The vast majority of our egg laying chickens are a traditional French breed called Maran. The Maran Noire or Cuckoo Maran hens that we rear produce by-far the best egg in terms of looks, quality and taste compared to modern hybrid chickens. Modern commercial breeds of chicken produce significantly more eggs in the first 12 months of a hens egg laying life compared to our Marans. This high productivity comes at a cost to the modern chicken, as it is worn out after 12 months of egg laying, egg quality deteriates substantially and the chicken is slaughtered shortly after. We keep our Maran chickens for much longer as the genetics of the breed and high welfare conditions that we use allow them to remain productive.

In 2005 we started off with 50 Maran Noire hens, we now have anything between 400 and 500 hens at any one time. The whole flock is split into groups of no more than 125, this low number reduces the stress that naturally occurs in larger numbers of hens. Each group has its own mobile hen house and a large area of grass/clover to forage and range. The areas devoted to housing and grassland often exceeds the minimum required by the Soil Association and is significantly greater than the minimum required for standard free-range systems.

Our hens produce fantastic dark brown eggs which taste delicious! They are good value too at £1.50 for half a dozen or £2.80 for a dozen (as at 14/07/2008, Tesco and Sainsburys sell half a dozen for £1.82). Our chickens are fed organic feed which is guaranteed free from any GM ingredients. Our eggs are certified organic by the Soil Association who set much higher welfare standards than the organisations who certify the organic eggs in most supermarkets. Plus buying from us, you know EXACTLY where your eggs have come from.