"Free-Run" Eggs Premium Price

"Free-Run" Eggs Premium Price LIVESTOCK Poultry 27-2-7 Wim Janssen tapped into a booming market when he and his wife, Judith, started raising free-run hens. The eggs bring in an extra 25ó per dozen and it's a seller's market. Demand for free-run eggs is twice what Janssen and other poultry farmers can produce. "Free run hens aren't as productive as caged hens, but the premium more than covers the difference," says Janssen. The hens lay eggs in open barns instead of cages. It's the same as free-range poultry except that the birds are inside. The couple runs 7,700 hens in two traditional-style barns on their 6-acre farm. A third barn is used to raise baby pullets to replace the laying hens every 14 months. Because they raise their own replacement stock, Janssen says their birds have a healthier immune system which he credits for the 2.4 percent death loss among their layers, half that of conventional cage- style laying barns. "Chickens face their greatest stress when they start laying in a new facility," says Janssen. "That is when they are most susceptible to disease. Our hens have already been exposed to any germs here, so they are less stressed." Chicks and layers enjoy a free run of their respective barns. The open floor is divided down the center by a row of nesting boxes about 3 ft. off the floor. A conveyer belt under the boxes carries eggs to a sorting room at the end of the barn four times each day. Here, they are placed in trays for shipping. Back in the barn, a hen exiting the nesting box can go to a scratch area, where she can take a dust bath, or hop into the feeding area. Automatic feeders and waterers are set up above a slatted floor. Manure collects below for easy removal. Feeders, watering pipes and nesting boxes all serve as roosting areas for the hens. Janssen estimates that 98 percent of the hens lay their eggs in the nesting boxes within a short time after introducing them to the barn. Promptly picking up eggs that are laid in the open areas helps to discourage hens from joining the rebel 2 percent. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Judith and Wim Janssen, RR1, Blackfalds, Alberta, Canada TOM OJO (ph 403 885-4636; fax 403 885-2136; E-mail: Jarom@attcanada.ca).

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