Selling eggs from a small flock in Canada
Each page below is one province or territory's rules on selling eggs from your own hens, question by question, with a link to the source for each answer.
Pick your province or territory
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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