How to Buy Organic Eggs: Pastured vs. Free Range Eggs
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If you read my blog regularly, you know I love eggs. We typically go through about 3-4 dozen eggs per week. Our little family consisting of 2 adults and one toddler.
Eggs are one of the most economical ways to increase the nutrients in your family’s diet. Eggs are full of vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin E, omega 3 fatty acids, beta carotene, cholesterol (which is good for you), and saturated fat (also good for you).
Why Pastured Eggs?
I don’t just buy any eggs. I only buy pastured eggs from local farmers who keep their chickens outdoors and let them roam around in the sun, eating bugs. I also only buy eggs from farmers who do not feed their chickens soy.
For years, I bought organic free range eggs. From what I had read, organic free range eggs were the best.
I knew supermarket eggs were bad. The chickens are crowded in cages. They don’t even have room to move or turn around. They’re pumped with antibiotics and fed genetically modified feed. They’re sick and very unhealthy — which is why it’s so common to find salmonella with factory farm chickens and eggs.
So I always bought “organic” “free range” eggs. It was about a year and a half ago that I discovered truly pastured eggs. The definition of “free range” or “cage free” is that they give the chickens “access to the outdoors”. What does that mean? Uh, nothing. Do they really go outside? No, usually not. They’re crowded into large, windowless sheds and they rarely ever go outside.
They may be “organic” and “cage free” but these are not truly healthy birds. Since they’re not given antibiotics, they are very susceptible to disease. The people who work at these “big organic” chicken farms have to wear cleanroom suits when they go in to visit the birds.
This is what a cleanroom suit looks like:
I ask you, folks, what’s wrong with this picture? Isn’t it a bit weird that farmers have to dress up like they’re working at a nuclear power plant?
The Homegrown Evolution blog posted these fabulous photos a while back in a brilliant post called An Open Letter to Trader Joe’s. They doctored a photo of an egg carton from Trader Joe’s to show how the chickens are really raised.
Here’s the egg carton before:
Don’t those chickens look happy? Pecking for worms in the sunshine, a red barn in the distance. Just like we remember from childhood storybooks.
Here’s the egg carton after:
There’s the guy in his cleanroom suit, the windowless shed, miles of green pasture all around without a chicken in sight! The true picture of “big organic” chicken farms. (If you want to read more about this, pick up a copy of Michael Pollan’s excellent book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”. You can read the chapter about “big organic” chicken farms, “Big Organic: Supermarket Pastoral” online.)
Here’s the thing: chickens need to be outdoors to get vitamin D from the sun. Chickens are also not vegetarians. You always see egg crates boasting a “vegetarian diet”. Guess what, folks? Chickens are supposed to eat bugs and worms. That’s where they are supposed to get their protein!
It was around that time that I discovered this article, Meet Real Free Range Eggs on the Mother Earth News website. They did a study in which they compared the nutrients in real pastured eggs to supermarket eggs.
Just look at these numbers! Compared to supermarket eggs (from factory farms), real pastured eggs have:
5 times more vitamin D
2/3 more vitamin A
2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
3 times more vitamin E
7 times more beta carotene
Click here to download the PDF with the results.
The Mother Earth News wasn’t the only one doing research on this. Check out all these other studies they cite:
In 1974, the British Journal of Nutrition found that pastured eggs had 50 percent more folic acid and 70 percent more vitamin B12 than eggs from factory farm hens.
In 1988, Artemis Simopoulos, co-author of The Omega Diet, found pastured eggs in Greece contained 13 times more omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids than U.S. commercial eggs.
A 1998 study in Animal Feed Science and Technology found that pastured eggs had higher omega-3s and vitamin E than eggs from caged hens.
A 1999 study by Barb Gorski at Pennsylvania State University found that eggs from pastured birds had 10 percent less fat, 34 percent less cholesterol, 40 percent more vitamin A, and four times the omega-3s compared to the standard USDA data. Her study also tested pastured chicken meat, and found it to have 21 percent less fat, 30 percent less saturated fat and 50 percent more vitamin A than the USDA standard.
