Celeb Scoop with Dick and Angel Strawbridge • Competition
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Issue No.20 Autumn/Winter 2018 Welfare and Food Together • Celeb sCoop with Dick and Angel Strawbridge • Mouthwatering British Hen Welfare Day cakes! • Competition - WIN one of five feed bundles! • We talk hidden eggs with Jamie and Jimmy Inside this issue P6 Eggy News – How feathers are helping tackle plastic pollution. P8 Breggsit – How our exit from the EU could affect the egg industry. P11 Chicken Chat – find out more about the UK’s three Chief Veterinary Officers and their priorities. P17 British Hen Welfare Day – try and stop your mouth watering when you see these free range bakes! P18 Who's helping who? Our feathered friends are providing their owners with more than just fresh eggs. P21 Competition time! Not one, not two, but FIVE chances to win a fab feed bundle. * P23 Hidden Eggs Campaign Find out who’s helping us turn processed foods free range. High in Protein P30 Celeb sCoop Picture yourself escaping to the chateau in our interview * with Dick and Angel Strawbridge. Rich in Vitamin D P34 Recipe This juicy blueberry and hazelnut cobbler is perfect for cosy nights in front of the TV. P44 Shopping time! Christmas is nearing, so check out our brand new range of gorgeous Christmas homewares and stocking fillers. Contact Us British Hen Welfare Trust Hen Nutrition Queries? Hope Chapel, Rose Ash BHWT Careline South Molton Tel: 01362 822904 Devon, EX36 4RF Email: bhwtcareline@ smallholderfeed.co.ukChicken & Egg. Welfare and Food Together. Tel: 01884 860084 Email: [email protected] Company No: 8057493 Web: www.bhwt.org.uk Registered Charity No: 1147356 *Happy eggs are high in protein which contributes to growth and maintenance of muscle mass and maintenance of normal bones. Happy eggs are naturally rich in vitamin D which contributes to the maintenance of bones, teeth and immune system function. Chicken & Egg. Welfare and Food Together. 3 What you feed your little soldiers, starts with what you Dear feed your hens. Supporters The September sunshine signalling the arrival of autumn is all the more special when you have five newly adopted waifs huddling together to soak up the warmth. It’s been a huge joy to watch my new family members blossom, and my resident We care about the type of ingredients used in our feeds, and we think you should too. Not only do flock has been surprisingly gracious in sharing their apple orchard and hen house ... we use the highest quality ingredients, but we’re also very careful to leave out quite a lot of other so far anyway! things which don’t meet our high standards. This edition is packed! We review how Brexit may impact on the eggs we eat and the Which is why our Natural Free Range Layers Pellets and Crumble are now Soya Free. hens we love; we’ve got a fabulous interview with Dick and Angel Strawbridge who Natural Free Range Layers Pellets and Crumble manage to find time to keep a few hens whilst they renovate their fairytale French chateau, and we have a competition with five prizes from Feathers & Beaky. Supporting British Farmers - reducing food miles, wherever possible Following on from recent work we’ve done with DEFRA and cross-government E NO N TH -G equivalents, we were delighted to interview the UK’s three Chief Veterinary Officers to 3 Nutritionally balanced with added Omega 3 M find out what they do to ensure poultry is kept safe in the UK. 3 Quality Non-GM Ingredients 3 Vegetarian Society Approved And, of course, we have cake! Well we couldn’t let British Hen Welfare Day pass by L without a nod to the fantastic bakes and cakes that were made in celebration and support A 3 Y Produced in our drug free mill E of our feathered friends. Well done, and thank you, to everyone who took part. RS FEED “Food for thought?” I hope you enjoy it all, let us know! Jane Howorth MBE Founder CALL US TODAY 01362 822 902 www.soya-free.co.uk Francesca Mapp - Production Jane Howorth - Editor The Idea Engine - Publisher Chicken & Egg. Welfare and Food Together. 