That's really interesting to know - does he farm both the standard and Duchy varieties?
And do Waitrose do right by him in terms of giving him a fair price for his produce?
Eggs, free range, or doesn't it matter?
- Thread starter Lysander
- Start date
And do Waitrose do right by him in terms of giving him a fair price for his produce?
Well, I've just had 2 poached eggs at work, checked the box, caged 
I'll be able to do a taste test tonight, took advice from this thread and bought some clarence court eggs. Gonna poach one of those and stick it on top of me smoked haddock for tea.
I'll be able to do a taste test tonight, took advice from this thread and bought some clarence court eggs. Gonna poach one of those and stick it on top of me smoked haddock for tea.
smoked haddock for tea.
You really know how to make a man jealous don't you?
As long as you like healthy food
It's gonna be poached in a homemade pork/chicken stock, with asparagus and purple sprouting broccoli, once cooked remove from the stock, then thicken stock slightly with butter, poured back over the fish/veg, topped with one of them eggs
Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Mar 2010
- Posts
- 4,173
always free range.
My mother & father-in-law keep free-range chickens, and their eggs are noticeably nicer than free range or barn eggs bought from a supermarket. The MIL reckons it's because even the freshest eggs you get in a supermarket are at least ten days old. You just can't beat getting your eggs from directly under the hen.
Granted, but just how feasible is that for the average person? Not very, which is why we invariably have to rely on retail sources for our produce and deal with the consequences that brings.
But despite that, I've never found a shop-bought egg to be particularly problematic, whether it's been bought to poach, fry, scramble or make into a custard, meringue, etc.
Obviously fresher is better, and I'd love to see more places stocking locally-produced eggs from smallholders, but buying quality eggs from responsible suppliers is the first step that people should be taking. Battery-farmed produce shouldn't really have a place on our tables.
Soldato
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2009
- Posts
- 4,301
- Location
- Bristol
99% of the time free range.
Pretty much always shop in Tesco, but I was in Waitrose today so thought I'd get some of the Clarence Court eggs to trial them. Bought a couple of boxes of the Burford Brown as they were on offer. I'll try the Cotswold Legbar next time.
Pretty much always shop in Tesco, but I was in Waitrose today so thought I'd get some of the Clarence Court eggs to trial them. Bought a couple of boxes of the Burford Brown as they were on offer. I'll try the Cotswold Legbar next time.
- Joined
- 3 May 2004
- Posts
- 17,718
- Location
- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
Does anyone have a link to the actual regulations regarding 'free range'? I'm not fooling myself into thinking that supermarket free range eggs come from hens that are running around in green pastures under trees, but what do they actually have to conform to? I only get free range eggs but the cynical side to me says it's probably more like an identical barn to what barn hens are kept in but with an open hatch to a small bare yard or something.
I might be wrong, but free range is same as barn hens. Which is no more than 9 hens per square metre, need to have perches etc, but also have outside at no more than 1000 birds per acre.
The difference is good farms will ensure the birds get outside. Where the crape farms will feed inside the barn and so they stay in there as much as possible.
This it's why it's best to good the producerand see what their standards are as a lot of free range are much higher standards that the minimum set.
The difference is good farms will ensure the birds get outside. Where the crape farms will feed inside the barn and so they stay in there as much as possible.
This it's why it's best to good the producerand see what their standards are as a lot of free range are much higher standards that the minimum set.
It's a little more complicated than that, but in essence it's roughly along those lines with the addition of space to roam whilst ensuring the density levels are adhered to.
It is however important to remember that Free Range is a marketing term at the end of the day and I'd guess that most people would be shocked at what the legal minimum standards are for chickens to be sold as Free Range.
And as you say, it's equally important to know just how far the producer has gone to ensure their chickens are raised in a suitable environment.
Having space to roam 'freely' is one thing, but ensuring it's not just wide open pasture with no shelter and little respite from the elements is another - ideally there needs to be a mixture of surface types, plenty of foliage and shrubbery and perches at various heights for them to use at their leisure.
Caged - Like ronseal
Barn - They're kept in a barn, significantly more space than a caged hen but not free to go outdoors
Free range - more barn space with free access to outdoors (at the bare minimum)
Organic - Like you'd imagine, happy chickens with huts who live outdoors and get eaten by foxes
Barn - They're kept in a barn, significantly more space than a caged hen but not free to go outdoors
Free range - more barn space with free access to outdoors (at the bare minimum)
Organic - Like you'd imagine, happy chickens with huts who live outdoors and get eaten by foxes
Close, but not quite.
From the DEFRA guidelines I linked to above:
So, an improvement upon Free Range, but not quite the halcyon image you suggested.
I'm afraid I don't know more detail on varieties, though I'm pretty sure he has only one type. He started out with more of a bog standard laying hen (they probably have a breed name which I forget), but had a small (2,000 hens) barn with the Colombian Blacktails (CB) for Waitrose. The CBs were noticeably (even for me) less scatty, temperamentally, so he goes for them exclusively now. IIRC, Waitrose pay a few pence more per dozen for the CBs than you would otherwise get for standard hens.
Other than the 50% or so that go to Waitrose (through some sort of wholesaler/intermediary), he sells a lot of eggs to individuals rocking up at the farm, and plenty more direct to bakers and suchlike.
Sorry - poorly worded question on my part there.
What I meant to ask was whether he's a Soil Association Organic certified farm or if he just produces the 'normal' CB eggs for Waitrose.
Different, certainly, but better would be a stretch.try duck eggs, they taste much better than chicken eggs
There's also a textural thing with duck eggs which some people find hard to get past.
