The chickens at Sahtu Gardens in Norman Wells have recently matured and are now laying around 100 eggs a day – a product locals are quick to snap up.
Brittany Wever, owner of the local greenhouse, says she now has 120 chickens. She and her husband had a farm in Alberta before relocating to the Sahtu.
“We have three different kinds of chickens, so we actually have three different colours of eggs, which I think our customers really love,” said Wever.
“Because I’m not grading them or weighing them or anything, you get huge eggs and tiny eggs.”
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In the past, Wever would sell 20 sets of a dozen eggs in minutes. She decided to order more than 100 extra chicks.
“We definitely felt that we could expand,” she said, “We had a big, unused building, so we put a little heater on it and that’s what we use for the chickens.”
Each week, she now sells more than 40 dozen-egg sets and sometimes closer to 60.
It’s not a profitable business, though.
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“The biggest challenge is the cost of the freight. I actually break even – I don’t make any money on it,” she said.
“I get eggs out of it and I enjoy doing it.”
People in town help out when they can, hauling chicken feed back to the community in their trucks if they head south, but it’s still expensive to get feed to Norman Wells.
Wever has no plans to expand further – she doesn’t have room for more chickens – but has sold a few young hens to other residents.
“It’s a great job. We really like it – it’s really cool doing it on your own,” she said.
People interested in purchasing eggs can contact Sahtu Gardens on Facebook. Wever sells her eggs for $8 a dozen or $12 for 18.
