Eggs Travaganza

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By Cheryl Long

This four-part special section tells you how to raise backyard chickens, build a portable mini-coop, and enjoy delicious eggs and exceptional pest control from rare, beautiful heritage breeds

The minute you crack open a homegrown egg from a hen that's been able to eat grass and seeds and bugs, you'll never settle for pale, tasteless factory-farm eggs again. Homegrown eggs are more colorful and flavorful, and they're more nutritious: richer in beta-carotene, vitamin E, folic acid and vitamin B-12. Contrary to conventional thinking, a recent major study found that eating eggs was not associated with an increased risk of heart disease. In the sample of 118,000 people, those who ate five to six eggs per week actually had a lower risk of heart disease than those who ate less than one egg per week.

And when you're in charge of your own chickens, you can be assured that the eggs you raise are free of synthetic hormones and other controversial drugs often used to produce commercial eggs.

Backyard Breeds, Page 36:

The best chicken breeds for backyard egg production are elegant heritage breeds, which are threatened with extinction as commercial egg producers rely entirely on only a few intensely bred strains. You can do your part in preserving these endangered breeds and enjoy farm-fresh eggs, even if you have just a small yard. These traditional egg-laying specialists are smaller than dual-purpose (meat and eggs) breeds, and they have retained their natural instinct for foraging, making them well-suited for our portable mini-coop.

MOTHER'S Mini-coop, Page 38 :