Burnbrae Farms Free Range Eggs

Dear Burnbrae Farms,

How are your free run eggs different from your organic (free range) eggs? How are the eggs kept separate from each other, and from the caged-hen eggs (omega 3, etc)? Finally, can consumers visit the farms which supply these eggs?

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Hello Kristina,

Thank you for writing us at Burnbrae Farms with your questions.

A free run egg is from hens that are free to roam in large open-concept barns that are equipped with nests and perches. A free range barn means the hens are allowed access to the outdoors, weather and environmental conditions permitting. This type of barn is more common on the west coast where the weather will allow them to have access to the outdoors. Just to let you know that free run and free range hens eat the same feed as regular hens which is a multi-grain diet that includes wheat, corn, soy and barley.

All Organic eggs come from Free Range hens and the only difference is that their feed is grown on land that has had no herbicides, pesticides or preservatives used on it in three years.

Also, hens that produce our omega-3 eggs for example are kept separate from the hens that produce our Organic eggs etc. and when they are shipped to our grading stations they are kept separate and washed and packed at different times on the line.

Unfortunately, we do not allow consumers to visit our farms (for safety and security reasons) but we would invite you to visit the following link on the Ontario Farm Animal Council’s website http://www.farmissues.com/virtualTour/en/index.html which will allow you view our different types of farming systems for raising layer hens (Conventional, free run and free range barns). The link is also available from our website under Social Responsibility/Animal Welfare.

I hope this helps to answer your questions.

Sincerely,

Katherine Berenhaut
Burnbrae Farms Ltd.
www.burnbraefarms.com