PASTURED / FREE RANGE EGGS
Pasture-raised eggs are the gold standard of the industry: and with good reason! These beauties are healthier and more nutritious than any other style off egg thanks to the freedom, mobility, and dietary range of the laying hens.
Not only do our laying hens have free access to outdoor areas year-round (i.e., they are always free-range); during the spring, summer, and fall months they are moved from paddock to paddock within our pasture area every few days which provides the hens with a consistently refreshed array of forage which translates into nutritious, delicious, and absolutely beautiful (!) eggs.
PURCHASING RTE EGGS
We maintain an egg-subscription program for the vast majority of our eggs as this allows us to provide a small group of customers with a consistent and steady supply of delicious eggies. However, it also means that the majority of our eggs are already spoken for the minute they arrive in the nest boxes.
That said, when we do have a surplus of eggs, they are made available on a first-come first-serve basis within the farm stand. Hint: we usually announce via social media when there are eggs up for grabs!
If interested in joining the egg subscription (weekly pick-up), please contact us.
KEEPING PASTURED HENS
Our hens live on pasture during the summer and within our light-filled Racken house during the chilly winter months. Regardless of where they live, the laying hens play an important role on the farm. So important a role in fact, that the eggy bounty that they produce is just a (delicious) bonus to their role as sanitation crew!
IN THE SUMMER
During the summer months the hens follow roughly 2 weeks behind the ruminant herds in a coop-on-wheels that we have affectionately named the “Moop”. Cute names aside, there is a very practical reason that we do this. Ruminants create a lot of manure and manure attracts a lot of insects. Insects which lay eggs which turn into larvae: which the chickens LOVE to eat. In essence, the chickens act as our clean-up crew keeping insects and pests under control while simultaneously spreading the ruminant manure and working this excellent and natural fertilizer into the soil.
IN THE WINTER
During the colder months, our hens move into our Racken house alongside the Rabbits; which is good news as rabbits are messy. They constantly spill their food / water and their manure attracts many an insect. The hens take care of this for us by gobbling up spilled rabbit food, hunting down any insects that dare enter the Racken house, and turn over the floor bedding via their consistent scratching (which keeps things aerated and stops mold and / or other nasty things from growing). As an additional plus, the combination of chicken and rabbit manure is absolutely unbeatable in the garden when composted!
WHY PASTURED / FREE RANGE?
Compared to hens kept indoors and / or in cages, the eggs from free-ranging and pasture-raised birds offer significant health benefits, including:
3.5x more omega-3 fats
4x more vitamin D
4.7x more B-carotene
2.8x more vitamin E
3.5x higher polyunsaturated : saturated fat ratio
75% lower omega-6 : omega-3 ratio
Also, they taste AMAZING!