Annland Farm

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Our Happy Hens

We try to give our hens the care our ancestors would have given their hens on the family farm.  We have provided a coop for safety from predators at night with places for them to roost.  We have provided nesting boxes for them to lay their eggs and most importantly they are free to roam around our farm each day.  They enjoy scratching in the dirt andl leaves in search of bugs and worms.  They love to dust bath and we enjoy watching the way they use their feet to dig a small hole to lay in and then turn thier bodies and throw dirt on their backs.  It is really an interesting site it you have never been around chickens.  Our  hens are really like our pets.  Our daughters have named a few of them and we enjoy them coming to meet us when we come outside.  I like to think that our hens are happy here on our farm.  

When I look at our hens it is hard to imagine that there are hens living in a totally different environment.  Some of them will never see the light of day.  The majority of egg-laying hens in the US are confined in battery cages?  These are small cages that provide less space than a single sheet of letter-sized paper on which to live her entire life.  These hens are denied thier natural behaviors including dust bathing, preening, scratching, nesting, and perching.  But the one that bothers me the most is that these hens are denied a place to take cover for the laying act. 

 I am very proud of the way we have chosen to raise our hens and I hope I never have to purchase an egg that comes from a hen in a battery cage. 

How long has it been since you've had a fresh egg?

Maybe you have never had a fresh egg.  There are differences between store bought and FRESH.  The color of the yolk in a fresh egg is bright orange instead of yellow, the yolk stands up tall and round and it just taste better.        

Our chickens get about 30% of their nutritional needs from insects, grass, clover and other greens.  We also provide vegetarian laying mash because chickens cannot survive on pasture alone.  As a result of this kind of diet, their eggs have higher amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, vitamin A, folic acid and carotenoids and half the cholesterol.

Eggs are picked, hand-washed and cartoned daily.