Poultry farm bumps up production following surge in sales
Welsh farm Rhug Estate is responding to increased customer demand for chicken by increasing production by 25% a week on its farm.
Rhug’s organic chickens on the farm near Corwen, Denbighshire, north Wales.
Poultry sales in the UK have seen a 9% growth during the first three months of this year, but this has been surpassed by a 27% increase in just the four weeks of April, according to Kantar.
Poultry saw almost a million more shoppers over the four-week period compared with last year and a 17% increase in trips, equating to 11.9 additional store visits.
Rhug Estate saw a surge in online customers since the pandemic, causing the farm’s chicken to be out of stock for a number of weeks during lockdown.
However, the owners installed three new chicken sheds to enable the farm to increase production by a quarter.
Lord Newborough, owner of Rhug Estate, said: “Demand for our organic chicken has outstripped supply from our farm, especially from online sales and wholesale customers during lockdown.
“It is reassuring to see that our customers are buying with their heart as our birds are hand-reared in small numbers with plenty of space to roam naturally on rich fertile pastures.”
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