The awful truth of "Barn laid eggs"

Yes we know that caged eggs are a no no.
We all know what goes on behind the scenes with hens being crammed up to 5 deep into small cages in stinking hot sheds with lights running 24/7.

So most people opt for "barn laid eggs" which are endorsed by the RSPCA and brings to mind a peaceful setting of a nice barn with a loft filled with straw in which the hens can scratch and get exercise and have space to move.

That is what I thought too, sadly this is not the case.
When I went to purchase some hens that were being offered by my local barn-laid egg place i was shocked and horrified to learn that the eggs I had been buying and feeding to my family we causing such distress and cruelty to hens.

They were practically bald and were a miserable bunch of birds,crawling with lice and packed into small plastic freight crates to be eitehr sold off to people like me or off to the dogfood companies in the following days.

Many had large open wounds from other hens picking at their bare flesh.
Some had lost the tips of their toes due to a build up of ammonia in their feces in the bottom of the shed.
Nearly all had sores on their feet.
One had even had her eye pecked out and a nasty infection had set in.
I had originally gone out to buy 5 hens for my backyard coop and ended up bringing 10 home and in the following weeks managed to help re home over 200 birds with friends and through advertising.
This is where my love of Hy lines comes from.
The girls were in poor condition but soon started to come good with fresh air and room to move.
They even managed to become tame enough to tolerate being picked up and toted around by the children.
We love our chooks and their eggs are a bonus.




We here is the awful truth behind "barn laid" eggs.
The hens are in a tin shed in tiers or banks instead of cages.
The national recommendation is 12 hens per sq metre which works out to be about the size of an A3 piece of paper per bird. This is apparently enough space to move around and nest properly.

The hens are 'de-beaked" a process which involves cutting the beak with a heated blade or laser in order to stop the birds cannibalising each other.
Feather picking and cannibalism is a sign that the hens simply do not have enough space.

There is no happy end for the hens, once past their laying peak they start to cost more to feed than what they make so they are culled at 80 weeks of age and when you consider that naturally a hen would live for up to 10 years that is a very short lifespan.

Some are sold off to the public but most just end up as dogfood or compost.

Barn-laid is the egg companies and the RSPCA's dirty little secret.



Choose free range or even get a few of your own hens to supply your eggs.
Don't let hens pay for your eggs.

Update overdue

I just realised I had this blog, which has been very neglected :(
So here is an update on whats been going on around here.

A few weekends ago we started on our raised garden beds.
Hubby build a huge bed and we filled it with a mixture of composted chicken manure and a vegie mix bough from the local garden supply place.
We planted carrots,cabbages,corn,capsicum,zucchinis,onions,lettuce and marigolds(to bring the bees in).






I also planted some heirloom tomato seeds,leeks,silverbeet and butternut pumpkins in pots to get started while the soil warms up.
I have an old reptile enclosure that i use to start plants, as its warm and i have fitted a UV globe which help the plants grow strong and healthy.

Our Hyline chicks from January are now hens and are laying like champions.
We also added some younger hylines a few weeks ago.
We bought a lovely Speckled Sussex rooster, who has been dubbed "Stuart" and he has proved to be very fertile as every egg I have put into the incubator has developed.
We currently have 8 chicks in the brooder hubby made for me and more eggs in the incubator as well as 4 dz Japanese quail eggs.

The little Brinsea oct10 incubator is cracking along with more of our eggs too.
It had a less than average hatch a few weeks ago, producing only 5 live chicks from 19 eggs (fertility was not great from these eggs so another supplier has been found)

Out of the 5 chick 3 are still going with the other 2 being put down with very straddled legs.

Plans for the next few weeks include adding some duck eggs to the incubator and some bantam call ducks and bantam chickens to a new pen yet to be built.
More and more vegies to plant.

Oh and i have taught myself to sew (kind of) :)
I made skirts for the girls and shorts for the boys.
Going to attempt making dresses and possibly shirts next time i get the chance to break out the machine.
my crocheting is coming along great, i have made beanies and scarves and even attempted booties 9i made one).

Hopefully i will keep the blog updated from now on :)