Free Range standard hens
Live in a large fixed shed with food and water indoors.
They have access to the outdoors, often through a small door, but many stay inside.
10,000 hens per hectare equates to 1m2 per hen if/when outdoors.
Pasture-Raised hens
Live outdoors and have access to a mobile shelter. Their food and water is kept outside encouraging them to explore.
They are moved weekly to fresh pasture to allow the grass to recover. This gives the hens fresh grass and grubs to forage.
60 hens per hectare at Clover Creek Farm which equates to 166m2 per hen.
As Free Range hens live in a fixed shed with a fixed range area, the grass quickly becomes eaten down. With no grass there are also not many bugs or insects for the hens to feed on.
Pasture Raised hens get about 30% of their diet from a variety of fresh grasses and bugs, insects and grubs that live in the grass and healthy soil. This fresh diet gives their eggs vibrant yolks and nutrition benefits over eggs from hens that don’t have access to fresh grasses and bugs.
By moving Pasture Raised hens weekly, they don’t degrade the soil, but instead improve the soil as they move along.
Pasture Raised is:
Better for the Hens. Better for the Land. Better for You!