Eggs!

This is one of the articles written for my newspaper column, You Are What You Eat. Some of this is specific to Eastport, Maine, because I write for an Eastport newspaper.

Have you heard of cage free eggs, free range chickens and pastured eggs? These new buzz words are important. We need to understand the differences between the three to understand what we’re getting when we buy eggs.

Most of our eggs are produced by hens kept in battery cages. The laying hens in these cages are packed in without room to stretch. They eat a 100% processed diet, defecate and lay eggs. They are debeaked as newly hatched chicks so that they’re less likely to cause damage when pecking each other. It’s not a good life for the birds. As consumers realize how much truth there is behind “you are what you eat” and how food is raised we’re expecting, even demanding, better. We should expect better food for the amount of money we have to spend on groceries now. Food prices are skyrocketing.

Cage free hens are kept in buildings but not in cages. They’re free to walk around. Cage free eggs are now so popular that an egg production company is courting Maine farmers in hopes of expanding their business. According to MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association), demand for cage free eggs is outgrowing demand for organic eggs. This is good news for hens. They can move about the building, sometimes moving between floors in the building. They can fly, as well chickens can fly, up to roost at night if a producer offers roosts to the hens. There’s less boredom because the birds can exercise. Less boredom cuts back on pecking. Unfortunately, less pecking doesn’t mean less debeaking but this is a step forward.

Cage free hens are still fed the same food as their battery caged counterparts but their overall diet might be a bit different. The standard laying hen diet consists of processed pellets or crumbles. Producers who go to the level of cage free often add flax seed to the hens’ daily food. Flax is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. When it’s added to the hens’ diet it adds more omega-3 to their eggs. Research shows that omega-3 fatty acids are good for our heart.

It’s something, isn’t it, when moving forward means returning to the old fashioned, natural way of doing things. Free range chickens are allowed outside. By USDA definition, free range birds must be given access to the outdoors. It does not mean they are going to go outside or that they’ll be on grass or soil. If the hens do go out they might be on a cement pad or dirt only. Many of the chickens, ducks, turkeys and other poultry kept on small farms are legally free range. My birds are penned right now because of the market garden. If I turned the ducks outside without fencing they’d be drilling holes in the garden to find the pea and spinach seeds. The laying hens and turkeys would scratch up the seed and would be enjoying dust baths at the expense of my garden. As soon as the doors open in the morning the birds rush out. The turkeys and laying hens are in one building and the ducks in another. When we get to the “build turkey pen” line on the to-do list the turkeys will go to a summer home among the pine and apple trees. The laying hens will move out to portable chicken tractors. Tractors are portable

When my birds don’t have to be penned or I have them in tractors they are pastured. I prefer to keep the birds on pasture at all times. Mother Earth News published an article last fall detailing their comparison of battery cage and pastured eggs. Pastured eggs are much healthier for us than battery cage eggs by a landslide. Their research shows that pastured eggs contain a third less cholesterol and a quarter less saturated fat. This is great nows for those of us with heart concerns. Pastured eggs have two-thirds more vitamin eggs, twice the amount of omega-3 fatty acids and three times more vitamin E. Pastured eggs have darker orange yolks thanks to the hens eating plants. Their eggs contain seven times more beta carotene. These delicious eggs have less of the bad and more of the good.

Pastured chickens produce healthier eggs for us to eat and they serve other purposes too. They’ll reduce the amount of insect damage in gardens, lower the parasite load in pastures and naturally fertilize the soil. You’re likely to find free range and pastured eggs locally in the Eastport area. You might find them by searching your zip code at Local Harvest.