Chicks

These chicks were hatched here at the farm. Laying hens are from the Jungle Fowl Family.

Eggs take 28 days to hatch, then chicks must use their egg tooth to crack open the shell. The egg tooth will fall off after 3 days because its function is fulfilled.

The modern poultry industry is mainly from 2 hybrid breeds, and is driven by the consumer demanding lower prices at Supermarkets.

Poultry farming is VERY efficient, and requires that each hen produces 300 eggs in a year, from the smallest quantity of food possible. Breeding is the key. The industry is falling into fewer and fewer hands, with large sheds of 100,000 birds being the ones likely to survive the recession. There are however still producers that have small units of a few thousand, especially on Free Range.

The British Egg Producer is required to produce eggs to the highest hygienic standards, with all feed traceable, and feels that foreign imports are coming into Supermarkets with much lower standards.

Our laying hens are outside on free range, but the foxes have killed many hens on this farm.