Free Range Eggs and More: What You Need to Know

Image Gallery Spring is a great time to enjoy fresh eggs from free range chickens, because hens that are allowed to eat spring grass produce fantastic, nutrient-rich eggs. SHERRI CAMP/FOTOLIA.COM

You may not think of eggs as a seasonal food, but eggs are in fact a biological product, and as such follows an animal’s life cycle. “But I can get eggs anytime I want,” you say? Well yes, of course you can. That’s thanks to our modern industrial food production and distribution system. We can all enjoy a seemingly unlimited supply of year-round eggs (and strawberries and tomatoes and apples and juicy steaks … you get the idea). But it wasn’t always so. And this year-round supply comes at a price. Lucky for you, there’s no better time than spring to learn about real eggs, because there’s no better time to enjoy them!

1. Eggs are Seasonal
2. Eggs are Colorful
3. Eggs are Healthy
4. Eggs are Legislated
5. Good Eggs Come From Good Farms

Lesson 1: Eggs are Seasonal

When young lady hens are about six months old, they start laying eggs, and continue to do so for about a year. They produce the most eggs during the first couple months of the cycle. You’re more productive in nice weather too, right?

Then, when daylight and temperature decrease in the fall, egg production declines, too. After all, it was the gorgeous sunshine that was stimulating the birds’ egg-laying hormones. Plus, in cold temperatures the ladies divert their egg-laying energy into keeping-warm energy. You stay in, throw on the sweats and curl up with a blanket in the winter, right?

Production continues to decline until most birds take a rest for several weeks in the winter. Now full of new vigor, they begin the cycle all over again.

So springtime is egg time. Maybe that’s why folks started dyeing eggs for Easter — what better way to celebrate an abundance of fresh eggs than with bright party colors?

In large egg factories, however, artificial light and heat stimulate off-season egg production. The birds don’t get their natural rest time, and instead keep on pumpin’ out eggs. You can decide whether you want to eat stressed-out eggs from stressed-out birds. I don’t.

Lesson 2: Eggs are Colorful

Speaking of Easter egg colors, why are some eggs brown and others blue? And what about those white eggs in the grocery store — is that natural?

Yes, it’s natural. The color of eggs is actually determined by the breed of the chicken. Stark white eggs are ubiquitous mainly because commercial chicken breeds make up most of the laying hen stock in the country, and their eggs are white (though some large producers may employ a process that further whitens the shells). Here’s a short list of natural egg colors by breed, and you can find more detailed info on this Handy-Dandy Chicken Chart.