Elgin

At Elgin Free Range Chickens, our practices are grounded in our principles.
We work with nature, not against it, to give our birds the best quality of life. Quality is at the heart of everything we do. From the very beginning, we’ve been committed to giving our birds a good quality of life. That’s why we’ve been South Africa’s most-trusted free range chicken producer for over 20 years. We are currently the leading exclusively free range chickens supplier in the country, because to us, free range is a lifestyle, not a label.

To us, being authentically free range means more than just free-roaming. Our chickens are free from stress, and free to behave naturally. They’re also raised on a high quality, maize-based diet that’s free from routine antibiotics, animal by-products, and growth promoters. This keeps our chickens and their immune systems healthy, the natural way.

We only feed our chickens a natural, all-grain diet. We never add routine antibiotics, animal by-products, fish-meal or growth promoters (AGPs) to our chickens’ diet. Instead, we feed our birds a nutritional grain-based diet that boosts their immune systems naturally. This is supplemented by daily foraging for bugs, seeds, berries, and nibbles of plants. Our chickens are raised without abnormal discomfort. We ensure that our chickens always have enough space to roam, peck, and preen comfortably. We have a strict maximum bird density per square metre in our chicken houses, and at least double the space for them to forage in the fresh air during the day. Our chickens are free to roam outdoors. Unlike commercial chickens that are kept in environmentally-controlled houses, our chickens are given a healthy dose of Vitamin D by spending each day in real sunshine and fresh air. We also make sure they have plenty of bushes for perching, shade, and shelter. Our chickens are free to behave naturally. Our chickens are given grass ranges to roam, peck, and dust-bathe which helps them preen and maintain their features, soothes their skin, and cools them down on hot days. We also ensure that they have at least 6 hours of continuous darkness at night so that they get adequate rest. During this time, no bright lights are allowed to be turned on around the chicken houses.