OT - what I am doing today

My grocery store has Eggland's Best cage free/organic eggs.  But I called them and they are not what I consider cage free.  Apparently there is no legal definition of that.  It's like how any company can put the word "bariatric" on their vitamins but it does not mean they are really suitable for WLS folks.

Eggland's Best cage free chickens are not in little cages.  They are in a large concrete room (kinda like a big cage, I would call it, but they don't).  They never ever get access to the outside.  They have only artificial light.  They are fed organic food but of course never get to eat bugs which is mostly what chickens eat when they are raised on pasture.  They cut off their beaks so they do no peck each other to death, which is a problem when chickens are raised in overcrowded, unnatural conditions.

This farm is the closest place I can get chickens raised outside that do not have their beaks cut off.

What brand do you buy?

 Wow, I didn't know that about Eggland's Best cage free/organic eggs.  I better start researching more.  Right now I have Emma's Comfort Coop eggs.  Just took a look at their website.  The hens are till in cages, but they have their beaks and the cages are spacious and they look like they get around pretty well.  They have web cams so you can see the birds.  They even grow all the food to feed them.  I don't know, guess I'll have to start looking beyond product packaging labels.

Jan

See, I would not consider Emma's to be free range eggs.  They are cages, although they are a little roomier than the typical cages seem to be.  In one photo I could see the chicken standing on a wire mesh floor, although in another shot it seemed to be on a solid floor. The wire mesh hurts their feet.  But they have no access to the outdoors, I'm assuming they aren't feeding them bugs which is a big part of their natural diet.  I couldn't tell if the lights were left on all of the time.  In some cases, egg producers leave artificial lights on most of the time to trick the chickens into laying more eggs.  I also couldn't really tell if they'd trimmed their beaks or not.  But anyway, that's not the sort of eggs I was looking for.

The farm where I bought mine has about 120 chickens.  They have a hen house that they can go in and out of all day whenever they want.  They have a large grassy area they can move around in and they scratch up the dirt and eat bugs.  They do supplement their big diet with organic grain.  The hen house has a solid wood floor and is very roomy with a bunch of nesting boxes where they lay their eggs.  The chickens all go into the hen house at night to roost and then they shut the door for the night to keep predators out.  They also move the hen house every few days so the chickens are on new pasture.  That's the kind of thing I was looking for.

 That sounds like a great place.  I just read the labels and assumed the chickens were free range, never looked farther than that.  But then, I don't have time to drive fourty miles to a farm to get eggs.  I'll have to mull this over and start comparing more thoroughly.  I thought just reading labels would be enough.  Oh well.

Of course that's what you assumed.  That's what the company wants you to assume.

I'm sure most people don't have time to drive 40 miles to get eggs.  There have been plenty of times in my life when I would not have had time to do that.

Hi Kelly - keep in mind that you might find some differences buying fresh eggs over the grocery store ones you are used to.  For example, the yolk might be brighter colored - this is due to possible the chicken being allowed to eat grass (and bugs); you might find the yolk to be firmer - due to freshness; and you might find the white part to be more liquid - due to freshness.  If the chicken is dark colored, you may find a speck of brown in the yolk - don't get concerned - this is not a baby chicken!  Remember that eggs sold for consumption are not fertilzed - no rooster around!  Also, fresh eggs don't peel well after boiling.  I have a bowl with fresh eggs and some a week or so older for boiling. 

So what is the brown spot?  When I buy cage free brown eggs from our grocery store, there's usually a spot or something in the yolk that I always remove with a spoon.  Is it ok to cook with it?

fatfree - good question about what is the spot - I don't really know.  Light colored chickens don't have it; dark ones do...so I figured just some kind of pigmentation from the chicken - but for sure you can eat it.  I have it in most of the dark chickens' UNFERTILIZED eggs - so for sure it's nothing to do with that.

Thanks for the tips.  I was expecting the yolks to be more of an orange color.

It seemed like about half the chickens I saw today were brown.  The other half were mostly black and white, kind of speckled.  Not too many white ones.  The lady that was showing me around is not the owner of the farm, the owners are actually on vacation at the moment.  She wasn't sure what the breed of chickens were.  Not that knowing the breed would mean anything to me anyway.  They all looked like happy little hens, though!

So you wait a week or so before boiling them?  I plan to boil some of these and make some egg salad.

There are so many things I do with eggs.  I love deviled eggs made with mayo and greek yogurt.  I make a lot of egg bites and freeze them so they are handy.  I have a few rosettes from Bariatric Foodie in my fridge right now.  And of course omelettes, hard boiled and scrambled eggs are good, too, as well as frittatas.