Meet Real Free-Range Eggs

Just wanted to let you know that the graphic visually representing the merits of range fed chickens actually has a mathematical error--however, this is actually one that just makes the range-fed chickens look EVEN better when corrected. It says that USDA eggs have 0.22g of the Omega-3 fatty acids and range-fed have 0.66g. The graphic says that this is 2x more omega 3s, but it's actually THREE times more.

And just as an FYI, omega-3 fatty acids are about the best thing that "modern medicine" has to reduce very high triglycerides (google Lovasa for the medicine). Glad to know that raising my own poultry will help me keep more of this in my diet. :)

I'd like to comment on bugs. We have always had all kinds of bugs in and around our house. We bought the granddaughters baby chicks this year at a grand opening of a new farm store. This is the 1st year we had barely noticed any bugs of any type and that includes spiders that always hang from our oak trees. My sons have complained for years about them, saying we need to spray or something. Well, turned out the chickens were the only something we needed. No grasshoppers, spiders, earwigs, crickets and even my small frogs. I have to be very careful about the frogs. I usually water the yard after dark so the chicks are roosting and the frogs can try and get flying bugs. This is the best way for anyone to control the pests around their homes. Talk about green.
Sincerely, Nano in Texas

I agree with the poster called "Avian" above.

-Katy Skinner
(thecitychicken.com)

I author the website TheCityChicken.com . . .

I have chickens, and they cover a lot of ground everyday. While I do give them a commercial feed as a suppliment, they eat very little of it per day. So I wold venture that TRUE free- range birds might actually cost LESS since not only do they eat very little feed, they take very little maintenence since they do the majority of their bowel movements spread out over many acres, and I don't need artificial light or heat on them. They know what dark means - it is time to head back home to go to bed. And here is the final rebel thing I do ... I ( heaven forbid) let a HEN set, hatch, brood, and raise a clutch whenever she has a mind to. No incubator, no brooder, the chicks never display any of the vices well - known in brooder raised birds like pecking and even killing each other. The statement :
"Finally, there's nothing particularly natural about birds running around in a field hunting bugs and forage as you state they're doing. " Is about the dumbest thing I have ever read!

I remember the day I told my wife, "You finally learned how to cook scrambled eggs like my grandmother." She laughed and said, "Those are the eggs we got from the Kenyon's farm. The chickens are healthier because they get sunshine and fresh air and grasshoppers, and the eggs are just better. Everybody knows farm eggs are better than store eggs."

Maybe you need to find a grant to fund a multi-million dollar double-blind, peer-reviewed study to satisfy the skeptics.

In the meantime each of us is equipped with a miniature lab to test food quality--it's called the olfactory-gustatory-visual system. The rich color of the egg yolks and and superior taste tells us that eggs from pastured hens are better.

wow...............

What is the shelf life of all eggs? Thank You, Steve.

Thank you for the information.

Four months ago, my husband and I bought 6 Barred Plymouth Rock
chicks because we wanted laying hens from a heritage breed that
would provide wholesome eggs for our diet. We lost one due to a
really dumb mishap but the remaining 5 are doing great! Since my
husband and I both work, we have a set up that seems to be working
okay. He raises rabbits and built a sturdy hutch for them in which
their cages are suspended from the roof (yes, these guys are in
cages because they're show rabbits). Their wasted food &
excrement is channeled out but some drops down below. My husband
built the chicken coop with attached pen right next to the rabbit
hutch and created a door to let the chickens roam around underneath
the rabbit cages. This way, they're all safe from predators, and
the chickens have lots of territory to cover. I wasn't sure if this
was a good idea though, but if we had a regular farm, the chickens
would probably be scratching in all the cow patties and other
stuff. Anyway, I have a question about OTHER food. The place where
I bought the chicks recommended that I feed them "starter/growth"
food for the first 8 months of their life. This stuff is medicated
(which I was told was necessary), but I was also told that once
they start laying, we should switch them to "layer" food and throw
out the first batch of eggs from each hen to cycle out the
medication. Hmmm. Being a relative "newbie" to raising my own
chickens, this all sounds rather weird. I actually grew up on a
farm but most of the chickens & livestock had been sold by the
time I was a pre-teen so I really don't know what to feed my
"girls". It seems like everyone I've talked to, and every website,
has a different recommendation! I've been dutifully purchasing the
recommended "starter/growth" crumbles but recently started throwing
in a few handfuls of cracked corn and other seed just to see if
they'd

I agree with Michael. Hens that I know, have commercial food and
vegetable scraps, and water available all day, but they spend their
time eating fresh grass, and clover, and digging for grubs in the
lawn. Chickens are programmed to forage, to scratch, to dust-bathe,
to interact and socialize. They don't just stand by the feeder all
day. BTW, I agree the study could have been more scientific. Double
blind and randomized???

I own 6 free range chickens than have a roost with no door and they
regularly range over our 40 acre property. the eggs (on average 4
per day)that they produce are twice the size of large super market
eggs and the yoke is orange not yellow, they taste much better and
bind better in cakes etc: I feel that nothing deserves to live in a
cage let alone an animal that provides such a tasty food source.

