Entrepreneur hatches egg business

Brown eggs can be dyed. Their hues are richer and deeper than dyed white eggs.

Tina Herrera converses with a hen about the day's egg supply. Herrera owns and operates Tina's Flock in Green County, Wisconsin. She purchases Hy-Line Brown pullets at about 18 weeks of age, just before they're ready to begin laying eggs.

A digital scale is used to weigh egg size. It measures eggs in grams.

A Brinsea OvaView candler is used to detect cracks as well as any possible embryo development inside an egg. A bright light source is placed behind the egg to show details through the shell.

'The Hy-line Browns produce the biggest, brownest eggs,' says Tina Herrera.

Chickens are attracted to the color red. That's why the hanging feeders are red, Tina Herrera says.

Layers are fed a mixture of non-genetically modified corn, soybeans and organic minerals. They also can forage for insects and greens on pasture in the summer months.

Nipples affixed to a tub of water keep water clean and sanitary.

Tina Herrera shows how an oscillating brush gently cleans eggs.

Tina Herrera loads eggs onto a tray, which is part of an automatic egg washer. It's a time-consuming process, she says.

Tina Herrera dries eggs and places them in a tray. They'll later be checked for cracks and weighed.

Cartons of eggs are maintained at about 45 degrees Fahrenheit in a cooler at Tina's Flock.

Greenhouse-type structures that sit on skids are moved on a daily basis so chickens have access to fresh pasture. They forage on insects and greens in addition to receiving grain.

A group of pullets arrive at the Riemer Family Far; they will be placed in portable shelters owned and managed by Tina Herrera.

The large yolks of Hy-Line Brown eggs are on display in a frying pan.

GREEN COUNTY, Wis. – Tina Herrera hatched the idea of starting her own business after watching how consumers "ate up" farm-fresh eggs at weekend farmers markets. With help from family, friends and a small-business development specialist, Herrera now owns Tina's Flock.

"I started the business so my kids could see the daily work required to own a business," she said. "Even though it's a lot of hard work, it's rewarding."

She's the mother of five children – ranging in age from 3 to 18 years. They experience firsthand the work involved in a business because they frequently help their mother. Herrera's son, Sean Herrera, 18, and her daughter, Lillyana, 16, deliver eggs. Daughters Cecilia, 10, and Savannah, 9, weigh eggs and package them. And Quentin, 3, often helps his mother wash eggs.

"The kids talk with their friends about me raising eggs," she said. "They also trade eggs for other things with their friends."

There's value in those eggs, she said.

Tina Herrera already was on the road to success when she was planning to launch Tina's Flock, Kristi Smith said. Smith was a business consultant with the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center when she helped Herrera in 2018 to develop a business plan. Smith is now a manager of data and business development with the Business Dynamics Research Consortium. Both organizations are arms of the University of Wisconsin-System's Institute for Business and Entrepreneurship.

Smith said she looks for three things when consulting with aspiring entrepreneurs – good financial footing, industry experience and small-business experience. If a person has at least two of those attributes they have a better chance of succeeding, she said.

"Tina had all three," she said.

Herrera attended a special class in business planning taught by Smith at Blackhawk Technical College in Monroe, Wisconsin. She also managed a McDonalds for five years in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin.

She gained both industry and small-business experiences when she worked at Riemer Family Farm of Brodhead, Wisconsin. Bryce and Jen Riemer raise beef, pork and poultry on pasture. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic they sold meat at the Woodstock Farmers Market in Woodstock, Illinois. They also sold direct to consumers and had wholesale accounts. Currently they primarily sell meat direct to consumers.

Herrera's main jobs with the Riemers were to help at the farmers market, provide customer service and help with the farm's website, Jen Riemer said. Riemer Family Farm had established a following at the market; that provided Herrera the opportunity to develop relationships and watch buying trends.

She determined that she could start a business, she said. The Riemers supported her dream of owning a business so she turned to the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center for guidance. The center offers consulting, education and other resources to aspiring entrepreneurs. That's where Herrera met Smith. The two women talked about what Herrera would need in terms of funding as well as anticipated costs and how to price her product. That helped with developing a five-year plan and financial projections selling eggs at a certain price, Smith said.

Family and friends helped Herrera to fund some of her startup costs. That as well as Herrera's passion for the business, customers and the chickens helped her, Smith said.

"That all translates into the quality of her product," Smith said.

Herrera currently raises 1,300 Hy-Line Brown chickens; the genetic line has been bred for good feed efficiency by Hy-line International. Based in West Des Moines, Iowa, it's a genetics company that raises and sells commercial laying chickens.

"The Hy-line Browns produce the biggest, brownest eggs," Herrera said.

She purchases the birds as sexed pullets, generally at 18 weeks of age. That's about the time they’re ready to begin laying.

New arrivals are housed in one of her two portable greenhouse-type shelters. As they age she moves them to a second shelter. She currently has 300 birds in the first shelter and 1,000 in the second. She’ll later split the flock equally into the two structures, she said.

Herrera's flock produces about 235,000 eggs per year. At one to 1.5 years of age, hen eggs become thinner. Herrera then has them butchered and sells them as stewing hens.

Each day Herrera travels from her home in Albany, Wisconsin, to the Riemer farm near Brodhead, about a 9-mile drive. That's where she raises the chickens. She and the Riemers have established a contract that's reviewed each year. It provides her pasture on which to raise the birds and the use of some equipment. Herrera provides eggs to the Riemers, who offer them to customers who purchase meat at their farm.

Each day Herrera collects the eggs and transports them back to her home where she has an egg-washing facility and coolers. She has food-processing-plant permits from both the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

She also has a mobile retail-food-establishment license from the state of Wisconsin. That enables her to sell eggs at farmers markets in Woodstock and in Crystal Lake, Illinois. She also sells eggs to about a dozen retail outlets.

Riemer said, "Tina's a go-getter. I’ve been impressed by the buyer contacts she's made; she moves a lot of eggs."

Herrer said she's happy she can own her own business and provide for her family.

"And it's rewarding to see my eggs in stores, she said. "It gives me a sense of pride."

Visit tinasflockllc.com and wisconsinsbdc.org and riemerfamilyfarm.com for more information.

This is an original article written for Agri-View, a Lee Enterprises agricultural publication based in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit AgriView.com for more information.

Lynn Grooms writes about the diversity of agriculture, including the industry's newest ideas, research and technologies as a staff reporter for Agri-View based in Wisconsin.

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