Deans honour top earning flocks

Six free range producers with the highest earning flocks have once again been honoured by Deans at the packer’s annual producer roadshows.

Selecting the winners is based on the total value of eggs sent to Deans over the life of the flock, explained contract supplies manager John Holt.

“This takes into account the number of eggs, level of seconds and egg weight based on the grading profile,” said Mr Holt. “It is a very accurate reflection of a flock’s earning capacity.”

The grading results are converted to £ per bird using a standard price. This is the prevailing Deans free range price at the time of the calculation (for this year, that was prior to the recent 2p drop).

“A further calculation is then made to take into account any variation in depletion age and all the flocks are adjusted to 72 weeks,” said Mr Holt. All the winners received a ’Deans Egg Cup’ and a bottle of champagne.


Out of the six regional results the highest ranking flock belonged to Barry and Debbie Parker who farm in Buckinghamshire, where they keep a total of 10,400 birds split into five Liberty mobiles.

The winning flock was housed in three of these buildings and was the Parkers’ first flock of Lohmann Tradition.

Barry told the Ranger that the birds peaked at 95% and a combination of egg numbers and high egg weight boosted flock income.

“The egg weight of the Tradition is unbelievable,” says Barry, who has replaced the flock with another batch.

“In fact we’ve let it get too high with our current flock because we are still learning how to manage the bird.”

According to Barry, the present flock were underweight when they were housed and he held them back to delay the start of lay.

“I realise now that was a mistake and the result is we have sixty week old birds laying eggs with an incredible 72.5 gram egg weight.


”The birds seem to be able to handle it but it has meant our seconds are higher than we would like to see.”

Despite this, Barry believes the flock is still on target to match the financial yield of the winning birds.

Like a growing number of producers, Barry is convinced that his flocks benefit from developing a good ranging habit.

“If the weather conditions are right we will let the birds out as young as seventeen weeks. Every hour they are inside is an hour where they have the opportunity to feather peck,” says Barry. “If I can go into the shed in the afternoon when the birds have finished laying and the place is deserted I’m more than happy.”

Barry describes his sixty week old birds as looking very good—about 98 per cent feather cover he estimates—and is now embarking on a tree planting programme to encourage future flocks to range even further from the house.