Free Range Egg Farming in South Africa
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Posted on August 6, 2012 by Admin

I am investigating establishing a free range egg business on my smallholding near Hermanus / Caledon in the Western Cape and wondered whether you would help. I have a nice piece of land and we believe that this business could work – there is potential to scale, but first small steps and proof of concept. At this stage i am looking at purchasing the Lohman breed (approx R90 per hen at point of lay), but there is a bit of a learning curve. i have three general questions and would appreciate some input from you if you dont mind:

 One thing we are trying to establish is how much roughly will a wholesale free range egg sell for ? Obviously a lot depends on target buyer and volume discounts. Looking in the Spar and Woolworths, i note that these eggs retail between R1.30-R2.10 per egg depending on how many you buy. I would look at direct, bakeries, restaurants etc

I only sell directly to the end user and an organic market – I charge R42 for 30 eggs. This is for mixed sizes large, x large and jumbo. The one baker I sell just large to and charge him 1.19 per egg. A thing that caught me out was the fact that I have no control on egg size (i asked my hens really nicely for large but….) The result is that I have many more jumbo than large (which is what all bakers and cooks want due to recipes needing large?) Spar and Woolworths have a very strict buyers policy.

The other question, is what is the typical egg life / productivity of a single hen ? Assuming it is breed specific, but roughly ? I note you indicate 60 weeks – is that an appropriate guideline for the lohman ?

60 weeks is what all large producers work on. While the breed makes some difference, more important is how the bird was raised to 18 or 20 weeks. A good trustworthy supplier of layers is critical unless you are raising your own chicks to point of lay. Feed, vitamins and vaccines seem to make a huge difference in the quality of the eggs and lay rate (and this all happens in the first 18 weeks. Remember to ask for free range birds – my first batch came debeaked and terrified to go outside.

The final question surrounds the ‘after shelf value’ of the hen. Assuming one could sell a hen for meat, should you definitely factor this stage into the business model and what are the options here.

A big factor – you can get R28 – R35 per hen after the 60 weeks. Many black folk love older chicken – known as “hard chicken” in rural speak.

Any input would be much appreciated. Alternatively if you would point me to someone who may have advise on this this would be very kind of you

Go onto the forum – it is free and there are buyers, sellers and farmers all participating. With regards to breed type – I asked an guy from Onderstepoort some time back for the best breed to breed chicks for free range hens on the Highveld – his answer:

Ovambo, crossed with Venda… Remember lots of calcium /crushed sea shells in their diet..for good egg shell quality. The Boschveld breed is also good… But I would cross the Boschveld with Koekoek…. using 7 Koekoek roosters each with 2 boschveld hens to create your first 7 lines from which you do cross breeding. to prevent inbreeding.

 Wayne, I have read that supplementing your hens diet with food like radish, rye grass etc will improve the egg quality. do you do this and what other food sources (eg worms, vegetables, etc) do you recommend has a visible and proven impact ?

Definitely a plus. Vegetables like carrots, spinach, magou and chillies give the yolks that deep orange colour – worms, bugs, baby rats and mice – chickens will eat anything. Avoid potatoes and Avo (and limit cabbage). I also give mine my table scraps – meat, rice etc. As long as you would eat it – it will be good for them – If you are going to give them egg shells (which are very good for calcium) crush them so they do not look like eggs or they will hammer your eggs in the coop.

I will work through this huge source of info, and keep in touch if you are ok with this. One more issue we are investigating is typical consumption rate per bird and of course sourcing well priced food. We currently have been advised that the a chic consumes 1,814 kg of food to produce 1 doz eggs. Price of food is R220/50 kg. Do these figures ring true with you ?

Mmm sounds high (but could be an average over the whole 60 week cycle) – I give my chickens between 105g and 125g per day each. I am playing around with feed amounts to see if I can get the egg size down without dropping lay rate. Just remember that you still have to feed the non layers – and in a large flock, unless you are cage farming, it is difficult to see which hens are not laying, or laying badly. You will also be paying for waste – I end up with lots of feed on the ground, and if you are free ranging you also end up feeding the local bird population.

