Ideal Bite

Dear biters, I love your posts... very informative! I was hoping to find organic eggs, free roaming hens whose beaks are not cut, who graze outside and are not subjected to force molting. Do you know if there is such an egg for sale? Thank you. beth

Seems like the only way to be sure of how the hens are treated is either to raise chickens yourself, which some of my friends are doing, or buy your eggs from some place that allows you to personally visit their farm and inspect the hen house.

Thank you for this post! This is the type of info I was looking for when I signed up for Ideal Bite. Great job!

I've raised my backyard hens for about 7 years now. I live in a suburban neighborhood. It's really great to have your own produce. I also have bees (bad year for bees in N.East), raspberries,plums pears, & veg patch, all organic. The only downside really, is going on vacation. It's hard to find chicken sitters. Oh, and eating bought eggs. Once you've had really fresh eggs, you not only taste the difference, you feel the difference.

We have raised our own hens for years. They are free range to a point - when all the critters in the forest are looking for a chicken meal! But they have a large yard as well as their pen and tons of garden leftovers to eat as well.
But I am writing to add that, if you raise your own or buy unwashed eggs, you do not have to refrigerate them to store them! They come straight from the hen with a protective covering or "bloom" which seals them, and as long as that is not washed off, will keep for weeks in a pantry or cool cupboard.

I find this tip really confusing. The main gist of your intro was about antibiotic-free - yet you don't really promote organic in "Wanna Try", which is the only way to know the eggs are antibiotic-free. Antibiotic-free is buried within the "Wanna Try" section. Perhaps you can link the term "antibiotic-free" in the Benefits section with the terms in "Wanna Try" more closely. Also, are free range or pasture raised independently certified? What about explanations of beak cutting and/why how this can be part of certified humane - is it as bad as it sounds or not? Thank you.

I've heard these organic farms with the free range hens still engage in the hideous practice of grinding up newborn male chicks for cheap food (i.e. pet food and god knows what else). I wish we could find out if this is true or not. When I heard about this I stopped eating eggs altogether; I still buy the eggs from farms that raise organic-fed free range hens for my daughter, though. I wish there was a way the consumer could find out this information.

I did not know the meaning of these two terms: beak cutting and forced molting so I Googled them and was dismayed by what I learned. Beak cutting remind me of circumcision or dog tail and ear docking. I admit that the beak procedure has a practical reason behind it, but cannabalism surely is another result of the warehousing and factory-like methods of raising chickens. As far a forced molting: purposefully starving chickens to alter their normal life cycle seems like more information than I wanted to know.

Definitely a confusing post this time around. While the information is good to have, you do not present it correctly. The 'Wanna Try' section is usually reserved for your examples and the actual information (in this case, the terms) should be presented under 'The Benefits'.
I only buy Cyd's nestfresh when I cannot buy local because they have done their homework and have the certification behind them (& yes I researched them).
I guess I would have expected you to give some examples of eggs you can eat eat that meet the different terms you explained.

Is Jen married? Any lady that would share her shoulder with a chick is OK by me. Sounds like my kind of Gal! I would be interested to know from Jen: How many hens are required to sustain the family in eggs? What do you feed them? what kind of precautions do you take to protect them from birds of prey and animal hunters? What breed of hens do you have / prefer? Why? Thanks!