In 2003, Heather Karsten at Pennsylvania State University compared eggs from two groups of Hy-Line variety hens, with one kept in standard crowded factory farm conditions and the other on mixed grass and legume pasture. The eggs had similar levels of fat and cholesterol, but the pastured eggs had three times more omega-3s, 220 percent more vitamin E and 62 percent more vitamin A than eggs from caged hens.
The 2005 study Mother Earth News conducted of four heritage-breed pastured flocks in Kansas found that pastured eggs had roughly half the cholesterol, 50 percent more vitamin E, and three times more beta carotene.
But What About the Cost?
It’s true that pastured eggs cost more. But isn’t it obvious that it is worth it? You’d have to eat 5 supermarket eggs to get the same amount of vitamin D from one pastured egg. You may be able to buy a dozen eggs for a buck or two at the grocery store, but you get what you pay for. The national average for pastured eggs is about $4-5 per dozen. However, they are worth that in terms of nutrient density.
I did a little figuring to see how economical pastured eggs really are.
Let’s say you pay $5 for a dozen pastured eggs. That means each egg costs about 42 cents. A “large” egg is about 2 ounces, so you’re paying 20 cents per ounce.
Twenty cents, people. How does that compare to other foods of a similar nutrient density? (The prices are based on what we pay here in California.)
Raw grass fed organic butter ($8 per pound): 50 cents per ounce
Raw grass fed organic cream ($7 per pint): 44 cents per ounce
Pasteurized grass fed butter – ($5 per pound): 31 cents per ounce
Grass fed organic ground beef ($4 per pound): 25 cents per ounce
Grass fed organic beef liver ($3 per pound): 19 cents per ounce
Raw grass fed organic milk ($10.50 per gallon): 8 cents per ounce
Where Do You Find Real Pastured Eggs?
When I made the switch from free range eggs to real pastured eggs, I had no idea where to get them. I had no idea that they were right under my nose at the local farmer’s market. There are three different farmers at my local farmer’s market in Santa Monica who sell pastured eggs. (I’m pretty sure one of them does feed his birds soy, so I only buy from the other two, Rocky Canyon and Healthy Family Farms.)
If there is a local farmer’s market in your area, look for eggs. Talk to the farmer and ask if the birds are kept outdoors and ask what they are fed. (It’s best not to feed soy — its a whole ‘nother blog post.)
You can also check out the Eat Wild or Local Harvest websites to look for pastured eggs in your area.
Still can’t find ‘em? Contact someone from your local Weston A. Price chapter (this is how I found my local pastured eggs — I met my WAPF chapter leader at the farmer’s market and she introduced me to the farmers).
Photo credit: auxesis on Flickr
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20/02/2009 at 7:23 am Permalink
Hey AM – Thanks for the post. I am all for pastured eggs but not sure where I can find them in HI – I will try your links and the farmers market. I am wondering though where you get 25 oz eggs – should it be 2.5 oz eggs and 20 cents per oz?
20/02/2009 at 7:44 am Permalink
A very informative post. Whenever I tell this to people picking up “free range,” “cage free” or “organic” eggs from the supermarket, they are always shocked and dismayed. But then when I tell them how easy it is to come by real eggs, they perk up a bit.
Most people think the food labels actually *mean* something when the truth is they’re almost always a way to mask something, hide something, or sell identical products at premium prices. You simply can’t trust food labels. Ever.
20/02/2009 at 8:27 am Permalink
Great post about pastured eggs. Every time I see grocery store eggs, including the “organic” and “free range” variety I am amazed at how pale the yolk is and how they flatten out in the pan, compared to the bright orange yolks and firm, stand up quality of pastured eggs.
The ones that really crack me up are the eggs labeled as “vegetarian”! Poor hens! They don’t go outside and get to eat bugs. The only bugs they know are the internal variety.