How to do free range egg farming in South Africa – Some common questions and answers about what chickens to use, or what hens to use when free range farming and how to breed you own strain of free range chickens.

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Raising chickens from Egg Incubators

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Admin

An egg incubator is a device that allows you to take fertilised eggs from your layers (hens) and hatch them into baby chickens. They are used by free range farmers, organic poultry farmers and by commercial farmers. The hatcher, in it’s most simple form, is a box with some kind of warming mechanism such as infrared light, and a fan to circulate the air inside the  chicken egg incubator. The other part is a mechanism that mimics the way the hen will turn the eggs while she is brooding (or sitting on the eggs). There are many different types and brands of bird breeding, incubators – the commercial units can be as large as a small house and can hatch out thousands of chicks every day. Broiler breeder farms will have a hatchery on the farm and will have a breeder house with hens and roosters which provide the fertilised eggs. Growing chickens from eggs in the natuarl way, that is without an incubator, can sometimes be a hit and miss affair as the natural processes ussualy only allow a smaller number of eggs to hatch into healthy babies.

Most incubator equipment can be used for ducks, exotic birds, parrots,  turkeys and geese. The smaller units are not automatic, but simply have a thermostat control. The small units also do not rock the eggs – you will have to turn them yourself. Commercial units are fully automatic, monitoring temperature, humidity and rocking the eggs for you. Some of the “off the shelf” units can hatch up to 600o eggs per month. A poultry farmer who wants to sell day old chicks, or who is breeding hens as laying hens, can make a fair amount of money off units like these. They do not come cheap though. Owning the incubator is not the only piece of poultry equipment you will need – firstly tou will need to have a chicken house with layers and roosters so as to supply your hatchery with fertile eggs. It is possible to purchase fertilised eggs if you do not want to breed. You will also need a place to keep the baby chickens – and a market to sell to – if you are selling day olds they will need to be delivered to the customer on the day that they hatch – otherwise you will be paying for feed and housing. If you plan to raise the chickens for any other purpose, such as layers, you will need to house them for 18- 20 weeks. The house you keep them in will need brooders, a fancy name for heaters – usually run off gas or in the case of an infrared radiant heater, electricity. It will need to be a poultry house with a good winched cutaining system, unless you are doing a few chickens at home with a chicken coop. All of the standard farming principles will apply – if you are selling the layers as organic chickens they will need to be fed and housed according to the regulations. If they are free range they will need to conform to the guidelines for free range farming. The layout of your free range farm can make a big difference to you success – so plan carefully.

The hatcher that you decide on for your hatchery will be deterimed by:

  • Budget
  • Number of eggs you wish to hatch out
  • How automated you wish the process to be

Egg incubators used for hatching eggs and then raising chickens for bird breeding and getting chickens from eggs is a simple enough process – but like all profitable businesses there are lots of details that must be followed. Poultry disease in a hatchery can be a big factor – a hatchery probably has more potential than any other aspect of chicken farming to spread disease. When moving form house to house, or around the farm – the rule of thumb is “FOLLOW THE EGG”. This is speaking of limiting the spread of disease. It means that you deal with your live chickens first - do whatever work needs doing in those houses before you go into you hatchery. Once you are finished in the hatching area – shower and wait 12 hours before going back to your live birds. Generally older birds are less susceptible to disease than younger birds – so work your schedule accordingly. You will not be allowed to sell any chicken egg that has been fertilised – that is selling it for eating – it is against the law – even though in the first few days, and without a warm chicken or incubator, there is nothing wrong with eating a fertilised egg. Which ever unit you decide on – rather go for one that is semi automated – a unit that rocks the eggs and maintains it’s own temperature and humidity. This will allow you to focus on other aspects of the poultry farm – if you are unsure whether you want a incubator at all – perhaps start with a few fertilised eggs under a lamp – turn them 3 or 4 times a day and see what kind of results you get. Then see if you can keep those few chicks alive long enough to do something with them. If you are free ranging – separate some of your hens in a separate range and place a rooster with them – let nature take it’s course and see how many chicks you can hatch naturally!

