurant, hotel, boarding house, bakery or institution, and does not define “individual consumer”, so this page sets the wordings side by side and never calls a sale to a store or restaurant cleared. Nothing here says a seller is legal.
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Pennsylvania
Can I sell eggs in Pennsylvania? Yes — your own eggs from fewer than 3,000 laying hens, sold directly from the farm or within 100 miles, which the Department’s guidance exempts from retail licensing.
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture guidance exempts a producer with fewer than 3,000 laying hens from retail licensing when selling their own eggs directly from the farm or distributing within 100 miles, and PDA’s Eggs page adds sale within five days of lay. The guidance cites no statute or regulation for the exemption, and seven county health departments license retail food themselves. Farmers-market stalls away from the farm need a Retail Food License. The Egg Refrigeration Law and 7 Pa. Code use a different small-processor line of no more than 3,200 hens; ask PDA how that difference affects a farm near either threshold.
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Rhode Island
Can I sell eggs in Rhode Island? No small-seller exemption.
Rhode Island’s egg law is Chapter 17 of Title 21 of the General Laws and the Department of Environmental Management’s shell-egg rule (250-RICR-40-20-7). Together they put the grade and size (AA, A, B or C) on every carton of shell eggs sold to a consumer, decided by candling, and an invoice with the grade and size on every delivery to a retailer. The one exemption read is for eggs sold to a first receiver who grades them. Nothing read excuses a farm selling its own eggs to households from the grade and size, sets a dozen or hen limit, or creates an egg license. The food-business law makes a food business register each year with the Department of Health, and leaves open the class and fee for a farm’s egg stand. Ask the Department of Environmental Management and the Department of Health before selling.
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South Carolina
Can I sell eggs in South Carolina? Yes — eggs sold at a roadside stand near the farm where they were produced, which South Carolina’s egg law does not apply to.
South Carolina's egg law does not apply to a person who sells eggs at a roadside stand near the farm where they were produced. The Department of Agriculture's 2026 guide reads that more broadly: a sale straight to the person who will eat the eggs, at the farm where they were gathered, is outside the law, and a sale anywhere else needs an egg license. The statute sets no fee for it. The statute and the guide don't use the same words, so ask the department which sales at the farm are outside the law.
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South Dakota
Can I sell eggs in South Dakota? Yes — your own production, sold and delivered exclusively to consumers, which South Dakota’s egg law leaves out of egg dealer licensing.
South Dakota’s egg law says no one may buy, sell, pack or distribute eggs without an egg dealer license except “Producers selling and delivering their own production exclusively to consumers,” and a consumer is someone who buys eggs “for his use, but not for resale.” SDSU Extension repeats the exception, but it and the Department’s rules also tie the $10 Class A license, and a candler/grader license, to a producer’s sales at a farmers market and to stores and restaurants, and the rules ask for new cartons, a grade and weight on a price advertisement and 45°F. The sources do not settle how these fit for a farm selling only to households. No hen or dozen line limits the sale.
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Tennessee
Can I sell eggs in Tennessee? Yes — fewer than 3,000 laying hens, packing only your own eggs, which leaves you outside most of the federal egg rules; Tennessee repealed its egg-license law in 2020.
Tennessee repealed its egg-license law in 2020. The Department of Agriculture says it inspects egg producers, processors, and handlers, and it doesn't say a small flock needs a state license. University of Tennessee Extension says a producer who owns and raises fewer than 3,000 laying hens and packs only those eggs is outside most of the federal egg rules, still has to print the federal safe-handling statement, and is not told by those rules to do more. The 2025 homemade-food law doesn't mention shell eggs. Ask the department before you treat a porch sale as covered by the repeal alone.
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Texas
Can I sell eggs in Texas? Yes — your own flock's eggs, ungraded, sold straight to the people who eat them, however many you sell.
A farm selling its own flock's eggs, ungraded, straight to the people who eat them needs no license from the Texas Department of Agriculture, however many it sells. A farmers market stall also needs a health permit, and grading, reselling or selling to stores and restaurants takes a TDA egg license.
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Utah
Can I sell eggs in Utah? Yes — a small producer with fewer than 3,000 layers, whose eggs Utah’s egg chapter exempts from regulation by the Department of Agriculture and Food.