Laying hens can make great pets and can be so comical to watch. Thankfully some municipalities are beginning to change their ordinances to allow a few laying hens in the yard. Just having a small flock of laying hens could make a huge difference in the health of a family.
Unfortunately, my favorite, pet laying hen, “Jo Jo Yardbird” was picked off by an owl, just before going into the coop for the evening. It broke my heart! I’ve never formed that close of a bond with any other laying hens since then.
There’s nothing like a breakfast of fresh eggs, just gathered.
20/02/2009 at 8:30 am Permalink
Yvonne you’re absolutely right. Doh! Every time I try to do math I always screw up. Clearly not my strong suit! LOL!
Also just shows you how rigorous you have to be about double-checking your sources. When I googled it, it said 25 ounces but that was 25 ounces per dozen. So an egg is 2-2.5 ounces. So yes, 20 cents per ounce. Which is still very cheap compared to most animal protein.
Going to fix it now. Thank you for letting me know.
Oh, and I would email one of the WAPF chapter leaders in Hawaii. They’ll know where to find eggs where you are.
http://www.westonaprice.org/localchapters/index.html#hi
20/02/2009 at 10:51 am Permalink
Super post! One of your best, actually. Our family of three goes through about 3-4 dozen eggs a week, so eggs are very important to us.
I am constantly amazed at how little thought people give to the food they buy in supermarkets. They seem to want to believe that if it’s sold in the “health food” store, or labeled organic, or Premium, or whatever, it’s the best option. The “pastoral liturature” that Michael Pollan describes in The Omnivore’s Dilemma describes it perfectly. Packaging claims and images are very convincing to most people (sheeple?), so it’s no wonder the producers emblazen their packages with phrases like cage-free, free-range, all natural, all-vegetarian feed, etc. So few know anything about animals anymore, so they don’t know that chickens aren’t vegetarians. Birds are very sensitive to light cycles, so it makes perfect sense that Vit D is lacking in indoor chickens (there is Vit D added to their feed to ensure egg production, but not to ensure ample Vit D in the actual eggs).
And the cute old-fashioned red barns that frequent many packages are becoming a thing of the past (a drive through the heartland will reveal many barns are destined to either be torn down for salvaged barnsiding for “homespun decor” or they’re falling down and rotting. I’m not suggesting that modern barn buildings are bad, but just that when we see an image of a red barn, it induces a notion that the product within is produced in an old-fashioned, humane way. The power of suggestion is indeed powerful in consumers’ minds.
The egg ranches that supply many of the San Diego stores are huge long egg factories, nothing like the green pastures dotted with pecking hens. I avoid most of them, though they are local. Some even sell their eggs at the Farmer’s Markets, so it’s worth asking about the size of the flock, the conditions of the housing, the feed components.
When I first started sourcing our eggs from a local producer, I bought them at a farmer’s market. I had to be sure to get here very early, she always sold out and left before the market was over. Her flock included aracunas, so many of the egg shells were a beautiful greenish color – the inspiration for my kitchen and family room. Then she stopped selling at the FM, instead concentrating on supplying upscale restaurants. Then I bought from another FM seller, only to learn that she had 70,000 layers. Great for her, she could get retail prices for factory-farmed wholesale eggs. No wonder they eggs tasted the same as boring supermarket eggs – they were the same.
So I sought out another source, asking anyone and every where before I hit paydirt. I learned about a couple who raised their own food and sold off the excess, via word-of-mouth during a Mother’s Day gift massage, of all places. Two years after, I lost that source when the couple spit up and no longer kept animals. But it was great while it lasted.
But I need my daily 2 or 3 egg breakfast, so it was back to boring sub-par TJ eggs for a while. I kept asking around, doing internet searches for families that keep some layers, etc. I found a few fairly far out in the county, at least a 45 minute drive one-way (if traffic was light), sellers with flocks too small to sell at FM, but also that was a bit to far for me to drive just for eggs.
