To show you what your free range egg providers really look like?

[StridTheKiller]

That's all. Rescued a dozen ladies this weekend, ex-free range chicken farm hens. The photo shows the rest. Vile trade.

There are no Cockerels present in a commercial egg laying business, so no chicks at all.

But yes, the methods of killing male chicks at some commercial hatcheries is awful.

Can heartily recommend keeping your own chickens. Great fun. They have lovely wee characters and supermarket eggs have got nothing on the taste.

Appreciate not all can, but they do make good pets, that aren't too onerous and can be left for a couple of days (assuming your set up allows for access to enough food/water etc). Mind you, our neighbours fight to look after ours if we go away, as they want the eggs!

But they are not cost effective! I've never worked out the cost per egg - and I don't intend to! But we enjoy them - and that is the main thing. And once they stop laying, we refer to them affectionately as "the free loaders", threaten them with the pot, and let them live out the rest of their natural lives mooching around our garden.

The chickens come from somewhere! All the male chicks are disposed of in various ways - some better than others??

Even in the domestic setting, if you want to raise your own chicks you have to be prepared with what you'll do with the males. You cant keep them all - if nothing else they'll squabble and can get pretty aggressive.

That is really true we adopted a cockerel from someone’s backyard chicken farm as he’d ended up with three, a dad and two sons, and they were fighting pretty viciously. We named him two toes the tail-less when he turned up.

But they are not cost effective! I've never worked out the cost per egg - and I don't intend to!

Same* *😂 But you can spend as much or as little on chooks as you want - they don't need to live in a £££ coop as long as it's safe and warm and you don't have to spend a fortune feeding them, especially if you can let them free range.

I find they don’t need much feeding this time of year until autumn rolls around . They do get porridge in the morning and we are rural/ surrounded by fields so they eat lots of bugs and things. One of them catches shrews to eat. Everyone always thinks chickens are sweet vegetarians eating corn but they can be pretty predatory given the opportunity.

Sad, but in reality, we are at the top of the food chain so species will suffer for us to eat, whether it's bugs and small wildlife that die, so crops can be grown or cattle/hens. I think the best way is try to be as mindful as possible and minimise food waste, better legislation would help too if food producers would have higher standards, but not everyone would be able to afford organic meat, eggs, milk. We keep chickens and let them out in the land , and feel so privileged to be able to give them a good life. It's probably more expensive to keep the hens than just buying the eggs though...so for some people that's not an option...

My eggs come from amazing ladies in my garden....once you had chickens I struggle to buy eggs now. Thank you for rescuing them. I have a Pekin and silkies. The Pekin is trained to do tricks and loves watching tv with us ..she is toilet trained....chickens are amazing bright and so kind to us. One of ours is very in tune with my husband and when he is stressed she demands he hug her and sit....I've appreciate birds alot more now and understand their body language. It's very complicated and very different personalities. Our chickens are amazing with children. Chicken mum here. I don't call them pets as they are family.

I don't think of the cost per egg. What the ladies give to us is much more than that and they cheaper than a dog. I live in a town in a Terrance house...chickens have the run of the garden which isn't big but perfect for them.

So assuming I am not going to give up eggs and I am not going to keep chickens should I choose the Abel & Cole eggs (https://www.abelandcole.co.uk/eggs-norton-farm-mixed-size) or Clarence Court eggs (not sure if they trim beaks etc?)?

We do too. They are just up the road and their eggs go to small independents, delis, farm shops and are used by local restaurants and bakeries. I have personally been in to collect the eggs when the owner was unwell and the hens where in lovely condition. Smelly, but in lovely condition 😂

I think it must make a big difference who they are being supplied to.

CC Organic Leghorn Whites (but not the whole CC range) are Soil Association certified - the highest welfare standards in the UK. According to www.ethicalconsumer.org, the following 4 brands of egg are Soil Association-certified organic: Riverford, CC Organic Leghorn Whites, Stonegate Estate and Waitrose Duchy Organic.

You are in the first category in my list.

You're on one of my lists too.

Rightio.
Moving on.

This is actually a helpful post thank you. There are so many out there at different price points it’s hard to know what to choose as they all say free range these days!

We only buy from local farms or roadside stands. Supermarket eggs are small, pale yolked and tasteless in comparison, and usually more expensive!

Yes we are the same, we also have a rooster and we have incubated eggs and see them being born ❤️, my daughter is tending to the chicks as they have to be indoors until the feathers come in... we have 2 porches so we dedicated one and I stalled a massive box with hay and a heat lamp, until they are ready to go out, but again I am very aware we are very privileged to be able to do so, let's not pretend someone in minimum wage , struggling to feed their kids will be worrying about buying organic eggs or raising chickens 🙈

On the contrary, ours are lovely girls, full of quirky personality. We keep them mainly as pets, the eggs are a bonus.

We've just registered ours, it took 2 minutes on line and was free

I had one hybrid that looked pretty much oven ready for months in moult, I began to think she would never grow feathers again, then one day the feathers came in and she soon started to lay again

Just to say, your hens look as though they are going through a moult. The moult is a natural process, which looks shocking, but is when a hen will drop and regrow the majority of her feathers. It also marks the end of a laying cycle, which is when a commercial egg producer will replace laying stock. If you come and look at some of my show winning birds, they will look like these birds occasionally. We should always look to by British and Free Range eggs. We should also be prepared to pay more for our eggs, so that ethical farmers aren't forced out of business by the cheap and not so cheerful producers.

I'm in shock......how do you toilet train a chicken?!😮 mine would have come inside if I'd let them but were indiscriminate in where they pooped.

I had some a few years back in a terrace garden, they don't need much space to be happy, a blue copper maran and a gold laced wynadotte, best eggs I've ever tasted, totally different characters and could waste hours just watching them pootle happily about the garden. (Pre flockdown and they were locked in safely when i was at work). They lasted about 8 years and I got really attached to them, far more intelligent than they are given credit for and deserve to be treated well. I loved the noise they make when they laid an egg as if they are proudly shouting for you to come and look what they've done🐔😂

I've tested a number of eggs since, never found any as good but the Clarence Court Burford Browns are the closest, so I feel sure that they are kept well for their eggs to taste so good.

lentilweaver We live like you and are lacto-ovo vegetarians. We really rely on eggs

We buy eggs from a free-range farm near us, and the hens all run around freely, and are in great condition. They have amazing tent-like wooden hen houses, and go somewhere else in the winter to stay warm.
Once a year we get to go into the hen field (visible all year round from the other side of the fence) to see the hens more closely & to feed them. It’s how hens should live!
I’d like to think that this place is not unusual, at least I hope there are many more places like this 🤞🏻🐔