What makes Oakstream Pasture Raised Eggs different?

All of our chickens are supplemented with exclusively organic feed which does not contain Soy, GMOs or any colourants to make the yolks appear artificially orange.

The vast majority of poultry feed provides the farmer with options on how "orange" they want the yolks to be. The deep rich orange typically found in most commercial eggs is actually a result of either chemical or marigold extract added to the feed - not the result of a diverse diet rich in beta-carotene found in green leaves of pasture. We believe in being fully transparent and pure in our farming methods, and the colour of the yolks will only ever be a true representation of our hens' diets.

Soy is by far the worlds most popular plant-based protein source, used heavily in animal feed. The vast majority of poultry feeds use soy as their main source of protein due to its high protein content. Soy however has oestrogen-mimicking compounds (phytoestrogens) which have been shown to adversely affect the hormonal systems of both animals and humans. We believe in producing the healthiest, most nutrient-dense food possible, and therefore avoid any soy in our feeds, ensuring both our animals and our produce are as healthy as possible.

Genetically Modified Organisms have been touted by some (those that created them!) as the future of farming. GMO's are crops which have had their genes spliced with components that allows them to display certain characteristics. The most popular of these are "round-up ready" meaning the plants have an in-built resistance to specific herbicides, pesticides and fungicides. This means the GMO crops can be sprayed liberally with chemicals to kill off competition, leaving only them and a few resistant weeds in the field. Inherently, GMOs will both uptake these chemicals in their tissues and carry a residue on the crop surface. GMO corn and soy for example will therefore be laden with chemicals that have no place in the food system, making their way into the chicken feed, into your eggs and meat and eventually you as the consumer.

Long term health effects of consuming GMOs is also unknown either for animals or humans. For this reason, we choose to exclude any form of GMOs in our animal feed.

Animal Husbandry

"Pasture Raised" is different from purely "Free Range" or even "Organic". We ensure our birds are genuinely raised on pasture during the growing season, by housing them in a mobile chicken coop that is moved twice a week onto fresh ground. This gives the chickens access to a fresh buffet of salad and bugs, providing them with a mineral and protein rich diet (not one that is depleted of goodness due to excessive exposure in conventional fixed-paddock systems). They have 24/7 access to their coop, but only use it to lay eggs and sleep in securely at night - the rest of the day they're actually out roaming the fields within the safety of an electric fence, absolutely enjoying life!

"Free Range" on a commercial scale (10,000 birds plus - not your local farmer with a few hundred hens) will house the thousands of chickens in a barn, keeping up to 9 birds to a square metre! The barn will have some pop-holes to give chickens "access" to a fixed paddock outside (itself likely completely devoid of any meaningful nutrition or insect life) but the vast majority of the chickens will never find their way outside due to the sheer size of the barns and the density at which they're stocked.

Smaller scale local farms will typically run much smaller flock sizes (sub 1,000) and provide plenty of space of chickens to actually be outside all day. The paddocks however in a traditional system free range are usually fixed and the birds may be rotated once or twice a season, depending on the farm - these eggs won't be found in the supermarkets!

"Organic" systems on a commercial scale operate similar to a free range system, but allocating more space per bird (6 hens per square metre indoors) and are capped at 3,000 per flock. They are also required to eat organic feed. This feed can contain soy and yolk-enhancing colourants as standard. Some of the birds may still not make it to the outdoors despite having "access" as the flock size can still make it restrictive for a population of the flock to actually get outside. Their outdoor paddock, being a fixed space is quickly depleted of meaningful nutrition and bugs meaning the hens that do access it get less benefit as the season progresses, and have continual exposure to their own manure in such a setting.

At Oakstream Pastures, we rotate our flock of 300 birds on a total of 15,000 square metres within a 10 week period - that gives each bird 50m squared of fresh forage and insects over that time! They are rotated in paddocks of just under a sixth of an acre, moving twice a week. This ensures we direct their impact effectively enough that the pasture regenerates even better for them the next time they visit (no sooner than 72 days). Their manure is digested by the soil life, feeding it, growing it and enabling the pasture to grow stronger, more nutrient dense plants. This gives the animals an even better quality of feed for their next round, whilst promoting higher densities of soil and insect life for the chickens to feast on.