Then bingo, I learned a neighbor works has coworker who keeps a flock of about 80 chickens at her large suburban/rural property. Now most Wednesdays my neighbor brings me an average of 7 dozen (I am the middle person for a couple of other people who want the eggs, too). I pay $3/doz and I consider it a very fair price, perhaps even a bargain (my neighbor would take no additional compensation for her “delivery” service, so I gave her some bison meat as a token of gratitude). Granted, now and then, the laying hens are molting and not producing as much, etc., so I can’t get my usual amount of eggs. One time some “kind-hearted” people dropped off a hen in the drive, only to later reveal that this hen is a “breaker” – she breaks the shells to eat the eggs (yes, hens can be cannibals!), so there were limited eggs available until the “breaker” was “dealt” with. But that’s part and parcel for eating locally and seasonally.
20/02/2009 at 10:55 am Permalink
I am a bit jealous of you living in southern california. my sources of pastured eggs are very low in production right now because of the cold. I am limited to 2 dozen/week if I get there before they’re gone.
Do you think organic/free range would be your second choice still? Or would you just not eat more than 2 dozen/week?
This is assuming raising my own chickens is out of the question……at the moment.
20/02/2009 at 11:19 am Permalink
Does anyone have any opinions on fertile vs non-fertile pastured eggs?
Thank you so much for breaking down the costs per ounce. It made me think a bit about all my complaining about costs for switching to this way of eating. Eating healthy has been particularly important to me… almost to the point where I think I am becoming a little too WAPF-fanatical! I don’t want to pay ridiculous prices for good food, but I’d rather pay a higher price on food than a price for any medication. Next time I buy pastured eggs from my local farmers market, I’ll thank the eggs, the chicken, the farmer, etc.
Go real food!!
Thanks! =) ~Erica
20/02/2009 at 2:02 pm Permalink
This is a great post! I appreciate your research on the nutritional differences. My father is skeptical! Perhaps this will help.
One note: the richer color comes from the grass and other green stuff the chickens eat. As with butter and milk, the yellower (really oranger) the yolks, the more Vitamin A. And yes, chickens love to graze! You should see my parsley right now.
Cathy McNeil is so right on the “vegetarian” thing. Have you ever seen a chicken eat a baby snake? How ’bout any bit of animal protein they can get their beaks on! Yikes! And boy, will they chase each other around to get even the smallest morsel. They don’t do that with grain!
To answer Erica: There should be no appreciable difference between fertile and non-fertile eggs. I believe this urban legend came from the fact that home flocks tend to keep roosters around. Factory farms do not. So if you could find “fertile” eggs, they were more likely from small flocks. Not necessarily “pastured” as most people keep their chickens penned. Otherwise, they’re all over the place and scratch out any garden that isn’t fenced. Ask me how I know.
20/02/2009 at 2:43 pm Permalink
Thanks Kristin. I believe both were pastured, but the fertiles ones were more expensive. I guess I don’t really need to bother, as long as they are pastured.
21/02/2009 at 5:45 am Permalink
Interesting factoid. We have 9 hens here – I take my eggs to work frequently to sell to co-workers. They’re very popular. One lady has said that her husband hasn’t been able to eat eggs in forever – those bought at the store make him sick for whatever reason. She bought our eggs and she’s one of my steady customers now. He has no problems with them and they love them.
I would consider our girls semi-pastured – they’re out of the coop as much as the weather allows in Michigan. Typically we have at least 3 inches of snow or more on the ground here (we’re in for another 3-6 inches later this a.m.) and they won’t go out in the snow. They do have a huge sun porch and the freedom to go there and soak up some rays whenever they want. They have the Taj Mahal of coops – it’s insulated, ventilated, heated when the temperature gets too low (I think dh has it set to warm up below freezing) because we don’t want frozen beaks and tootsies and very cozy. When they can’t be out (and there are times during the winter months that the snow actually melts – they’re out then), they’re fed organic chicken feed.
