The trouble with eggs
Some eggs aren't all they're cracked up to be. All you could possibly want to know about eggs. And an interview with Orchard Eggs, East Sussex.
Thank you for reading, and being here and apologies for being a day late.
Last week we were on the farm with Brambletye. Today we’re taking a deep dive into egg facts and myths and we’re back on the farm, this time in the company of Karen and Daniel Hoeberichts of Orchard Eggs. Their hens and cockerels roam around the orchards at Brambletye Farm.
If you have one to hand; Look at an egg. Hold it gently in the palm of your hand and feel the beautiful curves, the solid weight, glacial smoothness, the strength and delicacy of the shell.
Whatever colour it is, it is impossible to tell whether you’re holding, or looking at an egg from a caged hen or one that comes from the freest of free range, outdoor on the grass all day hens. You can check the stamp to see how the hens are living. But not all eggs need to be stamped.
According to British Lion, in 2024 11.9 billion eggs were produced in the UK.
2 billion eggs were imported and 408 million exported.
You would think, wouldn’t you, in the world of simplistic arguments that we could cease to export any, and import less.
In the same year the UK consumed 12.8 billion eggs.
In the UK, imports come from the US, Spain, and Poland. Poland has the highest number of hens in cages in Europe with around 35 million caged hens out of over 50 million total laying hens as of the end of 20231
In intensive caged systems, there is no maximum, with some flock sizes reaching 100,000 chickens.
Barren battery cages were banned in the EU in 2012 but the same can’t be said for the rest of the world, and some of these eggs end up here in the UK.
About 10.6 million hens —28% of the UK laying flock—are still confined in so-called enriched cages.2
The mass adoption of battery cages from the 1950s onward transformed the egg industry, with hens packed into cages to control their environment and increase the number of eggs they lay. In the UK, free-range eggs accounted for 80% of all eggs produced in 1951. By 1980, the figure was 1%.
It was the salmonella scare in 1988 that changed public perceptions about egg production and began the increase in free range production.
All major supermarkets operating in the UK made a pledge to stop selling enriched colony cage eggs by 2025. ASDA stated that they are ‘‘committed to growing cage free egg sales and sourcing cage-free shell eggs by 2025 and are working with our suppliers on improving the welfare of the laying hens. We are also committed to using eggs used as ingredients from cage free systems by 2025.”
Tesco has stated that it will be cage-free by December 2025 for both shell and ingredient eggs. The supermarket chain Iceland has gone back on its pledge3 and ASDA are still selling eggs from caged hens. It’s worth pointing out that cage free doesn’t mean free range. And, as Ethical Consumer magazine says, there will still be millions of laying hens in cages supplying eggs to manufacturers and independent retailers from cafes to bakeries.
Figures on the UK Retail Sector (Kantar) show that in 2024 customers bought eggs that were;
Caged 21%
Free Range 74% (inc estimated 2% organic)
Barn 5%
Free range sales have risen sharply and now represent almost 75% of retail egg sales, which is more than double their level in 2004 (32%) (Kantar Worldpanel 2023 vs 2004 comparison).4
What does the stamp on eggs mean?
In order to keep poultry, and sell their eggs…
The UK government will ask that you do the following. If you have under 50 birds you’ll be expected to register and that includes if you have pet birds you fly outdoors. This rule came in last March as a result of avian flu outbreaks and are intended to to track and manage the spread of avian disease.
For those of you who intend to have over 50 birds, once you’re registered with the right authorities, you’ll get a number (a producer code) for your registered premises, which is made up of:
a digit (0 for organic, 1 for free range, 2 for barn or 3 for cage) to show the farming method
a code to show the country of origin
a unique identification number for your premises
That’s the stamp mark you find on the eggs you buy, traceable to the farm.
You do not need to stamp your eggs with a producer code if you:
sell your eggs directly to consumers - for their own use - from your own farm or door to door in your local area
have fewer than 50 birds and you sell at a local public market
The egg codes explained
Caged
The UK allows colony or enriched cages which replaced the barren battery cage system in 2012. On average a ‘colony’ cage holds 60- 80 hens and has a screened-off area for laying, a scratch mat and low perches. Hens don’t leave the cage until they go to slaughter.
