The Freeranger Egg farm, at Grantville, near Phillip Island is home to 1200 Isa Brown chickens. We run our hens in flocks of 200 - 300 and every flock is protected 24 hours a day by Maremma guard dogs. Our girls work hard to supply customers in our local area.
Free range eggs fresh from the farm have a unique flavour. At Freeranger Eggs in Grantville, West Gippsland, just an hour and a half from Melbourne, hens range all day, enjoying fresh air and sunshine as well as wind and rain! If you have never tasted a truly fresh free range chicken egg, you are in for a treat!
Not only are our eggs tastier, but many customers believe they are healthier than eggs laid by hens on factory farms who are crammed into huge barns or from backyard chooks locked in muddy pens and fed pellets containing colouring additives.
Research shows that eggs from pasture-fed hens have more folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin E and carotenes than hens fed only grain or pellets. US research confirms that there may be a nutritional difference between free range and other eggs. However, some researchers from North Carolina State University claim that there is no nutritional difference between free range and cage laid eggs.
That study was undertaken specifically to demonstrate that there was no difference. The research was funded by the egg industry and the hens used were all beak trimmed.
The 'free range' hens used in the research programme may have been allowed access to the outdoors, but as their beaks were trimmed, they essentially could only eat the same grains and food which were available to the birds in cages. Any beaked trimmed birds have great difficulty eating grass, or picking up worms, spiders etc without a full beak - that's the fundamental problem with running large flocks of birds and calling them 'free range'.
Real free range eggs are as different from normal supermarket eggs as cask wine is from estate bottled wine or canned fruit compared with ripe fruit straight from the tree. Freeranger eggs are the pick of them.
Our chickens have unlimited access to pasture with a healthy, natural diet. They are fed no meat meal or processed animal-based proteins. No antibiotics are used in their management and no additives are fed to enhance yolk colour. No pesticides or herbicides are used on the pastures where they roam. Because of our low density production system there is no reason for our hens to be de-beaked or beak trimmed.
We provide a mash of natural grains and our chooks have all-day access to pastures where they forage for insects, grasses and seeds, the way nature intended. They are not locked up in sheds, not even at night except for the first day or so when a new flock of pullets needs to get used to their new home.
There are four basic components to a quality chicken egg; the management of the hens, the feed, the way eggs are handled, packed and stored and the time that passes before you purchase. We know that our eggs reign supreme in all four categories. We have strict quality control, an independent accreditation process carried out by the Free Range Farmers Association and a food safety program which meets HACCP standards. All this, combined with personal delivery, ensures a significantly higher quality product than usually found on a supermarket shelf.
Not only are our eggs tastier, but many customers believe they are healthier than eggs laid by hens on factory farms who are crammed into huge barns or from backyard chooks locked in muddy pens and fed pellets containing colouring additives.
Research shows that eggs from pasture-fed hens have more folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin E and carotenes than hens fed only grain or pellets. US research confirms that there may be a nutritional difference between free range and other eggs. However, some researchers from North Carolina State University claim that there is no nutritional difference between free range and cage laid eggs.
That study was undertaken specifically to demonstrate that there was no difference. The research was funded by the egg industry and the hens used were all beak trimmed.
The 'free range' hens used in the research programme may have been allowed access to the outdoors, but as their beaks were trimmed, they essentially could only eat the same grains and food which were available to the birds in cages. Any beaked trimmed birds have great difficulty eating grass, or picking up worms, spiders etc without a full beak - that's the fundamental problem with running large flocks of birds and calling them 'free range'.
Real free range eggs are as different from normal supermarket eggs as cask wine is from estate bottled wine or canned fruit compared with ripe fruit straight from the tree. Freeranger eggs are the pick of them.
Our chickens have unlimited access to pasture with a healthy, natural diet. They are fed no meat meal or processed animal-based proteins. No antibiotics are used in their management and no additives are fed to enhance yolk colour. No pesticides or herbicides are used on the pastures where they roam. Because of our low density production system there is no reason for our hens to be de-beaked or beak trimmed.
We provide a mash of natural grains and our chooks have all-day access to pastures where they forage for insects, grasses and seeds, the way nature intended. They are not locked up in sheds, not even at night except for the first day or so when a new flock of pullets needs to get used to their new home.
There are four basic components to a quality chicken egg; the management of the hens, the feed, the way eggs are handled, packed and stored and the time that passes before you purchase. We know that our eggs reign supreme in all four categories. We have strict quality control, an independent accreditation process carried out by the Free Range Farmers Association and a food safety program which meets HACCP standards. All this, combined with personal delivery, ensures a significantly higher quality product than usually found on a supermarket shelf.
What do you think 'Free Range' means? Check that you get what you pay for!
Chickens like to roam
In Australia, most of the eggs which are labelled as 'free range' are laid by birds which have been de-beaked or beak trimmed. Most farms are intensive operations with many thousands of hens in sheds. Those chickens seldom go outside on grass but the business owners are happy to charge a premium for the eggs they call
'free range'.
If you want to be sure that the eggs you buy are really 'free range', talk to the people you buy your eggs from and only buy from a farm that is accredited by the
Free Range Farmers Association Inc.
'free range'.
If you want to be sure that the eggs you buy are really 'free range', talk to the people you buy your eggs from and only buy from a farm that is accredited by the
Free Range Farmers Association Inc.
 | If you are thinking of starting a free range egg farm, check the e-book on our Products Page -- and (if you are in Victoria) join the Free Range Farmers Association Inc.
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Find us on Facebook and the Freeranger Eggs blog
Phil Westwood is on Facebook and Freeranger Eggs has a blog at http://freerangereggs.blogspot.com
As well as accreditation by the Free Range Farmers Association, Freeranger Eggs is also accredited by Humane Choice.
