What the cluck!

When our guests arrive at Roxedge, they will often find nestling in their welcome hamper, a box of our own eggs. Anyone who knows me well, will also know that I absolutely love my hens. The way waddle, the way they run up the garden to see me and there beautiful inquisitive natures.

We now have a collection of 6 hens, all with their own personalities and they all pretty much lay an egg a day, and I know my girls well enough to figure out which hen laid which egg.

RoxEggs - See what we did there!

So what's the issue?

Recently, a guest staying with us at Roxedge, didn't use the eggs we supplied, but instead, purchased eggs from the supermarket. And it made me realise that for many people, we have lost the connection between the animal and the food they produce.

There is so much fear and uncertainty around the safety of food, and this is often compounded by the media. For instance - many of you may remember Edwina Currie's misplaced salmonella statement in 1988, that led to a 60% drop in egg sales, and the needless destruction of 400 million eggs and the slaughter of 4 million hens.

This led to the Red Lion stamp on supermarket eggs - and a unique number stamped on the shell, to show that the egg is safe and traceable. In practice this means that the eggs have come from a salmonella free flock.

Any responsible hen owner will make sure that the hens that they have are salmonella free. Including those like us, who ensure that our hens are fully vaccinated and healthy. So from a safety concern, our eggs are just as safe as supermarket or shop bought eggs. However, there is still a difference, and not all eggs are created equal!

Freshness. Eggs from supermarkets can be up to 60 days old and still sold as "fresh". Why? well the "sell by clock" only starts ticking when the eggs are put into the boxes, and not when the eggs are laid. The egg supplier has up to 30 days to put the eggs into boxes ready to be shipped to the shop. After this, the supermarket or shop then has another 30 days to sell the eggs. And can still market them as fresh!

Mrs Escobar, our Columbian Blacktail

The eggs in our house rarely last a week before being gobbled up, and typically the eggs we box up for Roxedge are around 2 - 3 days old. (It's always better to leave an egg a day or so, simply because a very freshly laid egg is difficult to peel if it's hard boiled.)

Nutritional Value. Not All eggs are created equal! Happy free ranging hens will invariably produce better eggs. Don't take my word for it. Cambridge University compared eggs from your typical supermarket with free ranging happy chickens and the results were quite astonishing,

Happy totally free ranging hens eggs will typically contain:

• 25 percent more vitamin E

• 75 percent more beta carotene

• As much as 20 times the amount of Omega-3 fatty acids.

• Half as much cholesterol

• Significantly less saturated fat

Also a whole lot less guilt, knowing that the eggs on your plate were created lovingly for

you by the happiest girls in the neighbourhood, who avidly follow me around the garden in case I manage to unearth a treat whilst I'm digging or weeding.

From L to R. Yin, Yang, Ophelia,Mrs Escobar, Scully, Yondu

So, on behalf of Yin, Yang, Ophelia, Mrs Escobar, Scully & Yondu, we say thank you for reading and appreciating the effort that they go through in producing the beautiful eggs you find in the Roxedge hamper.