The last ice age cut curious shapes into the terrain of northeast Ireland, where vanished glaciers left behind small oval hills known as drumlins. The soil beneath tends to be heavy with clay, weakly structured and slow to drain, making it less than ideal for most forms of agriculture. Poultry, though, can literally have a field day on the grassy surface, which is exactly what they do at the two farms in counties Meath and Monaghan owned by shareholders of The Nest Box Egg Company.
The hens stay out there until evening, feeding on herbs specially planted to boost their nutrition profile – yarrow, ribgrass, green clover – before spending the night in spacious, well-ventilated barns. And the freerange, organic, Omega-3 eggs produced by those birds are thoroughly quality-tested before being packed and distributed to the shelves of proud stockists like Spinneys.
According to sales director Brian Eivers, his own mother was the first to think of diversifying into egg production on their family farm.
“She started with buying 150 hens back in 1985, and the business grew year on year thereafter.”
Northeast Ireland’s landscape provides ideal conditions for egg farming
Each egg contains a code for traceability
Eventually, the Eivers conjoined their efforts with the McGuinnesses, another Monaghan-based family with an even longer history in the egg trade – patriarch Paddy McGuinness had delivered those wares from a basket on his bike more than half a century ago.
As of 2023, Nestbox is now an international enterprise, and Mrs Eivers remains active on the farm. “She’s still very passionate about the welfare of the birds,” says Brian.
“When she goes into the hen houses she always wears the same jacket, so they recognise her and they’re comfortable around her. She’s just been so dedicated to free-range egg production in the country.” Healthy, all-vegetarian forage is just the first stage in a process now conducted under the auspices of the Organic Trust.
“Organic egg farming demands much higher levels in terms of production,” says Eivers. “You have to be on top of your game in understanding how your hens are feeling and what they need.”
The Eivers farms, as well as some 43 other regional farms that also supply Nestbox, are subject to some of the most stringent food standards in the world. The Irish food agency Bord Bia demands 22 checks on each egg – for leaks and cracks, weight, colour, shell quality etc.
Each egg undergoes 22 quality checks
Healthy, nutrient-rich forage directly contributes to brightly coloured yolks
When Brian and his brother were children they would do much of that work by hand (while they would rather have been playing football), spending the hours before and after school grading and weighing the eggs.
“We’d have to shine a light under each to make sure there was no cracks, and that the shell was clean. Those were chores we didn’t like in those days, but now we can see the huge value of that type of thing. And thankfully we don’t need to the checks physically any more, we have machines for it.”
Today, this is done at a newly built, state-of-the-art BRC-grade packing centre, where “every box is stamped with a code so one can trace the eggs from farm to fork, ensuring the highest standards are maintained across the supply chain”. The Eivers and their other suppliers also operate in full compliance with Bord Bia’s Sustainable Assurance Scheme and Origin Green programme
The former covers everything from flock sourcing to biosecurity and disease control, while the latter, says Brian, is the only such sustainability project in the world to operate at a national level: “Farmers, primary producers and retailers working together and leading the way to create a better future for all involved.”
In the immediate vicinity, the Nestbox operation, with its six organic egg producers, now provides a substantial income for farming families across Monaghan and into the neighbouring counties. The eggs themselves, meanwhile, are now distributed much further than Paddy McGuinness ever could have managed on his bike – packed and tracked in premium condition all the way to Dubai, among other places.
Quality and traceability, says Brian, are the core principles of the successful egg farmer. “That’s how we can provide our customer with peace of mind. When they open their pack, that they know where the provenance of the egg has come from.”
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