Back to where we started!
We have recently returned to our farms’ roots and invested in some beautiful hens who are currently residing in a shed that regulations say can fit nearly 400 birds… we have just 100 in there.
They’re inside until the threat of Avian Flu has reduced, at which time they will be set up with a free-range facility for the Spring and Summer months.
We want to do our bit to provide fresh eggs locally – they’re not the cheapest because with such a small flock we are unable to get the best prices for feed, and we’re also not getting the highest egg yields due to having chosen to give some older hens a 2nd chance.
They’re given high-quality feed and lots of extras which they love. They have plenty of space where they can perch and dust-bathe as hens love to do within their inside space so are happy and relaxed.
At present we have a growing number of eggs daily so if you would like to try some please do get in touch. £2 per half dozen/£3.80 a dozen/£9 per tray for mixed sizes and colours (you may even get an occasional green or blue egg if you’re lucky!), collected from our farm on the edge of Kingsdon, TA11.
Way back in the 1930’s Paul’s grandfather was farming poultry – by the 50’s he had a massive poultry business with over 30,000 hens kept at what was known then as Western Farm. At that time caged – battery – hens were the norm, after the privations of the second world war there was a need to get the country producing food for everyone to enable rationing to be stopped. At the time this included thousands of hens kept in battery units. Even then Joe didn’t like filling his battery cages as tightly as the regulations of the day said he could so he would keep one less hen per cage.
Joe was also world renowned for his breeding and sold his chicks and hatching eggs around the world.
We have no intention of trying to be a massive poultry concern – instead we want to give the absolute best life we can to our 120 strong flock… wait, earlier you read that we have 100 hens in a shed that our wonderful regulations state we should be able to fit nearly 400 in. This is no mistake – we have 20 hens who are kept separately to the main flock, they are a mix of 4 older ex-commercial hens bought on New years day 2024, in addition we have 6 younger hens of various mixed breeds. Finally we have a run with 10 ex-commercial hens from our most recent intake of hens, when we bought them home they’d been in crates in the rain for about and hour prior to collection which has not done them any favours so they’re now being cared for in our “hospital wing” – an Eglu and hen run like I use for my hen hotels. Eventually we plan to integrate these 3 groups into one larger house and run but continue to keep them as a separate flock to the main 100 hens – this will enable us to feed them a completely soya-and GM free diet that will enable us to offer some eggs that could be more suited to people with an intolerance to soya products which we know from experience can pass through the eggs.