Utah’s egg chapter says “Except as provided in this section, a small producer and the shell eggs produced by a small producer are exempt from regulation by the department” (Utah Code 4-4-107(1); “this section” is 4-4-107, and the chapter is 4-4-102 to 4-4-108). A “small producer” is a producer of shell eggs “having less than 3,000 layers” and “who is exempt from 21 C.F.R. Chapter 1, Part 118, Production, Storage, and Transportation of Shell Eggs” (4-4-103(11)). The carton carries the common name “eggs,” the number of eggs, the producer’s name and address, “Keep Refrigerated” and a safe-handling statement (4-4-108(1)), and a small producer that sells eggs wholesale “shall notify the department” (4-4-107(6)). Whether a sale to a restaurant is a wholesale sale, whether a farmers market stall or an egg stand needs a health or food registration, and whether a listing or an online request for pickup changes any of it are not settled by the sources read; check with the Department of Agriculture and Food and the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Vermont
Can I sell eggs in Vermont? No small-seller exemption.
Vermont’s egg law is Chapter 27 of Title 6 of the Vermont Statutes and the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets’ egg rule. Every carton of eggs sold, offered or advertised carries a grade (AA, A or B) and a size, and the statute sets no dozen limit, hen limit or license for a farm that sells its own eggs. The Agency’s 2023 guide says producers and retailers of eggs need no license or registration from it. The Department of Health licenses food establishments, and the sources read do not say whether a farm’s egg stand or a farmers market stall selling only eggs is one. The Agency’s 2020 market sheet and its 2023 guide read differently on grade, size and candling for a small flock. Ask the Agency’s Food Safety and Consumer Protection Division and the Department of Health’s Food and Lodging Program before selling.
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Virginia
Can I sell eggs in Virginia? Yes — 150 dozen eggs or less a week from your own hens, which Virginia’s egg law exempts.
Virginia's egg law exempts a producer selling a total of 150 dozen eggs or less per week from their own hens, or eggs purchased from other producers not to exceed 60 dozen per week, if the eggs are of edible quality and of the quality represented. The chapter names no license. The grade-marking rule excepts that producer. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' handbook reads the exemption as two paths, a home sale or a farmers market, and then lists clean eggs, 45°F, and a carton label for all shell eggs. The statute exempts that producer from the egg law, and the handbook still lists rules for those sales. Ask VDACS Food Safety which applies.
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Washington
Can I sell eggs in Washington? Yes — eggs from your own flock sold at the place of production directly to consumers for their own use, which the Department of Agriculture says need no license.
Washington’s Department of Agriculture says “Egg producers who sell eggs 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,” and the Department of Revenue says “Poultry producers who sell eggs from their own flocks at the place of production directly to household consumers don’t need to be licensed.” The same Department of Agriculture page says a farmers market or direct-to-retail sale takes the egg handler/dealer license. The statute lets the director exempt a producer with a flock of 3,000 hens or less, no rule read does, and the chapter’s housing standards and its own wording of a dealer are left open.
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West Virginia
Can I sell eggs in West Virginia? No small-seller exemption.
West Virginia's egg law says the commissioner issues an egg distributor permit to every person distributing eggs, and a producer the commissioner exempts by rule registers and does not pay the permit or inspection fee. The department's egg rule says a small producer markets 150 dozen or less a week of their own production, registers, pays no permit or inspection fee, and labels the carton. The department's certificate runs July 1 to June 30. The rule says eggs are washed before packing and held at 45°F or less ambient temperature, except a trip under three hours. The statute defines an egg as a chicken egg or any other egg offered for sale for human consumption.
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Wisconsin
Can I sell eggs in Wisconsin? Yes — 150 egg-laying birds or fewer, sold direct to the consumer in a labeled carton, which Wisconsin’s direct-sale statute excuses from the food processing plant license.
