There are a number of differences between regenerative egg farming and free range, but the two key ones are:

[1]. Our birds have very low stocking densities (30 hens per hectare) on very large farms (400-2,000 hectares) vs up to 10,000 hens on one hectare in the case of free range farms.

[2]. We move our sheds weekly to fresh pastures to ensure an abundance of the hens natural diet, whilst helping regenerate the soil as we go. An abundance of the hens natural diet means they are getting the critical enzymes to help them digest their food and get the most nutrients they can from it. Free range farms do not move their sheds.

There are more details on the difference between regenerative farm eggs and free range here.

You can find where we sell our eggs here.

Yes! Grains are a natural part of a hens diet and we couldn’t stop them even if we wanted to as there is a smorgasbord of grains in our pastures.

If you are worried about gluten then this link from the Coeliac Australian clarifies that “…eggs are naturally gluten free and suitable for those on a gluten free diet. The presence of gluten in an animal’s diet does not result in gluten being present in egg they produce for us to consume”.

Chickens are far healthier if they are able to eat an abundance of live feed. And this reflects in the taste of the egg.

The critical thing on a regenerative farm, where we move the sheds weekly to fresh pasture, is the hens get an abundance of their natural diet of worms, insects and other organisms, which are rich in natural enzymes (unlike ‘dead’ food). This ensures their food is digested and utilised better. This in turn results in healthier hens, and a rich tasting, award winning, egg. We are currently in talks with a provider to to increase the amount of live feed we have on our farms by supplementing their natural diet with live larvae to improve the enzyme activity in their diets still further.

They also have a dietary supplement developed by our vet, which is rich in things like peas, barley and essential minerals and amino acids (protein).

We are evolving our thinking on feed all the time and looking to increase the amount of live feed as much as possible.

The ratio in our supplemented feed is 3.3 to 1 (omega 6 to omega 3), which is a little better than the 4:1 or below ratio recommended by many health practitioners. The end result in the egg is likely to be better as our chooks eat an abundance of their natural diet of worms and insects that have even better ratios more akin to our original diet as food was suppose to be consumed (similar to grass fed beef).

We are looking at testing the actual quantities in our eggs shortly and will update this question asap.

Because she saw the regenerative farm ;-).

Yes we do.

Regenerative agriculture really doesn’t work without the integration of species. We have cattle and merino sheep on the farm and will continue to look at building diversity of species in order to improve regeneration of the soil by mimicking nature.

Whilst our principles are organic (we don’t use fertilisers or chemicals on our land and the entire purpose of this enterprise is to regenerate soil naturally) our supplemented feed is not organic.

The way most organic egg groups get around the additional cost of the feed is to have high stocking densities up to 2,400 per hectare. That is not what we are about.

We are looking at ways of doing organic under our regenerative principles, and low stocking densities, without making the eggs $30 a dozen, as we know that people wouldn’t buy at that price. If organic is critical to you, watch this space and really look into the reality of the farm.

A lot of of people who follow a vegan diet come to us because of our principles around animal welfare and the fact they would like to incorporate eggs back into their diet.

What we would say is that we are not perfect, but we are as far down the track as you can get on a move towards changing the egg industry for the better.

You can get a sense of our farms and how the hens are looked after on the SBS series Andy and Ben Eat Australia, as well as here. The more you buy Honest Eggs Co. eggs the bigger the chance we will eventually change everything in the industry for the better.

Very definitely the chicken. We know because every time we don’t have them, we don’t have any eggs ;-).

We have very large farms. Think 400 to 2,000 MCG size farms. Our egg farming is part of a regenerative farming approach we take with all we do and we come at this from a very different angle to most in the industry who by as little land as possible to meet regulations around stocking density.

Our soil and regenerating that is as critical as our egg farming. We want to do that across as much of our land as possible.

We would love to keep feed all the male hens, however, this would mean:

1. Our eggs would cost $25 a dozen and we don’t think enough of the market would buy them.
2. There would be a lot of infighting amongst the flock and constant problems.

For now, the breeder of our male chooks puts them to sleep in the most humane way we can, similar to what you would do with your pet at the end of their life.

We are here to change egg farming for the better though so we are looking at options on having some of the male chooks on the farm (a smaller quantity can actually be quite calming to the flock) as well as groups like inovo.nl who can help with identifying males at the embryo stage. We’ve met with them and feel the idea is a no brainer, but it will take more than just our company to get them into Australia.