Organic eggs in your own backyard

Did you know that a hen requires 24 to 26 hours to produce an egg? And then she starts all over again 30 minutes after laying it. Considering that she is capable of laying up to 300 eggs per year, that puts a lot of pressure on her nutritional reserves!

It makes sense that healthy hens require healthy food. If you are feeding them your kitchen scraps make sure these are fresh. Your feathered friends also love the protein-rich goodness of bugs and grubs they find while foraging in the garden. You can further boost their nutritional reserves by feeding them a well-formulated pellet or scratch mix.

When that nutritionally balanced feed is also organic you get the added advantage of having home-grown organic eggs.

Buying quality Certified Organic eggs can be expensive, however your own chickens will lay delicious and healthy organic eggs, saving you money in your weekly shop.

And you can actually supply your girls with the same feed that organic egg producers use when you choose Certified Organic poultry feed from the Aus Organic Feeds range of pellets, crumbles and scratch mixes. For an organic product to be ‘certified’ the mill that makes the feeds and the farmers who grow the grains must comply with rigorous certification processes, including yearly audits.

If you feel your girls are doing fine with their egg laying, and you simply want to ensure they enjoy a balanced diet and lay organic eggs, start with Aus Organic’s professionally formulated layer pellets or scratch mix.

To choose between a pellet or a scratch mix consider whether your birds get into the garden to grab those insects for their extra protein. If so, choose a pellet mix – it’s easy for beaks to pick and creates less mess.

If they really don’t get a chance to wander about the garden then a scratch mix may be a better option. Aus Organic’s Scratch Mix is 50% pellets with a 50% 3-grain combo that allows maturing birds to pick and choose what their bodies want.

However, there may be times in your chicken’s life where they need more than a layer feed. For example, if you notice the number of eggs you gather daily is dropping, this indicates your girls may be suffering from nutritional deficiencies.

Each egg a hen lays depletes energy, protein and other nutrients. The best way to support her capacity to lay is making sure her food contains all the right nutrients. Aus Organics Egg Booster is formulated to assist hens who need some extra help to boost egg quantity and quality. It’s the same product they supply to organic egg farmers.

You also want to start your baby chicks on the best diet and their Chick Starter is specifically for chicks from 1 day old up to about 14-16 weeks of age (or when they start laying). A crumble mix for little beaks, it offers all the building blocks for a good layer: calcium for bones, plus vitamins and minerals so she is well prepared for her egg-laying life.

The next step to your own home-grown organic eggs is ensuring your garden is organic (no pesticides or artificial fertilisers) so when the hens range the bugs and grubs they’re eating are fully organic!

Aside from making sure your girls have a healthy diet it’s important that they have access to fresh water all the time. And even if you live in urban areas there are still predators that will attack them, so ensure they have a predator-proof safe shelter.