5 Quote Ad Reference “Soya Free Soldiers” Babies in chicken Eggy outfits?!Yes please! News From feathers to plastic We’ve all seen news reports about the incredibly damaging effects of plastics on our planet, which is why we were rather pleased to read that chicken feathers are being used to combat the problem! A Spanish company is looking to make use of the 3.1m tonne of feathers produced by the European poultry industry every year by turning them Archie - Who's Archie?! into biodegradable plastics. Feathers currently end up in landfill or as low-grade animal Oops, we called little Arthur – Jane's feed, but, given they are 90% keratin, feathers could produce stronger and tear-resistant great nephew – Archie in the last edition plastics compared to starch or plant proteins. What clever chickens! This is Dominick Newland whose mum, of Chicken & Egg in what can only be Sam, is a volunteer for the BHWT in described as a clear-cut case of egg on Cornwall. We’ve a feeling young our face! We thought we’d post another Dominick may be roped into volunteering picture of Arthur, here with sister Millie, when those little legs are long enough... who both think Great Aunty Jane’s a silly Scrambled eggs old goose! in 90 seconds Did you You can use your hens’ egg shells as a calcium Iceland have launched a range of ‘ready-made’ supplement by drying them out, grinding them free range scrambled eggs for ‘inexperienced’ into a powder and mixing into chicken feed. students. The grab-and-go 250g pouch costs know? £1.50 and contains four eggs, a dash of milk and some seasoning. We’re of the opinion that fresh-from-the-garden eggs make for the best scrambled eggs ever, but hey, as long as they’re free range that’s fine by us! Find the Freezable eggs Golden Egg The winners of last issue’s Golden Egg competition Here’s a fab eggy tip from supporter Rod each bagged themselves a copy of Isabella Rosellini’s Pattinson, who told us: “Too many eggs? book, My Chickens and I. This time round we’re offering Get out your cup-cake or muffin tray, break out a 20kg bag of The Smallholder Range Layers Pellets an egg into each compartment and put it in to one lucky winner! the freezer. Tomorrow morning knock them out and store in a freezer bag. Just don’t try Simply find the Golden Egg among these pages and to thaw them out in the microwave when email the page number to [email protected] you need them!” before 30 November. 6 Chicken & Egg. Welfare and Food Together. Chicken & Egg. Welfare and Food Together. 7 Breggsit – what it means for the UK egg industry Brexit – we all know the However, Mr Hook argued that, even with an increase in wages, his company would literal meaning of the word, struggle to attract British workers. “We pay above the national minimum and national but dig below the surface living wage and we still can't get the and the waters are murky. people," he said. As current negotiations "The labour crisis, and not having those skilled permanent people available to constantly change, what us from the European Union, is a bigger might Brexit mean for threat to us as a business and industry than Avian Influenza. That is a fact." the egg industry? Mr Hook stated he had 50 to 60 vacancies across his business which he could not Concerns primarily centre around a labour fill. P D Hook Hatcheries supplies chicks shortage and food provenance, although to the broiler industry, but concerns have one chick supplier has gone further, also been expressed by the egg laying warning that Brexit poses a larger threat sector. At the last Egg and Poultry Industry to the UK poultry industry than Avian Conference the NFU’s chief poultry Influenza. adviser, Gary Ford, claimed access to labour was critical to businesses’ Speaking in a Panorama documentary survival. He claimed one business he Patrick Hook, director of P D Hook knew employed 240 staff, 80% of which Hatcheries, warned that a labour shortage were non-UK. arising from the UK leaving the European Union was a real threat to the food and farming industry. It has been reported that the effects of Brexit are already being felt with workers leaving to return home and businesses being unable to fill job vacancies. In response MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, a pro Brexiteer, insisted businesses should turn to the eight million ‘economically inactive’ people living in Britain, two million of whom say they wished to be in work. Jacob Rees-Mogg 8 Chicken & Egg. Welfare and Food Together. Chicken & Egg. Welfare and Food Together. 9 Chicken Chat One of the key objectives of the charity is to educate the public in matters pertaining to hen welfare and this year we’re pleased to have begun working collaboratively with Governments in England, Scotland and Wales to help improve the flow of information to hen keepers across the UK, especially during periods of heightened disease risk. To that end, we interviewed the three Chief Veterinary Officers about their priorities when it comes to poultry. ‘Egg imports must meet our own high The report also found that: standards’ Mark Williams, Chief Executive of the • 57% of shoppers would like to know where British Egg Industry Council, has recently the eggs in prepared food they purchase warned that the egg industry needs to come from be prepared for a ‘no-deal’ Brexit as it • More than half of shoppers were becomes more likely this may happen.