Stand By Your Hen
24 October 2007 by Jean Johnson
Here’s help for those wanting to make sense of the egg scene. The store bought scene boils down to 3 divisions, along with the caveat that if you really want to ensure your hens are well cared for, buy local from small growers.
1. Cheap Eggs=Hens who live out stark lives crammed into cages together, each with space the size of a laptop and no room to flap their wings–a behavior that’s instinctual with egg laying.
2. Cagefree Eggs=The hens are freed from their cages, but only into the cavernous barn that holds hundreds upon thousands of hens that must be going nigh unto out of their minds.
3. Organic Eggs=By definition organic eggs must come from hens that get outside the barn. This is a spendy proposition for egg growers and why these eggs are several times the cost of the cheapies. That said, according to regulation these hens can still be subjected to practices the United States Humane Society finds intolerable: forced starvation and beak trimming.
My take on eggs: buy from a local grower–trade with your neighbor–or get a couple hens for your own yard.
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