Josh's Rainbow Eggs

An interview with Josh

Gift eggs here! Your gift will feed a family in need...

Each week we send our fresh ethical eggs directly to the Foodbank, in Yarraville, where they are distributed around Victoria. Please help us meet our goal of 125,000 meals this year.
PLUS...
for every dozen eggs you give, Josh will donate a half-dozen!

$14
provides a family with eggs for 3 weeks

$28
provides a family with eggs for 6 weeks

$49
provides 2 families with eggs for 6 weeks

$98
provides 3 families with eggs for 9 weeks

Choose one of the suggested recurring amounts, or if you prefer, add in your own amount... or even a one-off... every Dollar helps!

And remember... for every dozen eggs you give - Josh will donate a half-dozen!

We have already donated over 80,000 eggs!

Ethical... local... fresh eggs

We have called our eggs ethical eggs because we believe we are raising our hens in a way that allows them to do all the things that hens love to do. To understand what makes a management system ethical, we believe we need to look at the ability of the hen to express its innate behaviours, to express its true chicken-ness!

We believe there are five main behaviours that make a chicken happy.

Hens love to forage. They spend most of their day voraciously scratching for bugs, worms, seeds, anything tasty hiding under the mulch or in the soil.
Hens love to dustbathe everyday. The dust helps them keep away any parasites that crawl under their feathers.
Hens love to roost. As their wild ancestors came from the jungles of South America, it is no wonder they are happiest high up in a tree or on the top perch.
Hens love to sun themselves. As they stretch out a leg and a wing, the excess heat dislodges feather parasites and allows the hen to remove it when preening.
Hens will seek out a dark secluded spot to make themselves a nest and lay their eggs.

Our farming system includes mobile sheds that house relatively small flocks. In our eggmobiles there are usually between 800-1500 hens and in the French chalets there are 1700-2000 hens. Because the flocks are small the hens can come and go from the chalet or eggmobile very easily. It is a place for them to sleep and to lay an egg. Sometimes if it rains they go inside. Essentially the hens live outside. The eggmobiles and chalets are moved across the paddock so the impact of the hens on the pasture is reduced. This allows us to rest certain parts of the paddock and also helps to spread the manure and therefore help the grass to grow more vigorously.

Our farms

Kerrie

This is our home and the original home of Josh’s Eggs. The farm is nestled in the Kerrie Valley surrounded by seven hills. We have 120 acres with six fox-proof paddocks. We started with hens here in 2008, and learned heaps from our mistakes. We now have a small flock of hens, 70 dorper sheep, 9 dairy cows and vegetable and fruit gardens that provide virtually all our food.

Romsey

This is a large 250 acre farm 5 minutes from our home where we have our hens. The land is flatter and the sky is infinite, we get the most amazing sunsets and sunrises. It is very different from the forested hills we live among. It is easier to have hens here as they have so much space to forage in. We have some help during the week, however on weekends and holidays the family collects all the eggs and does the daily chores.

Our growers

One of the hardest things about managing an egg farm for us is making sure we have enough eggs to meet our customers’ needs all year round. This is especially challenging when we are rotating flocks. We have dealt with this issue by sourcing eggs from growers we know and trust. We have visited their farms and seen their operation. Consistency of supply is an important part of being a good egg brand. Our growers farms are all within 100kms of our farm, so we ensure our eggs are local and fresh.