I think I have very happy, healthy chickens. It will be nice when this snow is gone once and for all so they can be out all the time. I love nothing better then to look out and see chickens all over the yard. We have lots of wooded areas that they really seem to enjoy although they take a hankering now and then and head for my gardens. If we catch them, we shoo them out. If we don’t catch them, we clean up after them. They’re fun little ‘friends’. And Kristin is right – they do fight over their finds. It’s hilarious to watch a chicken chase another chicken with some gooey morsel hanging from her mouth.
I’m about to disrupt their lives though and I’m considering adding a rooster. A friend is getting rid of hers and I’m sorely tempted to take him off her hands. I miss that ‘cocka-doodle-doo’ in the morning.
21/02/2009 at 9:05 am Permalink
Cheeseslave, I would love to see a post about why it’s bad to feed soy to chickens. Thanks for all the useful info!
21/02/2009 at 11:34 am Permalink
Hi, Erica –
Unfermented soy isn’t good for any living creatures. It should not be consumed unless it is properly fermented, and even then it should only be eaten in small amounts.
Read more about the dangers of soy here:
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html
Sadly, most livestock — poultry, cow and pigs — in America are being fed soy. Much of this soy is genetically modified which is a whole ‘nother can of worms.
Here are a few pages on the dangers of genetically modified foods:
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/GeneticRoulette/HealthRisksofGMFoodsSummaryDebate/index.cfm
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/AboutGMFoods/FAQs/index.cfm#health_dangers
Here is an excellent and extremely informative site on how to feed chickens:
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Poultry.html
This page is specifically about alternatives to soy chicken feed (I have heard that most feeds are a mix of corn and soy — it’s already mixed in — so a farmer has to go out of their way to make feed that does not contain soy):
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Soy-Alternatives.html
21/02/2009 at 1:53 pm Permalink
Thankfully ours does not contain soy. But we pay a premium compared to what the cost for 50 pounds of feed costs at the feed store. Not to mention it’s an hour away – we work it out so that we do the feed run the same time we do the milk run.
This spring/summer we plan to raise pasture meat birds – and those babies will be pasture – in a tractor coop in the back 20 behind our house. We’re negotiating now with the owner – we’ll swap out chickens and honey for the privilege of using her land.
21/02/2009 at 3:24 pm Permalink
Ann Marie,
Now this was a great post! Thanks for all the links on where to find pastured eggs!
I did look through it for my state, but I live on the border of another state, so I’ll look into that state too. I only found a couple of farms having eggs, now I have to call them and see if they are pastured, right? Or, since they are on the local harvest website then they all are pastured? I think I’m slightly confused, still new to all these pastured goodies!
Currently I get the Organic Valley Omega-3 eggs. If it were you, would you completely not eat any eggs until you found pastured, or would they be your second choice when pastured are not available??
What are the basic and most important questions to ask a farmer when looking for pastured eggs?
Thanks so much!
Natalie
22/02/2009 at 12:37 pm Permalink
I just this week found pastured chickens! I called so many places and talked to so many farmers that I got it down to a science. The first question is “What do you feed your chickens?” If the answer isn’t “They feed themselves bugs they scratch up,” I move on. Of the 12 local (within 100 miles) farms I spoke to, there were two that didn’t feed soy. Two. So sad. Makes me want to raise my own! Of course, the Homeowner’s Association would kill me…
Local Nourishment’s last blog post..Going way off the beaten path today.
22/02/2009 at 2:45 pm Permalink
I am sitting here shaking my head in total agreement!
grocery cage free eggs are NOT the same thing. and you don’t even need to see the chicken houses to prove it – just taste the eggs. not at all the same!