Hens in an enriched cage system get 750cm³ space allowance per hen, the legal minimum, of which 600cm² is usable. This provides a space allowance of 13 – 14 hens per m² .
• Hens must have 15cm of perching space
• A nesting area must be provided but there is no specification on the space per hen
• Beak trimming is permitted up to 10 days old and routinely practiced.
British Lion say; ‘‘Lion Quality eggs produced by hens in cages do not use "farm" descriptions, farmyard / countryside scenes nor pictures of hens roaming freely on the egg box.’’
Barn
• Hens are kept indoors all their lives
• Hens are kept at up to 9 hens/m² in the shed giving them 1110 cm³ of space.
• At least 15cm perching space per hen
• At least 1 nest box per 7 hens
• Beak trimming is permitted up to 10 days old and routinely practiced.
Free range
Hens must be kept with access to a range (4m² per hen of space outside) and up to 9 hens/m² indoors with no limit on flock size and maximum stocking density of 2,500 birds per hectare.
• There must be at least 1 nest per 7 hens
• Hens are to be provided with 15cm of perch space each
• Beak trimming is permitted up to 10 days old and commonly practiced.
RSPCA assured's free-range standards set a maximum flock size of 16,000 hens as do British Lion who require the 16,000 birds divided into colonies of 4,000 where flock size is over 6,000 birds in total; a maximum stocking density of 2,000 birds per hectare.
If laying hens have access to open runs –
(a) there must be several popholes giving direct access to the outer area, at least 35 cm high and 40 cm wide, and extending along the entire length of the building; and in any case, a total opening of 2 m must be available per group of 1,000 hens.
British Lion require one pop-hole per 600 birds open for 8 hours daily to allow access to the outside.
Organic
Hens must be kept with access to a range (4m² per hen of space outside) and up to 6 hens/m² indoors (different for mobile housing) with flocks no greater than 3,000
• There must be at least 1 nest per 7 hens
• Vegetation on the range and hens must be outdoors for at least a third of their life
• Hens are to be provided with 18cm of perch space each
• Routine beak trimming is prohibited, but can be performed under a derogation
Beak trimming is routinely performed on laying hens in the UK (including EU organic and free-range systems) to reduce the damage bird can cause to each other through 'feather pecking'.’’
Beak trimming is carried out using an infra-red beam to remove the sharp tip of a hen’s beak. The process is carried out when the birds are at chick stage. The British Hen Welfare Trust want it to be banned but ‘‘not before an alternative management method has been trialed and successfully proven.’’
There is one more stamp which has caused some confusion on line5 recently; the ‘green’ Lion stamp, used by Morrisons6. The carbon neutral eggs were launched in 2022, with the hens fed a soya-free diet including insects and food scraps from the retailer’s bakery, fruit and vegetable sites.
The eggs are free range from a mixed poultry farm with 60,000 free range layers, producing over 20 million eggs per year, all packed into Morrisons ‘Better For Our Planet Eggs' line.
DEFRA lists two assurance/labelling schemes on their website.
British Lion; Say that ‘‘Over 90% of UK eggs are now produced under the British Lion scheme.’’ Emphasises health and safety with regard to salmonella
Laid in Britain ‘‘ensures members comply with the most stringent health and safety regulations in the market and gives assurance that they are a credible source of Salmonella free eggs.’’
Compassion in World Farming refer to the ‘Five Freedoms’, developed by the UK Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) widely used as a framework for animal welfare legislation and assurance scheme standards.
1. Freedom from hunger and thirst by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour
2. Freedom from discomfort by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area
3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment
4. Freedom to express normal behaviour by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind
5. Freedom from fear & distress by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.
Each criterion is scored on a scale from zero to five, based on the written standards and accompanying documents published by the schemes, into bronze, silver and gold standards.
