Ever wondered what makes organic eggs different?

Ever wondered what makes organic eggs different? Check out this info from the Soil Association

Organic chickens and eggs:

They live in smaller flocks – eight times smaller than in most free-range systems. This means the health of individual birds can be much more easily managed within a smaller flock.

Organic poultry must have continuous and easy daytime access to a diverse outdoor range – farmers must provide more pop holes from the hen-house than free-range farms do too, to encourage them to explore the range.

Chickens must not have their beaks trimmed. In non-organic systems, this is often done to prevent feather pecking, which arises as a symptom of stress from overcrowding.

Chickens must be given plenty of opportunities to express their natural behaviours, such as foraging, dust bathing and pecking at insects on a natural range.

Organic standards encourage poultry breeds that are slower growing, and more robust – organic poultry chickens live twice as long as most intensively farmed chickens bred for meat.

For more info, take a look at the Soil Association website: https://www.soilassociation.org/.../better-for-animals/

From 25 to 600!

Ben Reynaldo was on the look-out for a suitable farming enterprise to run on Kingsclere’s land. He chose hens as they bring so much to the circular farming process – and the local community can buy the eggs at the farm gate…

Starting with 25 hens, and now running a 600-strong flock, Ben and his hens follow the dairy herd around with the mobile egg-laying units. The chickens peck at the cow dung, feeding on the insects found within – just as nature intended, which means they need fewer protein supplements in their diet. Their pecking also exposes any bugs to sunlight that kills off any unwanted bacteria – making what returns to the soil even healthier.

We’ve also shared the capital costs, installing an Egg Shed vending machine at Folly Farm and investing in the mobile shed units, while Ben has bought the flock and other items needed to set it up. We share running costs and share the income from egg sales. It’s an exciting business that looks set to fly!

Shared farming in action

Through shared farming initiatives and help from Kingsclere Estates, Rolling Eggs (previously The Pasture Raised Egg Company) has purchased sheds to be converted for mobile use with the hook lift trailer system. We’ve also purchased an egg vending machine (!!) and built a shed for selling the eggs.

These elements will be easy to sell in the future if needed, as they’re transportable and standard road width – as opposed the sheds, which would be too wide to move without destroying them.

Just a reminder that our egg vending machine is at Folly Farm on Kingsclere Estates (on the A339 between Kingsclere and Basingstoke). It’s signposted so you can’t miss it!