Whilst waiting for my new flock to start laying, I'm wondering what would be best to feed them on. I fed Garvo for some years until my local supplier stopped stocking it because he said too many of the plastic bags split to be economic for him. As delivery from the next Garvo supplier along the way was prohibitive, I changed to Dodson & Horrell, because Pets at Home will deliver for free and the pellets are made from good quality ingredients. This has been perfectly satisfactory, the hens have liked it and the eggs have been lovely.
I've been buying a lot of eggs recently, and became interested in what was on offer on the Waitrose site. I prefer to buy organic eggs in the hope that the hens will have been treated that much better if cutting cost isn't the bottom line for the farmer, and that their food will have been more nutritious than the bog-standard stuff fed to most commercial hens. 6 medium-sized organic eggs cost £2.43, (40.5p each.)
Waitrose also offer 'Omega-3 eggs' at £1.79 for 6, (29.8p each.) These are not organic, hence the difference in price, but claim to be a
"Natural source of protein, vitamins A, B2, B12 & D. Eggs laid by British farm hens, fed on a natural Omega 3 diet. Great for the whole family!. All Intelligent Eating eggs are produced on Lion approved British Free Range farms, the Lion mark is your guarantee that these are quality eggs laid by British hens vaccinated against salmonella."
Of course most of this is advertising nonsense, it applies to all eggs, and all commercial hens will have been vaccinated up to their eyeballs to resist diseases in their crowded conditions. I then looked up what an 'Omega-3 egg' consists of. Turns out that hemp seed or hemp seed oil has been added to their pellets, and since hemp is high in Omega-3, enough gets through into the egg - although overdosing causes a fishy taste. I am surprised that the 'Intelligent Eating omega-3 egg people' don't combine this nutritional advantage with organic feed, as you'd imagine the same customers might like both. Anyway, apparently anyone can add hemp seed or oil to their hens' feed and get additional Omega -3 for breakfast. (Or of course, you could just cook with hemp seed oil without passing it through your hens first.)
So then I went on to investigate which organic layers pellets have extra Omega-3 oil and I came up with The Organic Feed Company at £14.53 for 20 kilos and Allen & Page at a rather eyebrow-raising £20.40 for 20 kilos. Carriage on each of these adds about £16 to the order, but the Organic Feed Co. has a stockist near to me which would cut out delivery charges. At the other end of the scale, I could have bought ordinary layers pellets at the farm my pullets came from for £7.50 for 20 kilos.
Since I go to a great deal of trouble and expense to give my hens the best life possible, and to enable them to produce the most nutritious eggs in return, for me it's worth giving them top quality food- you only get out what goes in, after all. And with only 5 to feed, cost isn't so important to me as it might be if I had more beaks to feed. But what is the best value, and is this necessarily the most expensive? What do you feed your flock, and which factors are most important to you?
I've been buying a lot of eggs recently, and became interested in what was on offer on the Waitrose site. I prefer to buy organic eggs in the hope that the hens will have been treated that much better if cutting cost isn't the bottom line for the farmer, and that their food will have been more nutritious than the bog-standard stuff fed to most commercial hens. 6 medium-sized organic eggs cost £2.43, (40.5p each.)
Waitrose also offer 'Omega-3 eggs' at £1.79 for 6, (29.8p each.) These are not organic, hence the difference in price, but claim to be a
"Natural source of protein, vitamins A, B2, B12 & D. Eggs laid by British farm hens, fed on a natural Omega 3 diet. Great for the whole family!. All Intelligent Eating eggs are produced on Lion approved British Free Range farms, the Lion mark is your guarantee that these are quality eggs laid by British hens vaccinated against salmonella."
Of course most of this is advertising nonsense, it applies to all eggs, and all commercial hens will have been vaccinated up to their eyeballs to resist diseases in their crowded conditions. I then looked up what an 'Omega-3 egg' consists of. Turns out that hemp seed or hemp seed oil has been added to their pellets, and since hemp is high in Omega-3, enough gets through into the egg - although overdosing causes a fishy taste. I am surprised that the 'Intelligent Eating omega-3 egg people' don't combine this nutritional advantage with organic feed, as you'd imagine the same customers might like both. Anyway, apparently anyone can add hemp seed or oil to their hens' feed and get additional Omega -3 for breakfast. (Or of course, you could just cook with hemp seed oil without passing it through your hens first.)
So then I went on to investigate which organic layers pellets have extra Omega-3 oil and I came up with The Organic Feed Company at £14.53 for 20 kilos and Allen & Page at a rather eyebrow-raising £20.40 for 20 kilos. Carriage on each of these adds about £16 to the order, but the Organic Feed Co. has a stockist near to me which would cut out delivery charges. At the other end of the scale, I could have bought ordinary layers pellets at the farm my pullets came from for £7.50 for 20 kilos.
Since I go to a great deal of trouble and expense to give my hens the best life possible, and to enable them to produce the most nutritious eggs in return, for me it's worth giving them top quality food- you only get out what goes in, after all. And with only 5 to feed, cost isn't so important to me as it might be if I had more beaks to feed. But what is the best value, and is this necessarily the most expensive? What do you feed your flock, and which factors are most important to you?
The stats were pretty good as well as far as I remember, in terms of protein etc.