Henny’s last blog post..midwives supporting the unassisted birth…
23/02/2009 at 2:57 pm Permalink
On the soy thing. It is nearly impossible to avoid. Even most of the seed corn sold in our area is now Round-up Ready. This is another one of those “it’s not so simple” things. The links Ann Marie sites are great but the reality is that Austrian Winter Peas have gone from $15/50 lbs to $30 in just a couple of years. You can get away with feeding chickens strictly grains if they are completely free ranged. Even then, in the winter time or during drought, the chickens need some protein. They suffer without it.
I can ship in organic soy free feed at $25/bag. But it isn’t local (one of my BIG things) and it is more than double the custom mix feed I do buy (that has fish meal for animal protein and whole grains). This custom mix has a small amount of soy in it as does my cow feed.
A popular “all natural” chicken feed is Layena by Purina. This, in my opinion, is a big problem. The main protein source is soy. In order to provide the necessary amino acids the chicken needs, they have to add GMO amino acids. The feed is also highly processed. It is dead. Before I knew better, this is what I fed to my birds. I had all sorts of strange afflictions in my flock (infected, messy behinds, chickens dropping dead for no reason, etc.) Since switching to feeds with some animal protein, whole grains, and adding soured skim milk (which provide good bacteria to the birds’ gutts), my problems have virtually vanished.
But until I can find a local grower for legumes, I’ll at least buy my feeds locally and continue to request the elimination of soy in the feed.
If you can find someone that is allowing their chickens to range (either in movable coops, electric fencing, or completely free) and trying and avoid soy as much as possible, then count yourself blessed. The color and the height of your eggs yolks is your best indicator of nutritional value and quality.
23/02/2009 at 7:41 pm Permalink
Here’s a link on cleanrooms for all of you who may be curious.
http://www.criticaltool.com/what-is-a-cleanroom-information-iso-standards.html
Not exactly an “organic” environment now is it?
24/02/2009 at 3:40 pm Permalink
we get pastured eggs whenever possible, however we live in the cold north ( connecticut)
right now, our local healthfood store has raw milk and pastured eggs from a very clean and wonderful family run farm, the eggs fly off the shelves.
However, the problem im wondering is, that the chickens cant pasture feed in the winter, nor can the cows. So basically the milk at this time of the year is the same as normal milk ( but just raw) would these eggs still be better than the baterry hens? once spring comes though, the raw milk turns a wonderful yelllow, and tastes great. But its rather pale in the winter.
24/02/2009 at 5:58 pm Permalink
Winter feeding of livestock in cold climates is different, so chances are the cows are getting silage while indoors (slightly fermented chopped up corn stalks, etc.), alalfa, etc. as part of their rations. So, yes, the winter milk isn’t as rich as the milk from fast growing grasses (read Weston A Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degeneration for more about the Alpine Swiss villages and their homage to “june” butter from the spring growth).
The chickens are also probably getting more grain feed while they are confined indoors but I’ll bet they are also being supplemented with some greens and good stuff. They’ll eat cut greens, too, not just living plants. The variety of the eggs, that’s what I like.
All part of local and seasonal, right?
25/02/2009 at 4:11 am Permalink
Hey AM, I run a small Co-op in the western suburbs of Adelaide Sth Australia and we are fortunate to have real FR eggs from a local female farmer. Whilst she does suppliment with a little grain, these happy chooks are outside all the time eating bugs, worms, eucalyptus leaves and special herbs. The yolks are a nice orange colour and we sell lots & lots of them as she appears to be the only local farmer with real free range….we are all big fans.
25/02/2009 at 4:13 am Permalink
yeah, i remember back in the summer, i wanted an egg omlet., so i grabbed these eggs outta the fridge, cracked one open into the bowl, and it was the deepest orange egg ive ever seen. They serooiusly are good eggs.