Wisconsin’s direct-sale statute says an egg producer with a flock of no more than 150 egg-laying birds “need not obtain a license under s. 97.29 to sell eggs, including nest-run eggs,” when selling straight to a consumer at the farm, at a farmers’ market in the state or on an egg sales route, in a carton “labeled only with” the producer’s name and address, the pack date, a sell-by date within 30 days and a statement that the eggs are ungraded and uninspected, and kept at 41°F (Wis. Stat. §97.28). The rules add a retail food license for a market or route sale, and more than 150 birds, or a sale to a store or restaurant, takes a food processing plant license. The Department’s own pages ask for more on the carton and for candling than the statute lists, and the sources do not say how an online request for pickup is treated.
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Wyoming
Can I sell eggs in Wyoming? Yes — eggs sold by the producer to an informed end consumer in Wyoming, which the Food Freedom Act exempts from state licensure, permitting, inspection, packaging and labeling.
Wyoming’s Food Freedom Act says that “Unless otherwise provided in this section, homemade food products produced, sold and consumed in compliance with the Wyoming Food Freedom Act shall be exempt from state licensure, permitting, inspection, packaging and labeling requirements” (W.S. 11-49-103(b)), and it names eggs. The seller is a producer, the buyer an informed end consumer who has been told the eggs are not licensed, regulated or inspected, and the sale is in Wyoming, at a farm, a home, a farmers market or another agreed place. The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Rule asks a carton of ungraded eggs to be labeled “Ungraded eggs” with the producer’s name and address, a packing date and “Keep Refrigerated.” Selling to a restaurant or bakery takes an egg grader license and inspection on the Department’s sheet, while the statute’s restaurant exception names no egg and the Department’s Q&A names eggs. The sources do not settle how these fit for a farm selling only to households by online request. No hen or dozen line limits the sale.
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Australia
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Queensland
Can I sell eggs in Queensland? No small-seller exemption.
Safe Food Production Queensland says "It doesn’t matter how many poultry birds or eggs you have, an accreditation with Safe Food is still required" for a person who produces eggs and sells or supplies them, and the Food Production (Safety) Regulation 2014 puts "off-farm sales of eggs" in the egg scheme. The Act does not apply to "primary produce possessed by an individual for the individual’s own use", or to an individual's production that is not supplied; no size line is in it. Each egg a producer supplies carries its own identification, and the Regulation asks it of each carton too. A seller of eggs it did not produce needs no accreditation. Whether a council licence also reaches a stall is not settled (#1076), nor whether a farm with fewer than 100 birds registers as a biosecurity entity first (#1075).
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Tasmania
Can I sell eggs in Tasmania? Yes — Biosecurity Tasmania's forms page says some home flocks need take no action; the Regulations separately define home egg production and exclude it from primary production activities.
Biosecurity Tasmania, which runs the Egg Food Safety Scheme, says on its forms page "If you keep fewer than 20 egg-laying birds" and "only sell or supply directly to friends, family or work colleagues, no action is required." The Primary Produce Safety (Egg) Regulations 2024 take "home egg production", egg production on residential premises that stays within a bird limit and supplies no business, market or wholesale, out of the primary production activities (regs. 3 and 5). A business that "supplies less than 20 dozen eggs in each calendar week" is not required to be accredited but must notify the Chief Inspector and stamp its eggs (reg. 12), and the rest are accredited, with a food safety program audited at least once every 12 months (regs. 12 to 16). Whether a home producer may sell from the gate (#1082), what applies at exactly 20 birds, 20 dozen eggs and 50 birds (#1083), whether the council is also notified (#1084), whether a property code is held (#1085) and whether a home producer selling to friends notifies at all (#1086) are not settled.
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Western Australia
Can I sell eggs in Western Australia? No small-seller exemption.
The Department of Health lists "Egg production, processing (that do not export)" as a food business that registers with its local government, and says of Standard 4.2.5 "No, there are currently no exemptions." on a page last reviewed 01-09-2022. The Act has a food business, other than an exempted one, register before it operates (s 109), and the Food Regulations 2009 take any food production activity a Chapter 4 Standard applies to out of primary food production (reg. 6). The four exempted food businesses in the Regulations are none a small seller by size (regs. 10 to 13). Whether a farm selling eggs in cartons is inside the packaged-food one (#1088), whether a keeper who gives eggs away is a food business (#1089), whether a small seller must have the Food Unit allocate its egg stamp (#1090) and whether a market in another district is notified (#1091) are not settled. A person who owns or purchases stock must register under reg. 7(1); reg. 7(2) exempts a poultry, emu or ostrich owner only if they own fewer than 50 poultry and fewer than 10 emus and ostriches (in any combination), and own or purchase no other species of stock.
