We will be adding other breeds from this year to our egg laying flock to give our customers a choice of egg colours -
Dark eggers : Marans and welsumers
White eggers : Leghorns
Blue eggers : Araucanas and Cream Legbars sometime.

Our birds range over permanent pasture. We move the houses regularly to keep them on fresh grazing all the time.

First thing in the morning they are let out of the houses - they spend a few hours grazing and chasing bugs. Gradually they go back inside to lay and top up with layers meal which is available ad lib. The feed we use is not organic because here in the Highlands of Scotland it is too expensive to get and it would make the eggs very costly. However we do use a feed that has no animal products and has no artificial colourants to the best of our knowledge.

Over the middle of the day they carry on laying, dust bathing, exploring the fields and on good days sunbathing.

In the afternoon we feed a wheat feed outside. This allows us to encourage them to investigate certain areas of their surroundings and is a valuable feed supplement. We also collect eggs for a second time, top up feed and check all the hens. It is a 16% protein feed and does not leave a fishy taint to the eggs that other higher protein feeds do. As our birds range properly on good mixed permanent pasture they find all the extra protein they need.

The eggs are brought back to the packing room (converted from the old grain room of the mill) where they are trayed ready for sale. Because we use clean shavings in the nest boxes and keep the hens on fresh grazing - we rarely have problems with dirty eggs (the few we do have, the dogs or we enjoy).
The Black Rock produces a good large brown egg - we keep birds for 2 laying seasons and in the second year we have problems getting the eggs into boxes they are too big !! Unlike some other hybrids they have a low proportion of medium eggs and small ones are rare after the first few months.

When we were registered as "free range" we had rave reviews from the quality chefs who use our eggs - for colour, cooking ability and taste.
We used to be registered but have recently de-registered because now we are concentrating on the breed flocks, our laying flock is smaller. It varies in size allot as our young pure breed hens get added as spare breeding stock and taken out if someone wants to buy them. This makes keeping the records that you are required to keep an extra fiddle. We now have two farmers markets available - Oban and Fort William and just won't be selling to hotels and restaurants. We will continue to exceed the regulations required with regard to the hens welfare - if you visit us you can see what we mean.

In the evening they are shut in at dusk to protect them from predators. In the summer this means staying up very late as the nights are very light here and Black Rocks don't like to miss a minute. It is a lovely time - they sing a delightful melody roosting on their perches.

In the winter we allow the birds to have a full moult and production goes down a bit. This coincides with a drop in numbers of tourists so we let them have a good rest and are rewarded with great laying in their second ( and even third season ). The old layers we sell in the autumn go on to make great backyard pets and can continue to lay for 4 - 5 more years.

If you live in North Argyll and are interested in trying our eggs please contact us at any time. We are also selling our eggs at the Fort William farmers market which is at the auction market on the Aonach Mor road on the third Saturday of every month from 10 a.m. (we also take a wide selection of hardy garden plants - say hi if you visit). Oban Farmers Market is new - and will be on the last Saturday of the month.

For information about our black rock hens - CLICK HERE

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

direct links to books related to free range poultry keeping:
Click on the links below to go to books about eggs - to buy any please order direct from this link to help me develop this site, thank you.
COM (1999) 223 Final, Brussels, 12.05.1999 - 98/0092 (CNS): Amended Proposal for a Council Directive Laying Down Minimum Standards for the Protection of Laying Hens Kept in Various Systems of Rearing
COM (1998) 135 Final, Brussels, 11.03.1998 - 98/0092 (CNS): Communication from the Commission on the Protection of Laying Hens Kept in Various Systems of Rearing
Welfare of Laying Hens: Wednesday 17 March 1999
Eggs by C. Llewellyn
Synopsis: Suitable for National Curriculum Key Stage 1, a title in the WHAT'S FOR LUNCH? series which looks at how eggs are laid and how people around the world eat them in different ways. Illustrated with photographs in full colour.
Book of Crepes and Omelets by Mary Norwak
The Totally Eggs Cookbook by Helene Siegel, Caroline Vibbert(Illustrator)
Profitable Free Range Egg Production by Mick Dennett
Free Range and Related Poultry Keeping Systems by J. Barne
Commercial Poultry Nutrition by Steven Leeson, John D. Summers
Economics of Egg Production by Deborah Roberts(Editor), John Farrar(Editor)
Efficiency of Egg Production by the European Producer Reacting to Increasing Welfare and EU Legislation Considerations by Andrew S Riley
Plain and Simple Egg Production by Carol Twinch
Poultry Meat And Egg Production by Carmen Parkhurst

KINTALINE POULTRY BOOK SHOP posters, cards for sale
Time to Restore Our Utility Poultry (T.R.O.U.P.) in the U.K. We are really interested in the Utility strains of Poultry and Waterfowl but the modern utility birds have become a shadow of their former selves - if you are interested in helping to save these strains and being part of a national movement to restore the utility strains to their former glory CLICK THE TROUP BUTTON : - >
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