Our Chickens
At our farm, we take a distinctive approach to raising chickens. We
believe in giving our feathered friends a life that's as close to nature as possible.
Our chickens enjoy the freedom of full-time pasture, where they can roam and forage to their heart's content, basking in the sun and stretching their wings.
What makes our practice stand out is that we don't retire our chickens prematurely when their laying days are over. Instead, they continue to live out their lives happily on the pasture,
contributing to the farm in various ways.
We also choose traditional breeds over hybrids, which results in fewer health issues and a more robust, resilient flock. It's all part of our commitment to ethical and sustainable farming practices, ensuring that our chickens lead fulfilling lives, and our customers enjoy the benefits of their high-quality, well-cared-for eggs.
Their Duties
- Natural Pest Control: Chickens are excellent foragers and help keep pest populations in check. They eagerly hunt for insects, snails, and even small rodents that can harm our fruit trees.
- Fertilizing the Soil: Chickens are not just great at pest control; they also play a vital role in fertilizing the ground. Their constant scratching and pecking aerate the soil and distribute their nutrient-rich droppings, enhancing soil health and tree growth.
- Weed Management: Chickens are diligent weeders. They enjoy munching on weeds and invasive plants, reducing the need for chemical herbicides and keeping the orchard's ecosystem in balance.
- Natural Orchard Cleaners: Fallen fruit can attract pests and diseases. Chickens help clean up the orchard floor by consuming fallen fruit, reducing the risk of disease spread and making cleanup easier for us.
- Sustainability: By integrating chickens into our orchard, we embrace sustainable farming practices that reduce our reliance on synthetic chemicals and promote a more environmentally friendly approach to agriculture.
Ogi Farm
We love our Chickens like pets here and spoil them as such. They're securely fenced into our 10 acre orchard where they're allowed to roam as they see fit all day long, before being locked safely away at night.
Though they get a huge amount of their food from this free-range lifestyle, we also like to feed them a basic grain mix to make sure they stay happy.
Once 'Retired' (Chickens often stop laying after a few years) we think they should be allowed to enjoy the fruits of their labour and so leave them with the flock to see out their days scratching about in the sun.
The modern approach to poultry farming has skewed the balance between quality of life and profit way out of whack. We feel this approach leads to better eggs, healthier trees and most certainly - Healthier & Happier Chickens, which works for us.