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What kind of poultry farming should I do?

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Admin

There several types of farming relating to chicken producing and poultry farming methods, 4 types when you count the growers that  concentrate upon breeding parent stock and grandparent stock. Generally commercially produced chicken farm owners will probably target just one of the next three kinds of poultry agriculture. These types of production may be free range producing, organic farming or intensive poultry producing.

poultry battery cages

Broiler chicken production

It is the growing of poultry for the purpose of their meat for consumption. The cycle, or time to be able to grow a bird from a day old chicken up to the sell-able weight, is usually 4 — Six weeks. Free range chickens will be placed inside the chicken house that is the same as intensive agriculture – but shall be permitted to forage outside. During intensive poultry farming your birds should be held within your chicken house and usually roughly fifteen hens a sq. meter.

Layer chickens for egg growing

Hens are in general procured at the age of Eighteen weeks (point of lay hens) and tend to be kept for approximately sixty weeks – in this time frame hens will lay on average 0.8 chicken eggs a day. During intensive egg production the point of lay hens shall be held in layer cages or battery cages. In free range egg growing and also organically grown egg growing all of the point of lay hens are going to stay inside your chicken house and yet have got access to open space and also be permitted to look for food naturally. Larger chicken houses will use automatic drinking and feeding systems. Smaller chicken coops will use manual feeding and drinking methods.

Breeder farms

Breeder farming shall have a hen house which carries both cocks as well as hen chickens. The chicken eggs should be picked up daily then taken away to a hatchery. The prime focus of such a farm is in order to grow day old birds in order to offer the poultry segment along with farmers who will probably raise chickens to 18 weeks for egg growing. In all of the 3 sorts of chicken farming, all the fundamental farming principles stay the same – All the hens shall need heating, cooling, medication, feed plus water.

The variety of chicken is not significant, all chickens need these fundamentals. Regardless of whether it is a poultry structure keeping thirty five thousand chickens or maybe a small-scale hen coop for one hundred birds, the grower will adopt all of the same principles. In larger chicken houses infection can easily spread really quickly, and the losses, clearly, will be significantly higher.

pan feeding for poultry

Feeding Chickens

Smaller-sized growers will give food to their hens by hand – either employing tube feeders or spreading the feed by hand. Layer farmers will utilise a pan feeding system, or possibly a chain feeding method. These kinds of feeding systems are completely automatic and make the task of giving birds food very straight forward. All the feed for automated feeding systems would come from a silo.

Water for Chickens

Small to medium sized poultry growers will use either bell drinkers or water fonts in order to supply the chicken with water. Larger growers will probably make use of a nipple drinking system. Impex nipples are usually sought after by lots of producers. This is arguably the best nipple drinking system on the market – and at a price you can afford. The quality of water is very important – like humans, chickens need quality water. Water with scale, or dirt in it, can clog the nipples easily.

Heating up a hen house

Generally there are a number of methods for warming up a poultry coop, though laying hens may possibly not require heating around warmer climates, day old chicks shall clearly have to have warmth. Propane gas poultry heaters really are the first option for many chicken farm owners. (Gasolec makes a excellent poultry heater). Other solutions may be electric brooders that make use of infrared heat lamps, and also heatcos, that work with fossil fuels.

Cooling down a poultry structure

Large houses will have cooling fans plus winched curtains – small sized growers are going to also choose fans, yet smaller sized. The most reliable technique to be able to cool down a poultry structure is by utilizing a winched curtain method. The curtains run down both lengths of the hen coop and can be lifted, as well as lowered, dependent upon the what is needed at the time. Sealed, or closed, environment poultry houses do not use curtains but massive fans and water – quite similar to air conditioning.

The Chicken House

Almost all small poultry farm owners will probably have some sort of steel poultry houses specifically designed for poultry, a laying layer house will have laying cages intended for egg production along with curtains which lower all the way to the ground. Larger producers will use brick and mortar structures. Broiler chicken farmers will probably grow their poultry on the flooring which is usually covered with wood shavings. No matter which variety of agriculture that you mean to try out, you will want to inoculate, plus medicate all your birds. You will also use products like stress packs which contain vitamins to help the chickens.  Organic chicken farm owners are controlled in exactly what medicines they are able to provide to the chicks.

