The Black Rock hen is our favoured bird for free range egg production whether on a commercial or smallholder / garden scale.

In recent years we have added other breeds to our egg laying flock to give our customers a choice of egg colours - You might find dark eggs from our Marans and Welsumers; White eggs from the Leghorns and even blue eggs from our Araucanas or Cream Legbars.

You can buy our eggs directly from us, we are open daily from 10 am all year. We do not sell chicken meat as we are not equipped with the significant slaughterhouse facilities that are required for on farm processing and there are no poultry handling slaughterhouses close enough.

Free range is the preferred management method for probably the majority of small poultry keepers in the UK.
It is not without potential problems and stresses for the birds.

If you are interested in setting up a flock of laying birds we can help you with the housing and equipment and advice on what you need for your situation. We have been helping customers all around the country for decades so have lots of expertise for many scenarios. We know that there are many factors to be taken into account and that one size or model does not fit all.

You must remember that if you want to call your eggs free range on egg boxes you must be registered as a producer with DEFRA as it is a Special Marketing Term" - to find out more from DEFRA CLICK HERE. You must also be registered if you sell any eggs to a customer who is going to sell on the product - that includes Bed and breakfasts; Hotels ; Restaurants ; Bakers - however small they are.
15% of eggs produced in the UK are from registered free range producers - government statistics do not include most small producers : under 350 laying hens.
You are allowed to sell your eggs from birds that can roam free but you just don't call them "free range". We used to be registered but have de-registered when we were concentrating on the breed flocks, as our laying flock got smaller. We will continue to exceed the regulations required with regard to the hens welfare - if you visit us you can see what we mean.

Those with fewer than 350 laying hens, and those who rear breeding laying hens, are exempt from the terms of the most recent Directive. But this link will give you some good information to guide you in what is legal and not.

This year I will be bringing together more of the information you need to know to keep within the law for keeping and selling eggs, and meat. This have changed a bit in recent years.

We conform to all the regulations which include from January 2002:

Free-range systems provide outdoor space for roaming in addition to an indoor shelter. : ALL OUR BIRDS ARE IN MOBILE HOUSES THAT ARE MOVED EVERY 6-8 WEEKS DEPENDING ON THE WEATHER and ground use

EU law imposes an outdoor maximum stocking density of one hen per 10m2. From 1 January 2002, all newly built, rebuilt or systems brought into use for the first time must have an indoor stocking density not exceeding 9 hens per m2 usable area : OUR BIRDS HAVE FREE UNFENCED ACCESS TO PADDOCKS OF BETWEEN 4 - 10 ACRES - ON AVERAGE THE FLOCK IS AROUND 300 BIRDS. As one acre is just under 5000 m2 you can see they have plenty of space.

Every free-range flock needs to be moved to new land at least every two years because the droppings cannot be removed. This is one of the reasons for higher production costs. OURS ARE MOVED EVERY FEW WEEKS!!

I have a lot of information to add to these pages this year - please come back soon to see what I find.

FREE RANGE EGG LINKS
Software and lots more links
British Free Range Egg Producers Association - lots of facts - how to start commercially etc.
A very good selection of articles on problems and practicalities of free range production

Tim and Jill Bowis
Kintaline Mill Farm, Benderloch, OBAN Argyll PA37 1QS Scotland
all images are copyright, do not use without express permission and links back to this site.

01631 720223

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