boggybranch
Deeply Rooted
Just rec'd this interesting article in email.
http://www.rodale.com/healthy-eggs?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2010_04_20-_-Top5-_-NA
http://www.rodale.com/healthy-eggs?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2010_04_20-_-Top5-_-NA
Are "free-range" chicken eggs REALLY better?
- Thread starter boggybranch
- Start date
vfem
Garden Addicted
Thank you for that link. Fabulous article!!! I need to put that link up on my blog.
Rosalind
Deeply Rooted
They taste better. Does that count?
Read the Penn State study, and it is focused on pastured poultry. This is quite different from a cage-free barn, where the poultry would be eating regular bagged feed. The study compared chickens raised on bagged feed in a caged barn vs. poultry reared on different type of pasture that also had bagged feed given free choice. The poultry raised on pasture had higher nutritional content than the ones that got bagged feed alone, and in particular the poultry raised on clover and alfalfa pasture had the most nutritional content.
The other goal of the study was to find out whether it is feasible to use rotational grazing of poultry to substitute for a portion of the bagged feed--is it cheaper to raise free-range poultry on pasture or in a barn? Turns out pastured is cheaper because the chickens will eat a large portion of bugs, grass in their diet, with no production losses. So if you're a free-range poultry farmer, it's better to pasture your birds than to keep em in a giant barn.
And they taste better.
In winter, when my chickens refuse to go out in the snow, I try to give them green veggies as much as possible for this reason alone.
Read the Penn State study, and it is focused on pastured poultry. This is quite different from a cage-free barn, where the poultry would be eating regular bagged feed. The study compared chickens raised on bagged feed in a caged barn vs. poultry reared on different type of pasture that also had bagged feed given free choice. The poultry raised on pasture had higher nutritional content than the ones that got bagged feed alone, and in particular the poultry raised on clover and alfalfa pasture had the most nutritional content.
The other goal of the study was to find out whether it is feasible to use rotational grazing of poultry to substitute for a portion of the bagged feed--is it cheaper to raise free-range poultry on pasture or in a barn? Turns out pastured is cheaper because the chickens will eat a large portion of bugs, grass in their diet, with no production losses. So if you're a free-range poultry farmer, it's better to pasture your birds than to keep em in a giant barn.
And they taste better.
In winter, when my chickens refuse to go out in the snow, I try to give them green veggies as much as possible for this reason alone.
lesa
Garden Master
Very interesting article, boggy. I am so glad that I have my own happy, healthy chickens! I love growing my own food and having my own chickens. Our mass produced food is wrong on so many levels!
Greenthumb18
Deeply Rooted
Oh yes i think free range are definitely better than store bought eggs. I'm looking to get a few chicken hatching eggs soon and raise some for egg laying. But i do have quails and pheasants and eat their eggs occasionally. Theirs a farm by me that sells their free range chicken eggs from their rhode island red hens. A dozen costs about $4 and i baked a few things with those eggs, what a difference those eggs made you could taste that wonderful flavorful yolks. And the yolks were also a nice orange color opposed to the pale yellow store bought eggs.- Thread starter
- #6
boggybranch
Deeply Rooted
Good info on the egg subject of freshness....
http://www.helpwithcooking.com/egg-guide/fresh-egg-test.html
http://www.helpwithcooking.com/egg-guide/fresh-egg-test.html
jojo54
Garden Ornament
I hate to think about those poor chickens and the conditions they live in. My girls are so spoiled but I wouldn't have it any other way. They get fresh produce every day plus feed, scratch, etc. In the winter, I cook them a hot meal. They have a huge yard to live in and lots of dirt to dustbath in. They stay out almost all the time (their choice), rain, shine, only going in to lay eggs, sleep and eat their pellets. They enjoy being touched and picked up. They are very content and we appreciate the great eggs they give us.
ninnymary
Garden Master
Rosalind..I am unclear how this applies to our backyard chickens since the article is based on pasture raised chickens. Do our eggs also have the same nutritional value as pastured chicken eggs?
Also, my chickens are "free ranging" in an outdoor run all day long. I must admit, though that the run is pretty bare. Because of this, I daily give them greens, alittle scratch, and their layer pellets. I know that they are fat, happy chickens. Does this qualify as "free ranging"? Just curious.
Mary
Also, my chickens are "free ranging" in an outdoor run all day long. I must admit, though that the run is pretty bare. Because of this, I daily give them greens, alittle scratch, and their layer pellets. I know that they are fat, happy chickens. Does this qualify as "free ranging"? Just curious.
Mary
lesa
Garden Master
IMO it is unlikely that anyone is commercially raising chickens that are exclusively "pastured". My birds have almost a 1/2 acre to dig around in, and they still eat plenty of layer pellets. I think the point of the pasturing is to let them have exercise and enjoy life- not for food. Ninny, these definitions are ever changing. I think the very fact that your birds are enjoying the sunshine, fresh air and digging in the dirt-your eggs are more nutritious than any store bought egg. I think the true definition of "free range" is without any fencing at all. As we all know, that is likely to result in no chickens very fast!
Rosalind
Deeply Rooted
In the PSU study, they had the layer chickens in a portable pen that they moved to fresh yard every few days. So the chickens were getting lots of fresh greens daily. Not at all the same as being cage-free in a barn with some access to outdoors. That was my point, really--that there are various types of things labeled "cage free" and "free range," and they aren't equivalent.ninnymary said:
FWIW, I do have a portable pen outdoors that I move around the yard and the poultry in it eat plenty of grass, weeds and bugs. I just use it for meat birds rather than eggs--mostly turkeys. I know some folks do keep their layer chickens in "tractors," they would likely see a much more significant difference in egg nutritional quality than you & me; I also keep my layer girls in a coop with a run.
Just an FYI for folks considering chickens who haven't yet built a coop...
Link to the research
