AMA-do you buy cage free eggs?

[baytosa2013]

We don't buy eggs much. I don't eat them, C isn't in to them and DH likes them but is too lazy to cook them most of the time. We just buy the regular eggs.

[mirage86]

I buy whatever eggs they have at Aldi. I never used to buy them unless I was baking, but with E eating solids I figure it's a good way for him to get protein.
My mom has mentioned before that free range eggs have a far better taste. It's all she buys now, I think she has a relatively local place to buy from.

[beersandweirs]

We usually just buy the standard eggs from the store, which I am sure are not cage free. We do occasionally get farm fresh eggs from the farmers market, or if someone I know has them, they do taste way better.

[jillywilly]

We don't go through a ton of eggs, but I buy the organic/cage free variety. They're more expensive, but they also seem to have longer expiration dates. Since it takes a while for us to get through a carton, I figure it's less waste.

Unrelated story: My mom went grocery shopping yesterday. I asked her if she could pick up some whole milk for DS since he was running low. I buy organic milk for him. She did her grocery shopping at Meijer, but stopped at Kroger to buy their brand organic milk, because that's what I had in the fridge. When I called her out on the crazy, she said she wanted to make sure she got the right one. So I'm not sure if she really thinks I'm THAT crazy over what type of milk he drinks, or if she's just that German. I told her next time, just buy whatever whole milk is readily available.

[hannahl201477]

+whatever to only buying when recipe calls for them. But even then I don't pay attention. So I doubt it.

[veggiemo]

I had to google our packaging because I didn't even know the brand. I guess we do buy cage free but I don't know if that's on purpose. H is the milk/egg buyer in our house so I'm not sure why he chooses this brand.

[veggiemo]

Aug 17, 2016 11:59:54 GMT -5 jillywilly said:

We don't go through a ton of eggs, but I buy the organic/cage free variety. They're more expensive, but they also seem to have longer expiration dates. Since it takes a while for us to get through a carton, I figure it's less waste.

Unrelated story: My mom went grocery shopping yesterday. I asked her if she could pick up some whole milk for DS since he was running low. I buy organic milk for him. She did her grocery shopping at Meijer, but stopped at Kroger to buy their brand organic milk, because that's what I had in the fridge. When I called her out on the crazy, she said she wanted to make sure she got the right one. So I'm not sure if she really thinks I'm THAT crazy over what type of milk he drinks, or if she's just that German. I told her next time, just buy whatever whole milk is readily available.

When DS started drinking milk, H was sooo particular about the milk he drank. He would only buy a specific brand, and we would send a container of it over to in-laws because H didn't want him drinking their brand. Now when we are running out of milk H will even go to the speedway down the street for milk. He's loosened up quite a bit by the second baby haha.

[belle0720]

We actually eat a lot of eggs and I usually just buy the regular cheap store brand ones.

I have been thinking more about this stuff lately though and getting cage free eggs sometimes and organic milk sometimes. I was trying to do goat milk for a while but then stores wouldn't have it and it only comes in tiny cartons which is annoying too. It would be nice if all of this stuff was the norm and wasn't so much more expensive than the regular options--I just have a hard time paying $6 when there's a $2 option in front of me.

[jessila]

We buy the double 18 pack (36 total) at Wegmans. And will eat them all before the expiration date.
Has anyone paged wegrowsheep to teach us about chickens and eggs? Tell us all the things that we, as consumers of farmed goods, should know!

[jessila]

Aug 17, 2016 12:38:05 GMT -5 @hazeldublin said:

Aug 17, 2016 12:35:15 GMT -5 jessila said:

We buy the double 18 pack (36 total) at Wegmans. And will eat them all before the expiration date.
Has anyone paged wegrowsheep to teach us about chickens and eggs? Tell us all the things that we, as consumers of farmed goods, should know!

Does she have chickens? I thought she was fruit and veg?

She mentions feeding chickens often so I hope so or else she's super nice and likes feeding people's animals.

[beersandweirs]

Aug 17, 2016 12:43:08 GMT -5 @imapenguin said:

Why are there so many egg threads today?

I think you should be asking why we haven't had any egg threads prior to today. Hmmmm?

[wegrowsheep]

@hazeldublin, our family doesn't raise commercial chickens, but I do have a small flock and sell some eggs.

jessila thanks for the tag, this will be brief because I've got a hundred pounds of fruit to can today.


Cage free means that chickens are not in cages, but have free roam of a barn. Free range chickens have free access to leave the barn and go outside, often into a fenced, covered coop.

Cages aren't necessarily bad. Chickens given lots of room frequently peck at each other, and once blood appears it can become a frenzy similar to watching sharks go after each other. Cages can also be more sanitary and decrease the spread of disease should a chicken become ill.
As far as chickens housed inside 24/7, there are benefits to that as well. Avian flu is a real threat in our country, and if any of your birds get it, your entire flock gets torched.. Literally, a bird bonfire. Predators are a big problem, particularly eagles and hawks, and building predator-proof coops for large flocks is hard and very costly. Weather is also a factor, as there are areas where chickens can't be housed outside for multiple months at a time.

