Raising chickens for Free Range Eggs

Raising chickens is not difficult and they provide many garden benefits, such as control of pests and some weeds. Of course, the major benefit is the continuous supply of organic free range eggs.

There are a few pot-holes to avoid though and as a former inspector for the Victorian Free-range Farmers Association, I have seen just about every mistake it is possible to make when raising chickens - along with some interesting innovations that you probably won't get elsewhere.

It may surprise you to find that even in commercial free-range production (ie. 'genuine' free-range, not just the carton label) the underlying objective is not to feed the birds up so they produce the greatest number of eggs possible. Actually, the aim is to create the most stress-free environment you possibly can. It is this environment that produces the eggs.

Of course the feed is important, since only about 10% of the birds' diet comes from the pasture it ranges on, so there is no way of raising chickens without feeding them. However, you may also notice that I said "Pasture". Keeping chickens in a pens that has nothing but bare dirt and manure under foot will never be a low-stress environment - in fact (to me) it constitutes border-line cruelty!

Another issue we will be talking about in some detail is dealing with the health of your birds and the one I will be giving the most space to is 'de-beaking'. If you think that this practice is acceptable, you may want to find another website about backyard chickens. It is absolute barbarism and totally unacceptable.

But even if you think you are doing birds a 'kindness' by 'rescuing' de-beaked birds from farms and giving them a good home - don't expect to hear me agreeing with you. But I will get on to that soapbox a bit later.