Conventional, Free Range, Cage Free & Pasture Raised Eggs-knowing the difference and asking the questions to get you the eggs you want!
This #farmfridaytpstyle we continue with our farmer’s market series. What questions to ask, how to find what you’re looking for and walk away from your market excited about what you’re carrying. This week we’re focusing all on eggs!
My Forever and I decided we were going to get into the chicken business April of 2017. Neither of us had ever been around chickens and we knew NOTHING! Matt was going to build a chicken trailer that we could move around, rather than having a set chicken coop that we couldn’t move. My Forever is kind of addicted to checking craigslist and found a trailer and 6-7 week old chickens included. He went and got it that day and we were in the chicken business!
Our trailer has a photosynthetic eye on the door so it opens automatically in the morning and closes at night. Chickens are huge prey animals and pretty easy targets. Possums, raccoons, birds, dogs-really anything-can kill them easily. Chickens “go to bed” at night. They go into their home when it’s getting dark instinctively. We are rarely home at night before it gets dark which is why we love the automatic door! Our chickens are pasture raised or whatever you want to call it (they can go ANYWHERE! We have their trailer we move around our acreage, and when that door opens they can go wherever they went.) They will roam and forage, normally in a flock for protection all day, but will go back to their home right before dark because they know that door closes and they are locked out. It’s amazing how smart they are and know how to stay safe. Roosters also help a lot with predators. It’s fun watching the roosters protect their hens when they sense danger. Sometimes that danger is me and then it’s not so fun when the roosters attack me.
When we first got them, they were about 6-7 weeks old and didn’t really know how to go back in trailer and what to do. We used a fence for about 3 weeks to give them limited access to the outdoors, but so they couldn’t go all over. This was their training period. It took about 2 weeks for them all to figure out to go inside before the door shut. For the first few weeks whenever My Forever and I got home we would spend 5-10 minutes crawling on the ground under the trailer to put the birds inside. The ones that hadn’t made it inside before the door closed would “roost” on the axles of the trailer. So one of us would crawl under and hand out chickens for the other to put inside. It took about 2 solid weeks for us coming home every night and going crawling for chickens for them to figure out they had to go inside. Since then, they know to go inside.
When we move the trailer, it normally takes a couple nights for them to figure out where their home moved to. We find them roosting on the ground where the trailer “should be”. We LOVE our chickens. They are SO easy to take care of and we know the benefits of having our fresh eggs. The chickens keep the bug, mosquito and fly population WAY down.
Anyway, back to what to labels and knowing what you are buying at the farmers market.
Free Range:
(by USDA standards) simply means the chickens have access to the outdoors. So we all picture these birds being on lush, green pastures being super happy hens. While this is really what our chickens are and can do anything and go anywhere they want to, not all eggs labeled free range actually come from hens that go outside. They just have to have access to the outdoors. Sometimes these areas are screened areas with little grass in them. So even if the hens have access to outdoors, they might not go.
Cage free:
These birds, again under USDA standards, can’t be locked in a cage. They have room to move, walk and flap their wings. They don’t have access to outdoors.
Pasture Raised:
Okay-this is a new one to me. I hadn’t heard the definition of this one yet. But I’m going to amend our marketing to using pasture raised instead of simply free range. Our hens, as previously stated, are allowed to go anywhere they want. We do live in Kansas so they aren’t on green pasture year round simply because we don’t have green grass all year, but the door goes up automatically at dawn and those hens go anywhere and eat anything they want until it’s time to go to bed. But of note, this term is not regulated by any agency so be sure to ask the vendor what it means to them.
To sum up the egg section of this-it all depends on what you’re looking for. I don’t often share other websites, especially those that I don’t know the creator, but I did find this one summed it up pretty good and thought was pretty fair to all. It goes further into detail to sum up a few more labels and if you’re on a budget what the best use of your money is when it comes to labels and buying your eggs. (https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/food/cage-free-vs-free-range-vs-pastured-eggs/)
Our marketplace demands a lot of different products so it is 100% what you’re looking for. The author of this explains if you’re on a budget and looking for the most reasonably priced egg, there isn’t a whole lot of difference between conventionally raised eggs and cage free eggs, except the price. Producers have figured out the “buzz” words, but it isn’t necessarily much different for the actual hen. If you’re looking for eggs from hens that are out and about on grass and can forage and basically do what they want…that is currently being called pasture raised. These hens could still have a fence around them, but should have green grass. Again it isn’t regulated by anyone. At the farmers market, YOU are the boss. YOU get to ask the questions. Ask how the hens are raised, what they call “home”, how often they get to go outside, what they go outside to, where do they lay their eggs, etc. Ask WHATEVER you want to ask because you are the one that needs to feel comfortable feeding your families and we all have different ideas about what is best.
Questions to ask about eggs:
- Do your hens go outside?
- Are they fenced when they do go outside? (This isn’t a bad thing as it provides safety for the hens from predators. It’s just information for you to make sure you are getting what you are buying.)
- What do you feed your birds?
- How often do you pick up the eggs?
- Do you have to lock them in at night?
- How do you protect them from predators?
- How do you provide a happy, healthy lifestyle for them?
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