25/02/2009 at 4:17 am Permalink
i try to tell people at my gym ( ya know, the chubby guys who are trying to knock off few pounds) that they should eat the yolks and eat complex fiber foods, like beans and proeprly soaked grains, veggies, etc. (they still have trouble with this one)
but then they tell me that they had kashi soy go lean cereal and skim milk, egg white omlet. They think they are being soooo healthy. Good luck loosing weight on that diet. Soy, no iodine, no vitamins, nothing…. i mean kashi alone has like 15 grams of soy protien in it. good bye thyriod… espeically when you cut out the fat and fat soluble vitamins.
01/03/2009 at 12:43 am Permalink
Ann Marie,
Do you know of any local farmers in the OC that carry pastured eggs? I can’t seem to find any. I’m experimenting to see if soy-fed animals are part of the reason why my health problems aren’t going away, but I can’t find any store or local farm that carries no-soy eggs. Or, do I need to go out to LA? I’m not sure who you get yours from..
Thanks,
Erica
Erica’s last blog post..Nutrition Consultants: Have you seen this video??
11/04/2009 at 5:48 pm Permalink
Our family is considering raising our own hens. We’re looking on the internet about how to raise/feed them, but none of the information out there is really right for the way we want to keep them, that is, no soy or any of that gross stuff, so we’re somewhat clueless. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks!
23/06/2009 at 11:20 am Permalink
can somone locate me a source where will able to find pastured eggs shipped to me in new york or new jersey?
27/01/2010 at 5:07 pm Permalink
I live in Los Angeles and try hard to find pastured eggs. However, I have been disappointed in some sold at Farmer’s Markets claiming to be free range/pastured — pale yolks and runny whites — including one source you mentioned. Do you have an update to this blog entry with any new recommendations on good pastured egg sources sold in LA area farmers markets? Many thanks.
01/02/2010 at 6:18 pm Permalink
ALL WRONG! If you knew anything about the poultry industry you wouldnt be saying half the things you are. Do you know why we wear thos white suits? BIOSECURITY! Look it up! And the hens in the layer houses half enough room and its so sanitary in there its unbelievable (hence the biosecurity). They have a very healthy diet and water at all times. All the chickens are very well cared for.
If you and all these other people are getting your information from PETA, HSUS, etc., you need to get a real credible Ag source. All those organizations lie, conduct their own tests, videos, whatever and dont tell you the truth about the agriculture industry. If you do see a picture of a sick chicken in a layer house or whatever then ya know its incredibly outdated or ever think about this, ANOTHER COUNTRY! United States has the MOST health standards, we have the safest food in the world. And if you want to go buy cage free eggs because its more humane (and definitley not as clean because they sit out in a pasture all day and more suseptible to diseases) you are going to drive this industry into the ground in this country because labor will go up intensivlely and you will soon be buying eggs from Mexico and you dont even want to know their health standards. They dont have any.
01/02/2010 at 11:23 pm Permalink
Kelsie methinks you protest too much, or have they just upped your lithium dose? The US does not have the World’s best welfare standards for poultry or any other livestock–the UK does. And they are doing their best–without the help of PETA or HSUS–to get rid of confined, battery chicken operations.
You wear those biosuits because anything you bring in to the chicken house would cause the birds to drop like flies–and visa versa….Those so called clean, happy, wonderful confined chickens are captive in a room thick with ammonia, dander, fecal particulates, general dust, and airborne bacteria and viruses. Chances are any normal person stuck in a poultry house, unsuited, would be screaming to be let out, pressed up against the ventilation fans, and end up very sick indeed.
There is one reason why people buy eggs from standard poultry operations..the cheapness of the eggs buys their conscience. Any consumer who could spend the 30 minutes getting showered, suited and booted to step into a bio-secure poultry house and then follow the reverse procedure, would stop eating the pale, sick, flavorless product of such concentration camps immediately.
It wasn’t always so. Sustainable, small scale–indoor–poultry operations used to thrive and provide a valuable income to thousands of small American farmers. These units were open to people to visit and were small, family operations all over the country. That is until monopolistic corporations turned the whole thing on its side and strove for vertical integration and the bottom line.
