Eggs-actly

Hi everyone, yes it has been a little bit since I last posted, sometimes life gets busy. I have a lot going on at the moment and I’d like to share one thing with you. My son was just accepted to Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences! Yep, I’m a proud Papa. He’ll be getting his Masters in Controlled Environment Agriculture, which is basically greenhouse growing, mostly using hydroponics. The current way our farming practices are headed is not sustainable. Hydroponics can actually grow as much food on 1 acre as soil farming can grow on 10 acres. There’s a lot more advantages to it than that but maybe that’s another blog. He’s on one end of the food spectrum and I’m on the other, even though he’s a good cook in his own right. However, this does bring me to another agricultural topic, eggs. We’ve all seen eggs in our supermarket and if you’ve noticed there’s a lot of confusing labeling going on. Sometimes you’ll just see the grade of egg as AA, A or B. This refers to the quality of the interior of the egg. AA eggs have firm whites and yolks that are rounded and firm. Grade A eggs have similar characteristics of AA eggs except the whites are reasonably firm.(whatever that means) Grade B eggs are usually never seen in the supermarket as they have interior flaws like flat yolks and watery whites. These eggs are used for liquid, frozen or dried egg products. Any size eggs can be any of these grades. The sizes are determined by the weight of a dozen eggs, Jumbos are (30 oz. per dozen), Extra Large (27 oz. per dozen), Large (24 oz. per dozen), Medium (21 oz. per dozen), Small (18 oz. per dozen), and Peewee (15 oz. per dozen). We rarely see Peewee or Small in most conventional supermarkets.

The next part of the labeling is a little murky and much more confusing. Labels such as, range free, cage free, meadow raised, and pasture raised sound great but only the label “organic” has a legal definition. Let’s start with Cage Free. All this means is the chickens are not raised in cages like some meat and egg chickens are. Cage free chickens are allowed to walk around the hen house and roost and lay their eggs in nest boxes. However they can be raised in very crowded conditions but it is still better than caged chickens. Caged Chickens are raised in cages that are barely big enough for them to open their wings, let alone stand up in. They are, in my opinion, not happy chickens and they won’t make excellent eggs. The eggs from these hens are usually the cheapest on the market and won’t have a label on them. Look for Cage Free as the next step up. Free Range chickens have it a little better. Here’s the definition of free range from the USDA website”there is continuous, free access to the out-of-doors for over 51% of the animals’ lives, i.e., through their normal growing cycle.” This access however can be a tiny pop door that is just big enough for one chicken at a time to go through and if a chicken is on the other side of the huge building housing thousands of chickens, they may never get to the door. The door also doesn’t have to lead to a grass or dirt area it can lead to a paved area. Pasture Raised is how we like to think of chickens being raised. Free to roam a pasture and scratch at the ground foraging for bugs and worms.  These eggs have become more popular at your local market but they fetch a much higher price. You can also find them at farmer’s markets or contact your local 4H club. Many backyard chickens produce more eggs than the owners can eat so many of them sell their extra eggs. I have found these types of backyard sellers on the bulletin boards at feed stores or Tractor Supply. Organic eggs are the ones that have to follow strict guidelines as set forth by the USDA.”Organic meat, poultry eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced using sustainable agricultural production practices. Not permitted are most conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients, or sewage sludge, bioengineering or ionizing radiation.” These eggs are usually a good bet and you can always find Organic Free Range or Cage free eggs. For the most part these chickens have a much better life and I believe they produce a much better tasting egg. To me it’s worth the extra $2 to buy Organic.

I raised chickens for over 10 years so I know a little bit about chickens and their diets. When you see “all vegetarian fed” on a label that may seem like a good thing to most people, except chickens are not vegetarians. When you think of chickens doesn’t the image of a chicken pulling on a worm come to mind? Chickens will eat small rodents or reptiles even. I once tried to save a small Garter snake that got into my coop. By the time I had undone the latches to get inside all 12 chickens had ganged up on the snake and devoured it minutes later. Another time I dropped a hamburger while grilling and they all converged on it in a split second. So just know chickens love meat. According to some scientist they are descendants of Dinosaurs and I can believe that. When you see Omega 3 yolks, that just means the chickens have been given feed with high Omega 3 content like flax seed. If you feel you’re not getting enough Omega 3 in your diet these might be good to try.

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Overall the only real way to be certain you’re getting excellent eggs is to either know the person you’re buying eggs from or raise them yourself. It’s very hard to go back to conventional eggs once you’ve eaten your own home raised eggs. If you’re interested in learning more about raising your own chickens send me an email. There are many places on the web to learn and buy everything you need as well. One of my favorite places is My Pet Chicken. They have a large variety of chickens and they come in the mail. If you have young kids, chickens actually make fun pets. There’s even chicken diapers for the chicken crazy people who like chickens in their house! I hope you found this article useful when buying your next dozen eggs. Please try and stay away from caged eggs as the conditions for these chickens are worse than you can imagine. If enough people stop buying these eggs then maybe we can get them to be cage free at least. One last thing, there’s no difference in the nutritional value of white vs. brown eggs. The color of egg depends on the breed of chicken. Enjoy your eggs and until next time , Boone Appétit!