For British Lion they say;
‘‘The British Lion Quality Code of Practice achieved a silver farming system rating (but no overall scheme rating) for its free-range laying hen standards but scored very poorly for its minimum standards. The Lion Code minimum standards generally only ensure compliance with minimum legislative requirements.’’
The RSPCA runs a ‘high welfare’ farm assurance scheme that has recently come under scrutiny following the announcement of a review last September7. 60 campaign groups called for it to be scrapped following undercover investigations at around 40 RSPCA assured farms. Only the executive summary is available on The RSPCA’s website. The summary states that:-
‘‘An initial random sample of 225 farm sites were selected for unannounced visits…and there were 294 total noncompliances. The majority of these non-compliances were for minor or administrative issues.’’
Amongst other recommendations, it mentions:-
‘‘House provisions, e.g. access to the range, was an issue for laying hens and pullets.’’
The EU egg marketing regulation stipulates that for eggs to be termed 'free range', hens must have continuous daytime access to runs which are mainly covered with vegetation and a maximum stocking density of 2,500 birds per hectare.
In Ethical Consumers guide to buying eggs, their top two recommendations are both from biodynamic farms, Nantclyd Farms and Orchard Eggs.
They told me;
‘‘In terms of welfare we say to go for organic . Free range or RSPCA Assured doesn't guarantee welfare whereas organic is the best option available.’’
In their guide published November 2024, they give ethical scores based upon criteria including climate, workers, tax conduct, company ethos, agriculture and hen welfare.8
There are three supermarkets in their top ten brands with a good 60+ score; Co-op free range and organic, Waitrose organic and M&S free range and organic.
For those of you who love Clarence Court, their score is an average 35, below Morrisons supermarket. At the other end of scale in the poor 0-24 category for all their eggs sits Lidl, Iceland, Aldi, Tesco, and ASDA. Brands belonging to Noble Foods including their Purely Organic eggs get a score of 3.
The hidden costs;
When you buy a product containing egg in it, if it doesn’t say free range or organic, especially if it’s imported, it’s likely that the egg in that product will be from caged hens. Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose have stopped using eggs from caged hens as ingredients in their own-brand products.
Bird flu; what it is and what difference it makes
Bird flu is an infectious virus, whose natural hosts are wild water birds. Free-range chickens are more at risk of contracting bird flu since they're allowed to roam outside, where they can be exposed to wild birds. However, outbreaks tend to be more devastating in factory farms since the very close confinement of the animals facilitates rapid spread.
Egg prices have increased in many countries worldwide, but much focus has been on USA. The country has numerous mega factory farms, as well as the world’s leading commercial egg producer, Cal-Maine Foods. These large-scale operations have contributed to widespread outbreaks of avian flu, resulting in mass death both from the disease itself and preventative culls.
In 2025 to date, 36.3 million birds lost included 21.6 million (59.4%) in conventional caged systems and 14.8 million (40.6%) in cage-free systems.9
This has caused US egg prices to skyrocket, prompting desperate measures, from egg heists to backyard chicken rentals.
Daniel from Orchard Eggs tells me they’ve been lucky to escape it this year.
‘‘Not every year has been like that. Some years there are housing orders where we have to keep our birds inside. We absolutely hate it because that's not why we're farming.
‘‘When they are inside, we try our best to make sure that they have it as good as possible. Rather than scratching outside, we have straw bales fully packed with lucerne, they love pecking and scratching them. We put them in as a whole bale and they go through it themselves. Obviously we prefer to have them outside. And this year they have been able to stay outside. We're hoping that each year that there is no bird flu, but we can't control it. It goes with birds.
‘‘There's been a few years where we almost decided to give up because it's like, what's the point? Because we don't want to produce eggs with birds inside.
‘‘But then with a year like this, and last year there was hardly anything. You feel a bit more confident. It's like, oh, it's going to be fine again. But, it's a risk. Now, they're talking about vaccinations available for bird flu, and there are really, really promising results. And although we know that not all our customers necessarily agree with it, it might help us to keep our birds outside. Because if vaccinating our birds means we can have them outside, then we will go down that route because for us, it's much more important that they that they go outside.