A response to Avian Biology.... I agree with a number of posters
regarding the testing of non-free-range birds as well - an obvious
ommission and left the testers wide open to criticism. I won't dare
buy into the argument and counter argument and
counter-counter-argument about testing methods etc - that's clearly
an endless treadmill with the results depending on whichever group
is arguing. But regarding the last comment's final para about birds
not wanting to forage if food is supplied..... This is clearly
nonsense by my own experience and that of numerous other's I know.
I have a bunch of chooks (that's Aussie chickens) which have
commercial food available at all times (as well as copious volumes
of vege scraps, hot bran mash and other goodies), and who also have
a very large area to 'free-range' in (a couple of acres). They
indeed eat the food provided (which is in a feeder available in
their pen at all times) - but then spend the rest of the day
ranging far from their pen, pecking, foraging, etc, only returning
to their pen to lay, or finally to roost in the evening. You state
that 'If their food is provided for them, they can (and will) stay
by it and eat until they are satiated". This is not my experience,
nor the experience of numerous locals as well, who have similar
setups to me. Is it a scientific survey?... well hardly. But I get
9.5 oversize eggs per day from 10 chooks and my customers fight
each other to get my eggs, saying they're the best, tastiest eggs
they can get hold of. Yes, I'm sure it's true that in a commercial
sense this is not the way to go (though I do make more money than I
spend) - I wouldn't be able to run a commercial egg business this
way. But of course that's not what the argument is about is it?
Stick the chickens in cages - that's clearly the best way to make
money, otherwise it wouldn't be done. For me - blow the science -
I'll let my

I swear that had paragraphs just a moment ago. So sorry.

Though you'll probably disregard these comments as Poultry Industry
Propaganda, I figured I might as well speak up. Your science, as
has been suggested, is deeply flawed. First, you have no actual
tangible basis of comparison between the free-range and commercial
layers. Never rely on someone else's figures when you can do it
yourself! Then, there's no differentiation between nutritional
value of commercial free-range and the purported true free-range
birds. There is no indication of what a free-range bird is actually
eating-- "bugs, worms, and grass" doesn't really indicate the
caloric intake, nutritional value, digestibility, etc. You can't
tell if all the eggs were from one bird or a series of birds. There
is no indication of bird health, condition of eggs, size and
comparisons between average free-range birds and their eggs and the
commercial counterparts... do I really need to go on? To sum up:
The science is BAD. I'm not saying it's not an interesting and
potentially informative study. It would be, but you'd have to
actually run it like a scientific study. Further, the egg industry
is not incorrect in saying that the composition of an egg is
similar between breeds. The composition of an egg necessarily
cannot deviate out of certain boundaries, because it's being
produced to sustain embryonic development. Without all those
nutrients, there would be no potential for growth, and the follicle
would not develop. No yolk is formed, so there would be no egg.
Beyond this, the study was conducted with a variety of breeds that
are different than those used in the egg industry (white leghorns).
The egg board states that breed differences may cause nutritional
differences. Doesn't really sound like "double-speak" to me.
Finally, there's nothing particularly natural about birds running
around in a field hunting bugs and forage as you state they're
doing. Birds peck, hunt, and s

I teach statistics, this is bad science. A statement such as; "this
may happen" contains no information that you can use to make
informed decisions. A statistical survey should allow you the
ability to say with some measurable certainty whether or not
something is likely to be true. For example, "we are 95% confident
that smoking causes cancer." I eat free range eggs. I like the fact
that the chickens get to play with each other. As for the health
factors: I say, everything in moderation.

My question is: so how can you find out which eggs are actually
free range eggs, if most only have the option of going outside? I'm
vegan because I don't know how to get any, but I have no moral
qualms about actual, true free range eggs, because it doesn't harm
the animal. I also think testing conventional eggs would have been
a good idea, as well--the nutrients might have even been lower than
what the USDA states; I wouldn't have been surprised.

Given your description of the USDA's qualification of free range,
are you suggesting that free range eggs are likely not "true" free
range? If this is the case, why are you advocating paying the extra
dollar? Or did I misread?

Very interesting article. We have been eating (true) free range
eggs for some time now. One question with regards to your
methodology: Why did you not go the extra step and do nutritional
analyses on "conventional" eggs? I would think that this would be
more telling of the true difference and lend more credibility to
your claims. Thanks.

peer reviewed evidence please? Without this no-one can decide
whether your statements are correct, I would have no problem
accepting this if the original sources for the information
presented were referenced.

How could you go to all the effort to test 14 flocks of range free
chickens and not do the same for caged chickens and just accept the
USDA numbers as gospel? Smells more like propaganda than good
science.

We have six hens in our backyard and learned much from Joel
Salatin's book "Pastured Poultry Profits," which I highly
recommend. In addition to providing us a steady supply of fresh
eggs, our hens are excellent little gardeners (they bust up the
sod, fertilize the ground, eat weed seeds, and help reduce insect
populations) and wonderful, low-maintenance pets.

Im not sure if you got the first message, please tell me which of
these farms are certified organic, thanks Carolyn

Please tell me which of these farms are certified organic. Thanks
Carolyn