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Canada
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Alberta
Can I sell eggs in Alberta? Yes — up to 300 hens without a producer licence from Egg Farmers of Alberta.
A farm keeping 300 or fewer hens is an exempt producer under Egg Farmers of Alberta's Plan Regulation and needs no producer licence from the board. Alberta's egg regulation lets a producer sell its own uninspected eggs straight to a consumer who will eat them, if the eggs are clean, uncracked, kept at 7°C or less and packed in containers marked UNINSPECTED. Eggs for anyone who will not eat them must be graded at a registered egg station. A farm with more than 300 hens needs the board's licence and quota.
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British Columbia
Can I sell eggs in British Columbia? Yes — up to 99 hens, your own eggs, clean and not leaking, sold ungraded from your farm or home to the people who eat them.
A farm keeping 99 or fewer hens needs no permit or licence from the BC Egg Marketing Board, and British Columbia's egg grading regulation does not apply to a producer who sells its own eggs from its farm or residence to a consumer. Eggs sold anywhere else must be graded at a registered egg station. A farm with 100 to 399 hens belongs to the board's Small Lot program. A farmers market stall is where the sources do not line up.
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Manitoba
Can I sell eggs in Manitoba? Yes — up to 300 hens without registration, a licence or quota from Manitoba Egg Farmers.
A farm keeping 300 or fewer hens needs no registration, licence or quota from Manitoba Egg Farmers. Manitoba's Poultry Products Regulation lets a producer sell its own ungraded eggs directly to consumers, on the farm or at a public market, if they are clean, uncracked and not leaking, packed in clean cartons marked "ungraded eggs" with the producer's name, contact information and packing date, and kept at 4°C or lower. A sale made that way needs no food handling permit under the Food and Food Handling Establishments Regulation, which still lets the director require one where there is a risk to public health. Eggs for a store, a restaurant or anyone who will not eat them must be graded. A farm keeping more than 300 hens needs the board's registration, licence and quota.
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New Brunswick
Can I sell eggs in New Brunswick? Yes — the page of Egg Farmers of New Brunswick says 199 hens or fewer need no quota or registration, and that a farmer may sell its own ungraded eggs straight to the people who eat them, at the farm or at a farmers market; the regulation we read does not state that line, and the sources differ on ungraded sales.
Egg Farmers of New Brunswick says a backyard flock of 0 to 199 hens needs no quota or registration, and the Government of New Brunswick says no licence is required to keep 199 birds or fewer. The Eggs Regulation (N.B. Reg. 82-96) requires all eggs sold in the Province to be graded, but "does not apply to a producer who sells, sends or conveys to a consumer, eggs produced on his own farm", a consumer being someone who buys for their own household and not to resell. The board says a farmer may sell its own ungraded eggs straight to the consumer at the farm or at farmers markets, and the Department of Health says selling eggs that way is exempt from food premises licensing "at this time". The regulation we read does not state the 199 line, and the sources differ on ungraded sales, as the answers below quote. Any other sale takes eggs graded at a station registered with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. A farm keeping 200 or more laying hens must be issued quota and a licence by the board.
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Newfoundland and Labrador
Can I sell eggs in Newfoundland and Labrador? Yes — the Egg Regulations take a person who owns fewer than 100 layers, an unregulated producer, out of the Egg Scheme and the regulations except as they expressly set out, and the Egg Grading and Inspection Regulations let a producer sell ungraded eggs to a consumer; the Scheme's s. 12(1) reads wider than the regulations, no regulation we read says whether a farm egg sale needs a food premises licence, and the label and the market licence are the 2011 Public Market Guidelines' word alone.
