free range eggs

Options
PetitePerfection
PetitePerfection Posts: 199 Member
in Food and Nutrition
what brand of eggs is actually free range? like pasture-raised, no hormones/antibiotics, organic fed etc...

Replies

  • sheclimbsrocks
    sheclimbsrocks Posts: 110 Member
    Options
    Local eggs, usually. I've read too much about abuse and disease to trust any of the labels about being cage or cruetly free. I now only buy my eggs from a farm where I can actually go visit the chickens, if I want.
  • Moonbyebye
    Moonbyebye Posts: 180 Member
    Options
    Free-range: scam. I did a huge research paper on free-range products, where I learned a lot of information about it. There is no regulations or anyone checking products when they're labeled free range. Anyone can slap that label on their product. Your best bet is to go the farm like the person above me stated.
  • annabellj
    annabellj Posts: 1,337 Member
    Options
    if you have a yard, you can raise your own. we have done it for years as my husband had them growing up and didnt like the taste of eggs from the store. when they are fresh, they taste so much better. gives the kids something to take care of also. and we feed them scraps so we dont waste a lot of food stuff such as apple cores, stuff that is on the verge of going bad, etc. they like grass clippings also!
  • go2grrl
    go2grrl Posts: 190 Member
    Options
    This might help you decide:

    http://www.cornucopia.org/organic-egg-scorecard/
  • roslynds9
    roslynds9 Posts: 139 Member
    Options
    Where are you guys in the world? Just wondering because I'm from the UK and if the eggs say free range on the box then they are free range and it's illegal to advertise them as such otherwise. Don't you guys have the same kind of laws about false advertising?
  • Moonbyebye
    Moonbyebye Posts: 180 Member
    Options
    Where are you guys in the world? Just wondering because I'm from the UK and if the eggs say free range on the box then they are free range and it's illegal to advertise them as such otherwise. Don't you guys have the same kind of laws about false advertising?

    No! USA. Not here. At least the Free-Range label.

    I have read that people will use the Free Range label by just having a window or small doorway in a confined chicken coop. I wish I had the sources I had for my paper but I sadly do not. Real disturbing stuff.
  • scarletfever2005
    scarletfever2005 Posts: 141 Member
    Options
    Where are you guys in the world? Just wondering because I'm from the UK and if the eggs say free range on the box then they are free range and it's illegal to advertise them as such otherwise. Don't you guys have the same kind of laws about false advertising?

    No! USA. Not here. At least the Free-Range label.

    I have read that people will use the Free Range label by just having a window or small doorway in a confined chicken coop. I wish I had the sources I had for my paper but I sadly do not. Real disturbing stuff.
    THis is true. I raise chickens and all you have to have is a door on your coop that the chickens can go out of if they want and you can label "free range". It's a marketing ploy. Your best bet is to find someone with a small flock and purchase from them or just raise your own.
  • pen2u
    pen2u Posts: 224 Member
    Options
    In the States if the chickens are let out for a minimum amount of time they can be labeled free range. I'm not sure what the time is, but it's certainly not more than a few minutes per day in a crowded patch of dirt. IOW, the hens aren't frolicking on a grassy hillside for hours. Unless you buy from a small family farm, or raise your own, you're at the mercy of misleading labeling.
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    Options
    Where are you guys in the world? Just wondering because I'm from the UK and if the eggs say free range on the box then they are free range and it's illegal to advertise them as such otherwise. Don't you guys have the same kind of laws about false advertising?

    Ah, America, the land of the free, where Congress gives into lobbies allowing big food to actually lie to us on labels.

    We get eggs from a local farm, which we've visited, where we know the farmers - they are sold at a garden shop near our housem or the farmers market. We get our meat the same way. "Cage free" in the grocery store usually means little and certainly doesn't mean pastured, which is how you really get the health benefits.
  • Niveous
    Niveous Posts: 294 Member
    Options
    Free-range is a virtually meaningless and misleading label. When applied to most factory farms, it usually means thousands of hens stuffed into a barn without cages. Although this may sound at least somewhat nicer in theory compared to your typical battery cages, it's actually very dangerous and stressful for the hens to be so overcrowded that they can't get away from each other or move freely (hence debeaking). Any eggs that are certified organic will be antibiotic/hormone free and the hens will have been fed organic feed - just look for the label in any grocery store. However, if you're looking for hens that are actually pasture-raised like you described, small local farms that don't rely on mass production are one of the best sources.
  • DrG3n3
    DrG3n3 Posts: 467 Member
    Options
    From what I've read in my ANS classes, free-range only particularly applies to meat chickens. So, when free range is used for layers (chickens that produce eggs) it only means they have access to the outside world, rather that be a small door, or even if they don't use it.

    Just a heads up.
  • bluebird321
    bluebird321 Posts: 732 Member
    Options
    We either buy them locally or get the "Vital" brand at Whole Foods.
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    Options
    I pretty much don't buy any of the marketing terms on eggs. I think that the big brands always find ways to claim their eggs are "free range" but that doesn't necessarily mean that those chickens were actually out scratching around in the dirt. I would check eatwild.org for farms near you that actually pasture their chickens. Or even check Craigslist. Depending on where you live, you might be able to find people who raise their own chickens who are just looking to sell a couple dozen.
  • durangocal
    durangocal Posts: 90 Member
    Options
    We have our own chickens and their eggs are the best! Last week I needed extra for baking-my hens are slowing down for the winter-so I bought regular white store eggs. I was so disgusted. The yolks were a pale yellow and the taste was blah.. So this week I bought "organic" at the local Nature's Grocers food store and the taste and look were much more like my home raised eggs. The brand that was similar to my hen's eggs is Farmers Hen House. On a side note-I first went to the feed store where I buy my feed-they sell customers extra eggs for $3. The local authorities had recently stopped them from doing so. I think that is so sad. That's how I ended up at the nature store.

Categories