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By Nellie's Kindness Crew
Here at Nellie's Free Range, we talk a lot about how our hens enjoy plenty of access to outdoor pasture and how all our partner farms adhere to strict Certified Humane guidelines for free range laying hens. Another way we care for our hens is by ensuring they receive a well-balanced diet for living a happy, healthy life on our farms. So what do free range hens eat, anyway? And come to think of it, what's the natural diet of a chicken?
Our hens spend most of their days on pasture, foraging outdoors for juicy worms, bugs, and tasty greens. That's right: chickens are omnivores. In fact, chickens naturally have a fairly robust diet. In between dust bathing, perching on trees, and performing other instinctual behaviors, our girls search and dig for bugs. And they aren't picky; chickens enjoy everything from beetles and grasshoppers to worms and even ticks! Not only do these insects provide protein, but they also give our free range hens an opportunity to engage in their natural instinct to forage.
Unlike the cows that provide cream for our grass-fed butter, chickens aren't ruminants and can't survive on pasture alone. They may peck and scratch at the ground quite a bit in search of the juiciest worm or munch on a clover here and there, but chickens don't actually graze on grass. No matter how much time they spend outdoors, free range and pasture-raised hens simply can't get all the nutrients they need out in the pasture. That’s why we provide our hens with a supplementary feed in addition to their outdoor forage: it's the best way to ensure that our hens get the nutrients they need to stay happy and healthy.
If a hen doesn't receive enough of the proper nutrients that chickens require in their diet, it can begin to show in her health and the quality of her eggs. Malnourished or underfed hens can lose their feathers, become lethargic, and suffer from illness. They may lay fewer eggs, and what eggs their bodies do provide can vary in size and quality. By ensuring our free range hens receive the protein, carbohydrates, minerals, and other nutrients they need to thrive, we’re keeping our flocks healthy and our farmers and their livelihoods secure.
Corn and soybeans make up the majority of our hens’ feed, and with good reason! Soybeans are a wonderful source of protein for hens, while corn provides them with necessary carbohydrates for their day to day frolicking in the pasture. Additional feed ingredients include a variety of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients needed to maintain a healthy flock.
While exact feed mixes will vary on each Nellie's farm, our hens will always receive a balanced and nutritionally sound feed comprised of the same core components:
No, and that's a good thing! Getting the right feed mix for our flocks is a full-time job, and we take that job seriously. Each Nellie’s flock receives a specially tailored feed right from the beginning, and our team works alongside poultry nutritionists to carefully formulate their diets and make adjustments as needed. These formulas are then sent to local feed mills that create these feed mixes and deliver them to our partner farms. While this means our farms may use different feed mills and each flock’s diet may be a bit different, it ensures our hens are being offered the best feed mix possible tailored to breed, flock age, location of the farm, and other factors.
Although there are cheaper alternatives to corn and soy, they typically aren’t as effective at meeting a laying hen's nutritional needs. This is why most eggs you’d find in grocery stores are laid by hens who eat some amount of corn and soybeans, and why soy-free feed is typically only used for smaller backyard flocks. While we continue to keep up with the latest research on soy and other feed sources, we have not yet found an adequate alternative that provides the hens with quite the nutritional quality that soy does.
Thankfully, no! You won't find either of these in our hens' drinking water or feed mixes. The use of hormones in raising poultry is illegal, and giving antibiotics as a preventative measure for hen health was only adopted by factory farms to deal with the constant filth and disease found in such crowded and unhumane environments. In contrast, our barns are spacious, clean, and safe. In the unlikely event a Nellie's hen is found to be a bit under the weather and requires medicine (which is rare!), she will be separated from the main flock and treated properly. Her eggs are also kept separate and will not go into our cartons until she is fully recovered and off any medications.
Our free range hens are fed conventional grain from reputable suppliers, but we cannot guarantee that this feed is free of pesticides or GMOs, and therefore it cannot be considered organic. Our eggs are a great choice for customers who would like eggs from hens treated with kindness and in line with Certified Humane Free Range standards, but at a lower cost than USDA Certified Organic eggs.
I like the idea of free range chickens, but do not understand why you would dedicate so much effort in to raising your chickens “humanely” while giving them feed that is full of GMOs. There is NOTHING humane about that. The science is clear. We are what we eat and so are chickens and their eggs. I am disappointed to read you allow GMO feed for your chickens. Now I have to look for another source for my eggs.
Hello Alicia, We choose to offer these eggs for our consumers who may wish to purchase free range eggs from hens that are treated humanely, but at a lower cost than organic eggs. We do offer an organic egg option, however: our sister brand Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs. Pete and Gerry's hens produce organic eggs on small family farms that are USDA Certified Organic as well as Certified Humane Free Range, meaning they must undergo thorough inspections at least annually. You can learn more about these eggs here: https://www.peteandgerrys.com/. We hope this helps!
If I have to choose between bugs and "organic" for my chicken eggs, I choose bugs every time! I have been seeing a dismaying sameness to Nellie's eggs lately. I used to enjoy slightly varying tones/maybe sizes, the occasional carton of extra large eggs. Now they have an assembly line feel, identical in color and size, which doesn't seem in keeping with the free-range, bug-eating philosophy - what gives? The picture on this page as I enter my text, featuring "Free range eggs," is exactly what I was accustomed to and loved about Nellie's! It feels as if something has changed.
We're sorry to hear that you're not seeing the variance that you prefer from our eggs, Ann. We can assure you that nothing has changed, and our hens are still laying happy free range eggs. Feel free to email us at [email protected] to fill us in on what you're seeing and get some answers on why!
Adventure of the Egg – From Farm to Table
Egg Yolk Color and Richness