The Egg Regulations say "unregulated producer" means "a person who owns less than 100 layers", and that such a producer "shall not be affected by the Egg Scheme, 2000 or these regulations except as expressly set out"; the Scheme calls "a person who owns 100 or more layers" a producer, who "shall not produce or market eggs in intraprovincial trade unless a quota has been assigned" by Egg Farmers of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Egg Grading and Inspection Regulations do not apply their grading rule to "eggs or cracked eggs that are sold by producers to consumers". The Scheme's s. 12(1) says "A person shall not engage in the production of eggs in the province unless he or she holds a valid quota certificate", which reads wider than the regulations, the board's orders were not found, and no regulation we read says whether a farm egg sale needs a food premises licence, so the page quotes each source and settles none. The 2011 Public Market Guidelines add the label "Unregulated Producer" and a seasonal food licence for an egg vendor at a market.
Egg laws in Newfoundland and Labrador
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Northwest Territories
Can I sell eggs in the Northwest Territories? No small-seller exemption.
The Egg Marketing Regulations say "No person who has not been allotted a quota for the marketing of eggs shall market eggs", and the Agricultural Products Marketing Act says "marketing" includes selling. The Act lets regulations exempt a person or class of person from "the regulation of the plan"; the Egg Marketing Plan Establishment Regulations and the Egg Marketing Regulations name no one, no flock size, and no sale to a consumer, and the board's own orders were not found, so the page quotes what they say and settles nothing (#958). The Food Establishment Safety Regulations say "A person shall not operate a food establishment unless the person holds a valid food establishment permit", and a food establishment is premises where food is "offered for sale or sold"; they apply to "a farm where food is handled" and do not name eggs (#959). No instrument we read requires eggs sold inside the territory to be graded or sets a carton label.
Egg laws in the Northwest Territories
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Nova Scotia
Can I sell eggs in Nova Scotia? Yes — up to 200 layers in a year without a licence from Egg Farmers of Nova Scotia, and your own farm's eggs sold ungraded straight to the people who eat them, at your farm or, with a Public Market Vendor Permit from Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, at a public market.
A person who uses 200 or fewer laying hens in a year needs no producing licence from Egg Farmers of Nova Scotia under the Egg Regulations (N.S. Reg. 325/2022). Nova Scotia's grading regulations do not apply to a producer who sells eggs from its own farm to a consumer, someone who buys for their own household and not to resell, so those eggs may be sold ungraded. The Department of Agriculture says that is allowed at the farm gate or at a public market, a farmers' market held no more than two days a week, where the eggs must be clean and kept at 4°C and a Public Market Vendor Permit from Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change is required. Every other sale needs eggs graded at a station registered with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. A farm using more than 200 layers in a year needs the board's licence.
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Ontario
Can I sell eggs in Ontario? Yes — up to 100 hens over nineteen weeks old without quota from Egg Farmers of Ontario, your own farm's eggs, clean and not leaking, sold ungraded on your farm to the people who eat them.
A farm selling its own farm's eggs, ungraded, on that farm to the people who eat them needs no licence for that sale under Ontario's egg regulation (O. Reg. 171/10). Sold anywhere else, eggs must be graded at an egg-grading station, and a farmers market stall is not the farm. Egg Farmers of Ontario's own regulations let an exempt producer keep up to 100 hens over nineteen weeks old without quota; a larger flock needs quota from the board.
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Prince Edward Island
Can I sell eggs in Prince Edward Island? Yes — the Department of Agriculture's 2017 guide says no licence is required to keep up to 299 hens and that you may sell eggs directly to consumers at the farm, and the Egg Commodity Marketing Regulations say a flock of fewer than 300 laying hens may be exempt from quota restrictions, licence fees or levies; the guide is from 2017, and no regulation we read states the farm-gate rule or where the line falls at exactly 300.
The Department of Agriculture's 2017 guide for beginning farmers says "No license is required to keep up to 299 hens", and that a producer may sell eggs directly to consumers, but that eggs sold "anywhere but at the farm (including farmers’ markets)" must be inspected at a federally inspected and registered egg-grading station. The Egg Commodity Marketing Regulations ask a producer whose flock becomes 300 or more laying hens to apply to Egg Farmers of PEI for registration and a quota, bar a flock "in excess of three hundred laying hens" without one, and say a flock of fewer than 300 "may be exempt from quota restrictions, license fees or levies" but "shall be subject to other regulations of the commodity board". The regulations do not say where the line falls at exactly 300, the board's orders were not found, and no regulation we read states the farm-gate rule, so the page quotes each source and settles none. The Food Premises Regulations do not name eggs.
