We take great pleasure in caring for the health and happiness of our resident laying flock. For us this means pasture-raised. In return, our fine feathered girls bestow rich eggs in abundance, comedic entertainment, and an element of completeness to the Ranch. In keeping with our love of heritage livestock, the flock is comprised of the Speckled Sussex breed, which 100 years ago was the meat table bird of choice for Londoners. A dual-purpose breed selected for their ability to forage, thrive in our climate, meat, and winter egg production not to mention their outgoing friendly personality.
The ladies leave their cozy henhouse where they roost overnight safe from predators, to enthusiastically enter a world of sunshine, breezes, grass, and soil between their toes! They chase bugs, dust-bathe, and joyously scratch around in one of their rotational paddocks all day long. Then, as evening settles in they make their way back to the henhouse for another night of slumber. It’s a happy life- one richly deserved by the lovely hens producing our delicious eggs.
Our hens’ egg yolks are sunny yellow and packed with flavor due to the high quality of their diet. Once you’ve tasted truly free-range eggs, you’ll never want to go back to the pale, tasteless store bought eggs again! When compared to the USDA nutrient data for commercial eggs, pastured/free-range eggs have…
The hens’ forage-based diet is supplemented as needed with a soy-free, non-GMO layer ration and scratch grains, extra garden produce and herbs, and clabbered milk. The chooks also have occasion to scratch up manure in the pastures hunting for protein rich bugs and add their own fertilizing manure, thus strengthening the soil and improving the pastures. They are healthy and active with bright combs and glistening plumage! When the hens are too old to lay eggs they are retired to the freezer with gratitude. The rich flavor of these stewing chickens is fantastic!