www.virtualfarm...
Caring for the hens takes a lot of hard work. In this video, you'll learn about Henk and Jennie's daily routine which starts long before many of us are even awake. They'll explain some of their chores - from gathering the eggs twice a day to walking the barns to check on the birds four times a day.
Transcript:
Henk: We have roughly 7,400 laying hens -- organic laying hens. The average time when we start is roughly 6:30 or 7 o'clock in the morning. Every day, I walk roughly about four or five times during the day through the chickens and check everything. One of the important things that I check for four or five times is the water lines to make sure that the chickens have enough water.
Jennie: Water quality is really important for the chickens -- that they have clean, fresh water every day. We drink the same water. The water is tested twice a year.
Henk: I'm also checking the feed lines to ensure there's enough feed in the lines. Feed comes to the barn through an auger system from bins outside. The bins contain organic feed -- a combination of corn, soybeans and barley and soy oil. One of the most important things when I walk through the barn is that my chickens look content and healthy. In a free range barn like this one, the hens lay their eggs in nesting boxes. The hens arrive here at 18 weeks of age.
Jennie: It takes a little while for the hens when they come in the barn first to learn how to use the nesting boxes because they grow up on a farm where they don't have nesting boxes but in about two weeks they know how to use them and where to lay their eggs. Most hens lay their eggs in the morning so the nests are open all day throughout the day and then they are closed at night.
Henk: We gather the eggs two times a day. In the morning it takes roughly one hour and in the afternoon it takes roughly one and a half hours. Once the eggs are collected and sorted, they are stored in the cooler until the truck comes to pick them up once a week.