Award-winning Scottish egg producer reveals secrets
“You get out what you put in†says Ayrshire farmer Jim Smillie, winner of a prestigious egg quality award for the second consecutive year.
With eggs that had the best weight, yolk colour, shell thickness and shell colour, Jim and his wife Anne took the top prize in the 2007 Scottish Egg Quality Awards’.
The winning eggs came from a flock of free-range Hyline hens that were 37-weeks old, peaked at 96% production and were fed on ABN’s feed ration F710 (supergold 10).
The Smillies believe that the high quality of their eggs is due to the quality of the chickens they buy in; Jim’s own husbandry; and good feeding.
Jim and Anne started with a small flock of 800 birds at Corrie Mains Farm in 1996. They later expanded to 13,000 laying hens, as well as a number of ducks, quail, geese and rheas.
The couple is now re-locating two miles up the road from Corrie Mains to a 65-acre site, where all their chickens will be free-range. They supply eggs to regional food retailers and local primary schools, as well as on their regular Corrie Mains’ farmers market stall in Glasgow, Paisley and Ayrshire.
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