Australia has a national egg shortage because slack management procedures on intensive egg production facilities allowed avian influenza to spread like wildfire, resulting in the culling of more than a million egg laying hens. Many buyers have been unable to get eggs from their usual sources, such as supermakets, so they turn to small producers like us without understanding that we can’t quickly ramp up production just because they suddenly say they want our eggs. As with many free range farms, our eggs are laid to order and we have no spare eggs at the end of each day.
Maintaining egg production on a free range farm is often challenging.Like many real farms, we are affected by daily weather patterns and the seasons.To consistently lay eggs, hens need about 14 hours of daylight and 8 hours of darkness when they're roosting. Once less than 12 hours of daylight is available, egg productions slows down considerably if not ceases completely. Some people think colder weather causes the decrease in egg-laying, but even chickens in warm climates produce fewer eggs once daylight hours decline. Big producers maintain egg laying numbers by installing lights in sheds to trick the hens into keeping on eating and laying eggs. This issue is the reason for the development of intensive farming systems. Big production and bigger profits was the reason for companies changing to intensive farming with hens locked in climate-controlled sheds.
Big producers maintain egg laying numbers by installing lights in sheds to trick the hens into keeping on eating and laying eggs. We prefer to allow our hens to follow their normal rythmns of life.
