We believe that good eggs can only come from happy hens; living in conditions as close to their natural environment as possible, so that is how they live on the Organigrow farm: free to graze naturally with a lot of space and fed on natural products. Chickens raised to Non Organic standards may be subject to intensive farming techniques for both meat and eggs. Under these standards, laying hens may be so crammed as to 4 or more to a small cage in which they cannot stretch their wings and are stacked in tiers. With only wire to stand on, the birds develop sore and deformed feet, sores develop also on the chest and neck where feathers are rubbed off. These are also known as Caged Eggs. See our page How to read Egg Labels.
In Non-Organic farms, every aspect of their environment is controlled – heating, food supply, and water. The hens may be fed additives and hormones to improve egg quality and antibiotics to alleviate infection. They endure this miserable existence for a year or so, after which they are killed to be made into meat meal or pet food.
If a chicken has been fed chemical laden feed, then those chemicals concentrate in the egg – which is then eaten. You feed a chicken rubbish food full of offal, meat meal, GM cereals, and added chemicals, then the egg that you eat will contain just that. Even other free range produced eggs can contain these. We feed our hens a mix of the highest quality certified organic vegetarian grains. While hens naturally eat insects, we believe they should not be fed meat meal, an ingredient in most poultry feed (including many organic feeds).
Our hens are pasture fed which means that our eggs contain extra goodness – see the page ” why buy Organigrow eggs”
What makes Organigrow Certified Organic Free Range Eggs different
from the so-called Free Range or other Organic eggs?
Organigrow Certified Organic Free Range Eggs
Certified Organic - our whole farm is certified organic through the ACO (Australian Certified Organic) Certification Ltd, who then decide based on soil samples and audits that we really are organic. In Australia, there are no strict laws in using the term "Organic". It is only through Certification that you can guarantee that anyone claiming to be Organic is truly abiding by those high standards. For Organigrow Certified Organic Free Range Eggs, organic means that no pesticides, herbicides or any other chemicals are used on the property. Also our hens, of course, are not fed antibiotics, not fed on with any Genetically Modified (GM) feed, and our feed has no animal, fish or milk in it. Our hens are fed certified organic vegetarian feed. Free Range - to Organigrow it means that the hens are free to roam all day on lush pastures filled with grasses and herbs with lots of tall shady trees, and they are free to eat all insects and bugs that they find. (see the pics throughout this site) Organigrow is a small 70 ha farm with 12000 laying hens which is easier for our family to manage and care for properly. We are not automated and employ local staff and family.
Our Hens Grazing Outside Their Eco Shelters
Other "organic free range" Eggs
Organic - some competitors say they are organic (look at the term Organic over on the left) but may not be. Not all our competitors are certified, so you cannot be sure that they are really organic. Some certified organic producers may use 5% of non-organic inputs into their feed, which may mean meat meal which can contain kangaroo, camel, milk &/or fish. Free Range - to our competitors this can mean allowing hens access to the outside, not all day and they can be let out to graze on barren soil. There are no strict laws in Australia as to the use of the term 'free range'. "Free Range' can mean the chickens are kept in huge sheds with 20,000 plus hens- not our hens. Most of our competitors are Large Corporate Farms with 50000+ hens -see the link to a video on the page "explaining egg label terms" We are proudly certified as being truly free range and animal welfare focused byHuman Choice