But I understand your reaction to Cheese Slave’s post…You’re scared, and well you should be. The times they are a changing. You can crow all you want, but the ground swell will carry you on whether you like it or not.
01/02/2010 at 11:46 pm Permalink
Believe what you want about how the chickens are being treated and what is ‘clean’ or ‘safe’. When you crack open a CAFO egg and compare it to a pastured egg, the difference cannot even be described in words. If these CAFO chickens are so healthy, then why are the eggs from them so awful (taste, texture, color, everything)?
I hate that money even factors into this debate considering how much America spends on health care (a lot of which stems from eating such bad food). I’d rather pay more for eggs and eat less of them if that’s what it takes to change these operations over to more natural farming methods. Would be nice of the government to help small scale farmers too, but that might be asking too much.
02/02/2010 at 12:17 am Permalink
To those concerned that the industry will crumble if “everyone starts sourcing ‘cage free’ eggs”…That industry is rather new, and, like everything, needs a few checks and balances. In fact, industrialized food is new across the board. And it won’t crumble as long as it continues to be bolstered by the government.
It wasn’t long ago that everyone had their own chickens and eggs and didn’t need to buy them from the store at all. It’s not a bad thing that food be brought back home. We don’t NEEEEEEED the chicken houses to have healthy chicken and eggs. We are told by the government and private industry that we need them. More and more regulation like NAIS is imposed not to raise health standards, but to limit the smaller operations so that the large industry can continue to thrive.
There is a mess out there and the source is regularly industry supported by government supported by industry supported by government. When those get decoupled again, we will see the health and safety of the entire population improve. And not just on paper.
People can know what a living wage is again, and better yet, people won’t need so much to live because we will know how to take care of ourselves rather than pay everyone else to do it for us. Hopefully we are soon to learn that paying everyone else to take care of us does NOT necessarily ensure our well-being.
02/02/2010 at 12:21 am Permalink
Hmm, I don’t know about layers, but we have a poultry processing plant here in town and the chickens going in don’t look so healthy, at least from the sores I can see on them as I drive past on the interstate. It’s a great reminder not to buy my poultry from the supermarket.
I recently started buying pastured eggs again from a friend. I had forgotten how orange the yolks are and how hard the shells are. Nothing like the store eggs with their pale yellow yolks and their fragile shells.
02/02/2010 at 1:09 am Permalink
Eggs from truly pastured chickens are the best by far. A picture is worth a thousand words: tale of two eggs
25/04/2010 at 1:31 am Permalink
We are half was down the left side of Ga Cataula / Columbus area everyone who eats our eggs either commented on the flavor/taste or actually said that they were the best they have ever eaten , we feed the hens natural foods from scratching , kelp mineral water , vitamin water , flax for omegas , and a standard layer pellet available , No pens , antibiotics, artificial light , hormones , and they get treats of bread and are picked up some and petted / talked to and their crop is checked to make sure they are eating good and they are 5 a dozen , considering the store sells a premium egg for 4.30 tax inc . ours are a deal
19/05/2010 at 11:16 am Permalink
I raise pastured chickens. My question is this, if I switch brands of feed on the chickens will it affect their laying? Sometimes I buy one brand of feed for them and when they run out of feed, I sometimes buy a different brand at a different feed store .Should I stay with one brand?
21/05/2010 at 2:15 am Permalink
yea, I really do not care for soy but its in everything , 93% is GMO and 78% of the corn is too , anything certified non-gmo is very (double ) expensive. making it almost impossible to make a profit
09/06/2010 at 11:16 pm Permalink
I love how you break down nutrient dense foods on a cost-per-ounce basis. And that Trader Joe’s carton? Absolutely priceless. I’m linking to this blog tomorrow in my post on budgeting for real food. Thanks for the great info!
Mommypotamus´s last blog ..Boppy Total Body Pillow Winner!
16/08/2010 at 4:07 pm Permalink
You should have a link to SHARE ie Facebook/MySpace/YouTube