I mentioned in my last post that we drove past a farm with a few dozen dilapidated old caravans. Turns out it wasn’t the caravan graveyard that we had at first thought it was. The old caravans have been re-purposed to serve as hen houses for several thousand red hens.

We purchased a dozen eggs from the farm gate. Inside the carton was the following clever little note:

Hi.It’s Freeda here, (you know Freeda Roam)

Well, you think we’ve not been busy enough recently with the Nannup Flower Festival running over five weeks this year and the school holidays with all the extra traffic passing by our farm here at Out ‘n’ About eggs. As egg production Manager, yes, I have finally been made permanent (about time I say) I’ve had to keep the girls in order and at peak laying levels to meet all of our extra orders. Now it has come down from the “big house” that if we see cars stopping at the farm and people standing at the fence and looking at us (I call it gawking)we have to go over closer to them so they can take a nice photo. That’s alright for us older girls, we just wander over as we are, though it is pretty hard to smile when you have a beak. The younger girls, nooooo! They have to have a quick dust bath and preen themselves so that every feather is in its place, then run around looking for mulberries that have dropped over the fence to put a bit of colour on their beaks, then they go and strut their stuff clucking and cooing. What a sight.you would think they were doing a photo shoot for the “Poultry Weekly” magazine. Anyway, till next time, Freeda.

Freeda, it was a pleasure to see you and the girls with plenty of room to roam, and all the neat little caravans to keep you and the girls warm and snug at night.

I’ve heard many stories of so called free range eggs, stories that suggest the hen’s living conditions aren’t a lot better than caged, battery hens. Apparently the Out ‘n’ About hens are allocated a hectare of land for every 400 chooks, and I can tell you, they looked like pretty happy little chooks. There are several small retail outlets near me who stock their eggs, and as I have now seen with my own eyes that these hens are truly Freeda roam, I know where I can now buy my eggs with a completely clear conscience. I’m happy about that!