‘‘Other than that, there's very little you can do other than making sure that you have really healthy birds with a very good immune system. If you have very weak birds, it affects them quite quickly. And that's what we have seen over the last year. I think over two million birds have been slaughtered on one farm, which had 1.6 million birds. All caged birds. Wild birds get it, they transmit it. To have a caged bird producer where there's absolutely no contact with outside birds get it. It just means that the birds are very susceptible to it.’’
Egg myths explained
When did we decide that egg yolks have to be bright orange?
The myth that bright orange yolks equals high welfare is a strong one to combat, especially when chefs and food writers insist on using them. The shade of a yolk is determined by the level of carotenoids in the hen’s diet. Feed, and colour can be manipulated using additives such as calendula petals, alfalfa meal, marigold extract, or paprika. The colour isn’t an indicator of health or quality but it does look rather nice.
Brown eggs are healthier
Once upon a time there were very few brown eggs and all available eggs were white, just as they still are in many countries including the USA. Then somehow, in the 1970’s thanks to stories, and robust marketing, brown eggs were seen as healthier, closer to the countryside, and it’s only recently that white eggs have been seen again in shops. No egg colour makes it healthier. An egg will be more nutritious if the hen that laid it has been allowed to roam around outside in the sunshine, scratching for insects.
Coloured eggs are tastier
The colour of an egg shell is down to the breed. There is no difference in the taste. Different breeds will lay eggs in a rainbow of browns, white and pastel shades including this rather fetching plum colour. I urge you to click on this link from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and hold yourself back from ordering one of each.
We need to wash eggs.
Freshly laid eggs have a shell covered in a protective ‘bloom’, called the cuticle, and this acts as an antibacterial defence system.
The washing process is thought to “aid the transfer of harmful bacteria like salmonella from the outside to the inside of the egg.” It also removes the protective bloom. And that’s why American washed eggs need to be kept refrigerated and UK eggs don’t. American eggs would be illegal in the UK, and vice versa.
Rookery Farm sell their organic eggs at Notting Hill farmers market in London and at various retailers around London and the South-East. They are accredited and audited by Laid in Britain, but also by Organic Farmers & Growers. They have around 12,000-16,000 hens on their farm.
Because they’re selling direct to the consumer, they can bring their misshape eggs to market. As they say;
‘‘Some egg shells are a bit tarnished or dirty, or simply an odd or unusual shape – maybe they are bumpy or rather thin. However, there is no difference in taste or nutritional value between any of these and Class A eggs’’
Misshaped are cheaper than the grade A eggs and always sell out first.
What happens to hens when they stop laying?
Rookery Farm says;
‘‘On most commercial laying farms the hens will be kept until 72 weeks of age and then sent for slaughter.
They are used for pet food and soups amongst other things. The reason they are not kept longer is because by this stage there are far too many eggs that are not grade A (predominantly due to weak shells), which means it is not commercially viable to keep them any longer.
We generally keep our hens much longer than 72 weeks, partly because we still do the collecting and packing by hand, and when we do need to move the hens on, we work with the following charities to re-home them : Chicken Rescue UK, Fresh Start and occasionally the British Hen Welfare Trust.
If they cannot be re-homed, then we do have to send them for slaughter but it is a last resort for us.’’
At Orchard Eggs in East Sussex, Daniel tells me:-
‘‘We re-home quite a few of our hens, but we can't re-home all of them. We are very picky in the people that we re-home to because we found that when we were just offering the birds for re-homing, 60% died within the first month of being re-homed because people can't keep them safe. It's the fox or the dog or whatever. Now we are making sure that people who want to re-home birds have the whole set up. They have to keep it safe. They have to do an interview with us.
‘‘Our other birds go to a local slaughterhouse where all the meat of the birds is used for human consumption. We are hoping that in the very near future, we can do that ourselves here on the farm. We do all the transport to make sure there is minimal as possible stress. Obviously it's not nice to send birds to a slaughterhouse, but that's the reality at the end of the day of egg production. We do it all ourselves to make sure that no one else comes in and handles them roughly. And it's a small journey. If we do it on the farm, that journey is pretty much non-existent. And we think we can have a fantastic product to sell alongside our eggs.’’