Egg laws in Prince Edward Island
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Quebec
Can I sell eggs in Quebec? Yes — fewer than 100 hens without quota from the Fédération des producteurs d'œufs du Québec, and no retail permit for your own hens' eggs sold ungraded straight to the people who eat them on the premises of your operation (Regulation s. 1.3.5.B.5, and the Ministry says the same of a farm with a ministry farm-operator number).
A farm owning fewer than 100 hens is below the line at which the Plan of the Fédération des producteurs d'œufs du Québec requires a quota, if it produces its eggs on its own operation. Quebec's Food Regulation lets any producer sell its own ungraded eggs at retail if they are free of foreign odours, not mouldy, not incubated, not leaking or altered, not from slaughtered layers and free of pathogens, in packages marked "eggs" or "ungraded eggs" with the species and the producer's name and address. The ministry's Food Products Act asks a permit to operate premises where food is prepared to be sold at retail; the Regulation exempts a farm producer selling its own shell eggs on the premises of its operation, and the ministry's page says a business with a farm-operator number needs no permit for shell eggs without limiting it to the farm, so the two differ off the premises and we settle neither. The ministry says to sell ungraded eggs directly, with no intermediary, and lists where, a stall at a public market among them. A farm owning 100 hens or more needs a quota.
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Saskatchewan
Can I sell eggs in Saskatchewan? Yes — fewer than 300 hens without a licence from Saskatchewan Egg Producers.
A farm possessing fewer than 300 hens is an exempt producer under the Commercial Egg Marketing Plan Regulations and needs no licence from Saskatchewan Egg Producers. Saskatchewan's Food Safety Regulations, as amended in 2026, let a producer sell eggs produced on its own premises directly to consumers at a farmer's market, at a public market or on those premises, if they are whole, clean, uncracked and not leaking, packed in clean cartons labelled with the producer's name, contact information and packing date (and marked "ungraded eggs" if they are ungraded chicken eggs), and kept at 4°C or lower until sold. No operator of a food facility may use ungraded chicken eggs in a product it makes or serves. The sources we read say nothing of a sale of ungraded eggs to a store, and food sold to the public must otherwise come from a source subject to inspection. A farm possessing 300 hens or more needs the board's licence.
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Ireland
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Ireland
Can I sell eggs in Ireland? Yes — the European Communities (Marketing Standards for Eggs) Regulations 2009 do not apply to eggs sold directly by a producer to the final consumer.
The European Communities (Marketing Standards for Eggs) Regulations 2009 say they "do not apply to eggs sold directly by a producer to the final consumer", provided that "if the producer has a flock of more than 50 hens, the eggs are marked with the producer code or, if the producer has a flock of up to 50 hens, the name and address of the producer are indicated at the point of sale". Reg. 2(3) puts that condition on every direct sale, where the Union text puts it on a local public market only; the page quotes both and settles neither (#1069). Every keeper of poultry, whatever the number of birds, enters the premises on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's register (S.I. No. 114 of 2014, reg. 3(1)). Whether a farm must register as a food business is answered below 50 birds within 100 kilometres by the Food and Feed Hygiene Regulations 2020 and left open above it (#1052). The Regulations were made for two Union Regulations the EU has since repealed, and the page finds no later instrument for table eggs (#1063).
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United Kingdom
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England
Can I sell eggs in England? Yes — the Eggs and Chicks (England) Regulations 2009 take eggs sold ungraded directly to the final consumer by the producer, on the production site or door to door, out of their rules on eggs in shell, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency's guide says a farm with fewer than 350 hens selling only that way need not register with it.
The Eggs and Chicks (England) Regulations 2009 say Part 3, on eggs in shell for consumption, does not apply where eggs are "sold, without any quality or weight grading, directly to the final consumer by the producer" either "on the production site" or "by door-to-door selling in the region of production", and at a local public market it applies only through the producer-code marking, which reg. 11(2) lifts for "a producer with up to 50 laying hens if the name and address of the producer are indicated at the point of sale". The Animal and Plant Health Agency's guide says a farm with fewer than 350 hens selling only at the gate or door to door "will not need to register", and asks registration of one with "50 or more hens and any of your eggs are marketed at local public market". The sources word the 50 hens differently (#1050), define a local public market differently (#1051), and none says whether an egg farm must register as a food business (#1052), so the page quotes each and settles none.