Lighting in a hen coop

Light sources are highly beneficial in any sort of hen house , no matter if this will be eggs, broilers or breeders. Lights, when utilised appropriately, can assist with production, along with body-weight gain, and also loss. It probably will assist the laying hens to lay more eggs, and also the broiler chickens to actually eat more. Lots of small hen producers disregard this valuable aspect, and yet for a rather small outlay of cash, your improvement in production can be substantial. Free range and organic and natural chicken agriculture are limited by way of the regulations and may not use lights as efficiently as intensive chicken producers.

Auxiliary solutions and Poultry equipment

As with any kind of business – the larger your production, the more techniques you search for to save money and effort. Many alternative systems that assist farmers are systems like mono rails (that is a gantry that carries things such as feed, egg trays plus medicines). Larger egg farmers probably will have an automatic egg sorting machine – a particularly inventive, and costly, bit of machinery, that sorts, grades, plus cleans all the eggs in to weights , and then simply stores them into egg containers.

Whatever sized farmer that you want to be one would do well to find out about all the ins and outs of farming. Learning exactly how other people do it may be the difference between staying in business and going out of business. Try to reinvent the wheel is a waste of time – just replicate what your opposition does, as well as refine on their procedures.

Computerised systems and poultry farming software

Computers perform a great role in larger poultry farms – managing food, temperature, water as well as humidity. Software is very advanced and to manage a large farm, or even a small farm, computers are essential.

There are also devices designed for de beaking chicks – utilised in intensive chicken farming to put a stop to the chickens wounding each other, and equipment used for the slaughtering of poultry, as well as cutting and preparing the chicken into salable food portions. Batch weighers are usually used for you to determine precise food meals and quantities for poultry houses.

Whatever poultry farming you decide on, the methods of chicken farming remain the same. There are obviously finer details that differ between the types of chicken farming – especially if you plan on free range or organic poultry farming. Poultry software will not help you to actually farm – only to mange your farm better!

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Who sells free range eggs?

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Admin

Who sells free range eggs in South Africa?

Many poultry farms offer free range eggs, as do many supermarket chains – remember “free rage” is a term that is loosely used – government regulations on free range eggs are quite clear on what can be defined as a free range egg – and that definition is not as kind to chickens as everyone would believe. The regulations still allow for cramped living conditions and such a small outside space that it hardly warrants the term “free range”. Find an egg farmer you can trust – visit the free range egg farm for yourself, and you will soon see who embraces the spirit of free range egg farming.

Free range eggs in Lazonia

Happy eggs - healthy humans!

Chicken farming regulations are being worked on – so South Africans can expect changes for the better. As hard as it is to find true free range eggs in Gauteng – a bit of hunting in your area may turn up a small egg farm which is willing to let you visit and buy eggs directly from the farm. Want to start raising your own chickens for free range – it is not difficult – a small chicken coop and the right poultry equipment and you could be eating your own free range eggs! Free range eggs in Bryanston, free range eggs in Pretoria and free range eggs in Hartebeespoort can be purchased from Happy Eggs eggs farm.

 

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Organic Chicken food

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Admin

Organic Chicken food

Where to buy organic chicken food in South Africa? This is almost impossible – all grain in South africa contains GMO’s – and as a result any poultry farmer wishing to produce organic chickens or organic eggs, will have to grow all of their own chicken feed. There are no suppliers at this stage who sell organic layer mash or organic chicken feed. Anyone who knows where to get organic food for chickens – please let us know. This is why most farmers in S.A who want to produce alternatives to caged chickens or cage eggs opt for free range farming – the standards do not stipulate what you feed your chickens! When you feed your organic chickens they will eat just about any vegetables – avoid avocado pear – but they love cabbage, sprouts, broccoli, spinach and a lot of the fruits like apples and melons – avoid citrus as well.