Orchard Eggs currently have around 5,000 hens on the farm, producing around 4,200 eggs a day. They’re small compared with most organic egg farms. Daniel says; ‘‘nowadays for organic production they're talking about a minimum of 30,000 chickens to make it financially sustainable for free range production.’’
The hens and cockerels are housed in mobile homes that are moved each cycle. Daniel remarks:-
‘‘Normally a cycle of chicken is 72 weeks in a conventional industry of which around 50 weeks the birds lay and that's it. And then they go to the slaughterhouse. For us, we keep our birds a lot longer. Minimum is kind of 100 weeks and beyond that to 120 weeks.
‘‘After each cycle, the whole houses are cleaned and moved to a new spot and then new birds go in.’’
Daniel and Karen keep their birds in natural light and don’t push production using artificial day light to encourage their birds to lay.
‘‘It's much easier on the birds and they produce when they want rather than being forced to produce, which means they lay slightly below peak production, but they lay over a longer period of time. It's much more gentle on the birds rather than being pushed and seen as egg producing animals or machines. We see them as a bird that actually has a life; that they produce eggs is very nice for us. ‘‘
What happens to male chicks?
In-ovo sexing technology allows the sex of the egg to be identified before the chick can feel pain and it is estimated that implementing this technology in the UK would add less than the cost of 1p per egg.10
At Orchard Eggs, Daniel is clear;
‘‘We don't kill any cockerels on the farm. We buy our chickens as day olds and we also purchase cockerels alongside them and rear them alongside their hens on the farm. We can't purchase equal amounts of cockerels and hens because equal amounts of cockerels will just fight, so we have the ratio of one cockerel to twenty-five hens and that works really well.
‘‘They do get euthanized which is pretty much the same for every other producer including people who have chickens in their backyard; they would only buy the hens; they will leave the cockerels.
‘‘We are hoping that in the next couple of years we are actually able to purchase equal amounts of hens and cockerels and rear all the cockerels alongside our hens but we're not quite quite there yet. The cockerels will then be used or sold as a roasting bird.’’
Daniel and Karen originally began with a request for manure for the Brambletye orchard. As he tells me:-
‘‘Stein needed the nutrients and was looking for manure. So rather than buying in manure, if it could be produced on the farm itself, that was an opportunity to get started with chickens. That shows the holistic approach. To try to be self-sustainable is a big part of it.
‘‘Environmentally friendly production, and animal welfare were two things that were really important for us. We only wanted to farm biodynamically because that was what we believed in and wouldn't farm any other way.
‘‘The difference in production is very, very different. We have small chicken houses on the farm which are there to make sure that the manure is spread evenly throughout the orchard. But also to give the chickens as much freedom as possible. Rather than keeping lots of chickens in one house, which is very easy to do and very economical and very little labour, we have eight houses throughout the whole orchard.
‘‘The chickens and the orchard work together. That's the aim; that we create a symbiosis between the fruit production and the chickens and integrated in the vegetable production as well. All production systems working together to create one farm organism that supports each other in the production and trying to minimize inputs.’’
The eggs are currently organic certified.
‘‘The eggs are organic certified, but produced on a certified biodynamic farm, completely by the biodynamic standards, with the exception of the feed intake. ‘‘
Daniel and Karen rely on a supply of the required locally produced feed, but having lost one of their biodynamic farmers, they don’t have the supply to meet the 70% criteria.
‘‘The feed intake does contain biodynamic feed ingredients, just not enough to satisfy that 70% as a minimum.’’
How do they compare their production with other organic, or free range producers?
‘‘Normally, most organic eggs are produced in sheds of around 6,000 birds. And from those 6,000 birds, I would imagine anywhere between 20% and maybe 60% goes outside. So 80% to 40% will always stay inside. For us, 99% of the chickens go outside. You always have the one that just doesn't want to. Because they're stubborn. We also have cockerels with our hens. They're reared alongside our hens. The cockerels guide the hens outside, roaming around in the orchards. The cockerels help the hens feel safe outside so they go much further. They utilize the outdoor space they have much more.