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Northern Ireland
Can I sell eggs in Northern Ireland? Yes — the Eggs and Chicks Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 take eggs sold ungraded directly to the final consumer by the producer, on the production site or door to door, out of their general requirements for eggs in shell, and the Registration of Establishments (Laying Hens) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 apply to a site where 350 or more laying hens are kept.
The Eggs and Chicks Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 say Part 3, on eggs in shell for consumption, does not apply where eggs are "sold, without any quality or weight grading, directly to the final consumer by the producer" either "on the production site" or "by door-to-door selling", and at a local public market it applies only through the producer-code marking, which reg. 10(2) lifts for "a producer with up to 50 laying hens if the name and address of the producer are indicated at the point of sale". The Registration of Establishments (Laying Hens) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 define an establishment as "any site at which 350 or more laying hens are kept". The egg marketing text that applies in Northern Ireland is the EU's, not Regulation 589/2008, which the EU repealed: Defra's memorandum says "NI will be required to enforce the EU Egg Marketing Standards requirements within Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2466, as Regulation (EU) 589/2008 has been repealed by the EU", and DAERA says "EU Egg Marketing Regulations remain directly applicable under the Windsor Framework". Both sets of Northern Ireland Regulations and the Department's pages still name Regulation 589/2008 (#1063), and none of the sources says whether an egg farm must register as a food business (#1052), so the page quotes each and settles none.
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Scotland
Can I sell eggs in Scotland? Yes — the Eggs and Chicks (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2008 take eggs sold ungraded directly to the final consumer by the producer, on the production site or door to door, out of their rules on eggs in shell, and the Scottish Government Poultry Unit's guidance adds that the eggs must be from the producer's own hens.
The Eggs and Chicks (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2008 say Parts 2 and 3, on eggs for hatching and eggs in shell for consumption, do not apply where eggs are "sold, without any quality or weight grading, directly to the final consumer by the producer" either "on the production site" or "by door to door selling in the region of production", and at a local public market they apply only through the producer-code marking, which reg. 9(2) lifts "where a producer has no more than 50 laying hens if the name and address of the producer are indicated at the point of sale". The Registration of Establishments Keeping Laying Hens (Scotland) Regulations 2003 apply to sites other than "those having fewer than 350 laying hens", and the Scottish Government Poultry Unit's guidance says "Producers with more than 350 laying hens must be registered regardless of how the eggs are marketed". The sources word the 350 differently (#1057), do not say how a smaller flock gets a producer code (#1056) or what a local public market is (#1058), and none settles whether an egg farm must register as a food business (#1052), so the page quotes each and settles none.
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Wales
Can I sell eggs in Wales? Yes — the Eggs and Chicks (Wales) Regulations 2010 take eggs sold ungraded directly to the final consumer by the producer, on the production site or door to door, out of their rules on eggs in shell, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency's guide says a farm with fewer than 350 hens selling only that way need not register with it.
The Eggs and Chicks (Wales) Regulations 2010 say Part 3, on eggs in shell for consumption, does not apply where eggs are "sold, without any quality or weight grading, directly to the final consumer by the producer" either "on the production site" or "by door-to-door selling in the region of production", and at a local public market it applies only through the producer-code marking, which reg. 11(2) lifts for "a producer with up to 50 laying hens if the name and address of the producer are indicated at the point of sale". The Registration of Establishments (Laying Hens) (Wales) Regulations 2004 apply to establishments other than those "having fewer than 350 laying hens", and the Animal and Plant Health Agency's guide says a farm with fewer than 350 hens selling only at the gate or door to door "will not need to register", and asks registration of one with "50 or more hens and any of your eggs are marketed at local public market". The sources word the 50 hens differently (#1050), define a local public market differently (#1051), and none says whether an egg farm must register as a food business (#1052), so the page quotes each and settles none.
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Selling eggs from your own hens?
List your farm and post what you have each morning.