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Are free range eggs better to eat?

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Admin

Free range eggs are much nicer tasting than cage eggs. The yokes are more orange than watery yellow – because the hens are eating natural foods – like they would in a natural environment.

Are free range eggs better than cage eggs?

Hens crammed into layer cages

Cage eggs come from chickens that live their lives crowded into a tiny cage – they never get to sit in the sun or scratch around – in fact they will never spread their wings or eat anything except chicken feed that is loaded with antibiotics and steroids. Large catering companies use catering eggs – pretty much the cheapest eggs that they can find – and those would be cage eggs – There is no doubt that free range eggs are healthier, better tasting and kinder to the hens!

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Are funny shaped eggs bad for you?

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Admin

The short answer is no – odd shaped eggs, misshapen eggs or deformed eggs have the same nutrition and taste as a well formed egg. Even if the shell is slightly rough or speckled it makes no difference to the quality of the egg. These eggs are often graded as B grade eggs – so they are cheaper – but that is just a bonus for the consumer who is prepared to by odd shaped eggs.

They way the chicken is raised – whether in  chicken layer houses or a layer cages also makes no difference to the shape and size of eggs. By law all chicken houses must have poultry drinkers – nipple drinkers, fonts or bell drinkers to give the chickens water – and tube feeders or chain feeders to feed them – what they eat is what you eat and a free range chicken eats natural foods from the field and supplemented layer mash – think about it – a free range chicken is a happy chicken – and a happy chicken must lay happy eggs – which would you rather eat?

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How do I tell if my eggs are fresh?

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Admin

The freshness and quality of a chicken egg is graded by the size of the air space at the end of the egg. As the egg gets older, the air space gets bigger (the egg contents start to shrink and dry). To test the freshness of an egg – Place it in a bowl of salt water – the fresh egg will lie on its side on the bottom, a week old egg will lie on the bottom at an angle and eggs that are two to three weeks old will stand upright. Eggs can be kept for longer if they are in the fridge – 5 -7 degrees is a good temperature. Remember that fresh eggs are very difficult to peel if you boil them – so you may want to keep those out of the fridge for a few days before – some say that 1/2 a tea spoon of baking soda in the boiling water helps the shell come away from the white – then after boiling place the eggs in ice cold water until they are cool.

When breaking a fresh egg, and putting it in the pan, the yolk will form a good firm dome -  the egg white will be stiff and firm all around the yolk. In an older egg the yolk will seem flat, and the white will appear watery. When chicken eggs are older than three weeks, the membrane around the yolk breaks and the yolk spreads out. The white part of the chicken will be completely watery. When buying free range eggs – or any eggs in South Africa there are regulations around egg production. To tell how fresh or to tell how old eggs are, is difficult in a shop. And that is any kind of egg, chicken eggs, quail eggs – all of them. Fresh free range eggs can be purchased at farmers markets. This is often a good way to ensure freshness as the farmer will be bring the last weeks lay with him.

Buying fresh eggs South Africa can be difficult – you cannot tell if an egg is new or old by looking at it. So how to tell how fresh it is, is not possible in store. The sell by date does not tell you anything – does it work off the lay date, or the packaged date – or maybe when it cam out of the fridge – after how long sitting there? Fresh free range eggs are best purchased from the farmer directly – or from a produce market where you know the person. Most farmers markets will have very fresh produce.

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What is “candling” an egg

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Admin

Candling an egg is a way to look at the contents of an egg without breaking it. When a company sell free range eggs and organic eggs they need to know that their eggs are top class. Also if a chicken farmer is growing chicks from eggs he may want to check on the progress and health of the peep (baby chicken still inside the egg).

Candling is very easy – you shine a very bright light onto the egg – from close up – and then look from the other side. White eggs are easy – you can see if there is a baby inside, or if there are blood spots in the yolk. You can also tell how big the air sack is – the bigger the air sack the older the egg. What also shows up is the shell porosity – all of this from shining a very bright light and looking from the other side. All free range eggs, in fact all eggs should have a sample of the batch candled.

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