‘‘We have a lot more square metres of outside space than the 10 feet of the minimum requirement. The birds can pick up a lot of insects, herbs, grass, sprouts, whatever they can find outside. Fallen fruit; it very much depends on the season. They find a large portion of their diet outside, very environmentally friendly.
‘‘Hen welfare is much, much higher because all the chickens go outside. You don't have a group of chickens that stay inside, in a small space. And obviously they have the fresh air, there's no issues with ammonia or feather pecking.
‘‘If you compare that to free range, it's a completely different world. With free range maybe between 5% and 20% of the chickens actually go outside. A lot of people think free range, all the chickens go outside and they all are happy outside. And most of the time that's not the case. You do have small farms where that does happen. Probably 90% or even more of free range eggs are produced in massive sheds. Minimum of 9,000 birds often, going up to 40,000- 60,000 birds in a shed, where most of them actually never even go outside and they're being packed inside. And although there is mechanical ventilation, there's normally a lot more feather pecking, cannibalism and stress on the birds. Whereas if you see our birds, I think most people will agree that they're pretty stress free and just enjoying running around the orchards.
‘‘Pretty much all of them go out. They don't like heavy rain, but a little rain, when all the worms come up, they love that. When it's warmer and you get a little bit of rain, they don't care. They just go out, they don’t mind the cold at all. Even in the winter, they're just outside our houses.
‘‘When the birds start producing, they have access 24-7 outside. All our fields are fenced up. So in the summer, normally half an hour before it's light, they're already outside. They really only use their houses to roost, to shelter and to lay the eggs and where we feed and water them. The chicken houses are only to give this shelter. They're not very fancy, luxurious houses.’’
Orchard Eggs are known for bringing trays of pullet eggs to market. Do customers understand hens have a cycle, or what pullet eggs are?
‘‘We're trying to educate customers so they do understand how egg production works. A lot of people are curious; they live in the city and there's very little contact with farming and generally speaking most people don't quite know how farming works. Our pullet eggs have a little story to explain what they are and why they're being produced11 and we're also very open, so if customers want to come to the farm and see the chickens that's absolutely fine and if they have questions we're always able to answer. There's a lot of direct contact between the customer and ourselves as the producer. We can actually give the correct answer and the right answer because we know what we do.’’
They’ve been trying for years to bring the chicken slaughtering in house. Behind us when we meet is a huge barn, currently used for storage, just waiting for the right grant to come along to make it work. Daniel wants to make chicken stock, bone broth for Stein to take to markets.
‘‘Then people can buy a jar with all the goodness inside, quite concentrated, which I think makes much more sense. So we're hoping that's the aim, but we'll see.’’
Daniel and Karen feel they reached a balance ten years ago where the hens were producing enough manure for the orchards. They don’t want to break the farm balance, and keeping the integrity of what they’re doing is important. They’re happy keeping their egg production small scale.
Daniel smiles;
‘‘We don’t want to grow. From a business perspective it would make sense to grow but we're not here to just make profits, we want to make sure that what we do is is balanced and that the chickens work within the the organism that we have created.’’
How much would you pay for your eggs?
Ethical Consumer found that the cheapest high welfare Soil Association or Biodynamic organic eggs were Stonegate Estate, then Orchard Eggs. Riverford, and Waitrose Duchy Organic, 58p per egg. They say ‘that’s only 10p more than the best-selling free range brand, Happy Eggs. Five of the eight Organic Farmers and Growers brands are cheaper than Happy Eggs.’
Seek out eggs from farmers you trust at farmers markets where you may be able to buy misshapes. Orchard Eggs are sold at farmers markets in London, and at retailers in London and the South-East of England.
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Compassion in World Farming, report on Polish egg market 21.01.25
Egg Info UK
Pullet eggs are laid by young hens (pullets), under a year old and are smaller than average eggs. Other than farmers markets or direct from farmers you’re unlikely to find them in supermarkets.