[FahransFeathers]

Hi everyone,
looking to begin my journey into proper full scale  egg production officially rather than by the farm gate to a local restaurant/pub near me in wales.
what sort of requirements do i have to meet and do i have to do anything legally other than notify APHA about having more than 50 chickens, currently I've only got 6 but i used to have a poultry business in the north east where i bred and sold chickens, chicks, rare breed poultry and eggs from the gate. I used to have about 180 or so.
Do I have to meet a certain number requirement in terms of total number of chickens to be classed as commercial and be able to do this? We plan on doing a mix of hatching and buying in POL birds and having them at the moment indoors with the plan to "free range" once bird flu is over.
In regards to hatching can someone tell me what size brooder space would 50-100 chicks need and then eventual outdoor space? i only ever did small number hatches e.g 12-20 at a time previously.
do i have to have any sort of licensing, do i have to salmonella test them, or vaccinate them? can you get vaccines as a small business and is it expensive??

I know i have a lot more questions but currently i can't remember them all so just trying to do a little research here and have a look through other forums and also online and via youtube and other blog sources.

Thanks for if you've read this far , really appreciate it!

Fahran x

[doganjo]

Don't want to rain on your parade but I doubt bird flu will go away any time soon. So, sadly, proper full scale free range is a thing of the past I think.

From memory all eggs for sale other than at the farm gate have to be date stamped, maybe even those too, although I think friends and family are exempt

Other than that I can't help I'm afraid as I only have a few hens, but good luck with whatever you decide to do

[FahransFeathers]

Hi ,
Yes I'm aware bird flu might never totally go away hence why im going to be building an indoor 60ft x 60ft barn for them when i am able to find a contractor to do so but i know they'll be able to free range at some point this year so im hoping for the best outcome for everyone. its such a shame that they have to be kept in although i know its for their safety and health, they look so wonderful out in the long grass and being free. Mine are starting to fight more with being confined and i know my cockerel isn't appreciating me getting into his "space" just to feed everyone and get the eggs.

I've read about date stamping which i can do, and i do believe i have to register as both a packing facility and processing unit too.

thankyou i appreciate you trying to give some advice!

[Backinwellies]

you said you aim to supply A local resaurant ........  might be putting 'all your eggs in one basket'..... as the saying goes ......  what if they stop buying your eggs?  do they know eggs are not an all year round constant suppy? ... 
think about how you can sell enough to cover all the costs .... feed has doubled in price ... your local resaurant may be used to seeing £1  a half on local gates and similar in super markets .... which I think is probably half what it cost to produce these days especially with birds indoors full time....  can you sell at a price high enough to make a profit?

not trying to be a kill joy just a few important questions to think through.

[Perris]

If you want to sell to shops, restaurants, etc. you have to get a producer number from APHA and to grade you need a packer number from the same, and approval from your local authority as a food business, which means complying with HACCP and a few other things. Sounds much more difficult than it actually is. All you need to know is here
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eggs-trade-regulations
or by following links from that page