Bottom line: Every farmer does what is best for his or her animals AND family. To build a small commercial poultry barn in my county will cost 5.5k just for permits. The farmer doesn't want chickens to die after spending time, money, labor, feed, etc for 6 months (avg time from hatching to laying). And they need to make some kind of profit too. How many dozen eggs do I need to sell to pay for my operation AND support a family? It's a LOT.

[beersandweirs]

Aug 17, 2016 12:47:39 GMT -5 carrots said:

Aug 17, 2016 12:45:49 GMT -5 @hazeldublin said:

Honestly I'm stopping myself from starting one asking how much everyone pays for eggs.

I think I pay around $2 a dozen for my caged white eggs. But I don't really pay attention for stuff like that where I'm buying it every week and there's no cheaper option.

About the same here. More like $4/dozen for the farm fresh ones.

[baytosa2013]

Aug 17, 2016 11:47:22 GMT -5 @hazeldublin said:

Aug 17, 2016 11:45:39 GMT -5 baytosa2013 said:

We don't buy eggs much. I don't eat them, C isn't in to them and DH likes them but is too lazy to cook them most of the time. We just buy the regular eggs.

Regular eggs? Do you know if they are caged or they are just eggs?

I'm just interested to see if I'm irrationally aware of eggs.

TBH I have no clue.  I should probably be more concerned about that but we buy eggs like MAYBE once a month.  I am aware that there is a whole separate cold case for eggs that are brown, eggs that are organic, and eggs that I am guessing free range or special in some other way because they are all like triple the cost.  I did see an article pop up on FB the other day about there being a difference between uncaged and free range.

ETA: I see that wegrowsheep covered that difference!

[wegrowsheep]

Bonus pics: the uncovered portion of my coop. Chickens are currently in the woods foraging (aka eating free food).

Our eggs, $3.50 per dozen.

[purple]

It's honestly never crossed my mind not to buy free range eggs. It was dinned into me at an early age. We had our own chickens when I was a kid, though, so I know free range tastes a lot better.

[wegrowsheep]

Aug 17, 2016 13:18:36 GMT -5 Kristykristyleelee said:

How do you get them to come back from foraging in the woods wegrowsheep?

I keep their food in the coop, and they have a safe place to roost there.

However, I have a few rogue hens that like adventurous living and don't always come in. They also lay their eggs in the woods sometimes. So every few weeks we round everyone up and they stay in for a few days to remind them where they belong

[musicfrk2002]

I'm cheap, so whatever the cheapest option is. Usually it's the store brand.

[Widget123]

I assume the eggs we buy are probably caged. I just grab whatever is at the store without thinking about it.

[heartofglass]

We normally get whatever's cheapest at the store unless I get them from the farmers market or a friend. We eat a lot of eggs, so we get the big SAMs pack too most of he time. I'm hoping to get my own chickens, but that will probably have to wait until next summer. They definitely have a better taste and a richer yellow yolk.

[holliberry28]

I buy Organic Cage-Free only. Eggs and Milk are the two things that I always stick to buying Organic. I eat a lot of eggs, almost every morning for breakfast.

[mrsmonogrammed]

SQ for wegrowsheep what causes the variation in shell color?

[mrsmonogrammed]

We almost never buy eggs- mostly just for baking. I buy the cheapest brand because it's getting baked anyway, so I'm not even tasting it!

[periwinkledaydreams]

LTs all around for the eggy boards today! We're cheap (read: poor) so we buy whatevers cheap and on sale. When we have our own property someday Id love to have a few chickens and goats. Dreams ladies, these are my dreams.

[wegrowsheep]

Aug 17, 2016 15:42:42 GMT -5 mrsmonogrammed said:

SQ for wegrowsheep what causes the variation in shell color?

Breed. The lightest are the Araucana eggs, medium color large eggs are from Wyandottes, really dark eggs from the Welsummers.

[blueskiessmiling]

I buy free range whenever possible, but won't go out of my way to get them if I'm just grabbing a carton while running errands. I've used a combo of free range and regular eggs in one recipe, and I will say the yolks in the free range eggs are noticeably darker (which supposedly means a healthier chicken). DD eats an egg most days.

[carolyngrace]

Aug 17, 2016 17:14:46 GMT -5 wegrowsheep said:

Aug 17, 2016 15:42:42 GMT -5 mrsmonogrammed said:

SQ for wegrowsheep what causes the variation in shell color?

Breed. The lightest are the Araucana eggs, medium color large eggs are from Wyandottes, really dark eggs from the Welsummers.

Is it fair to say certain breeds are more commonly free range and/or organic? Because I really feel like the cheaper eggs are always light and less tasty while the organic free range are usually rich in color and flavor...

But maybe I'm just tricking myself?

I buy organic free range unless I'm feeling poor that week and I buy regular but feel weird eating them. I recently stopped buying organic milk because money...

[Deleted]

Aug 17, 2016 12:43:08 GMT -5 @imapenguin said:

Why are there so many egg threads today?

I'm so confused by the egg threads. I at first thought at least one of them was fertility related. But nope.

[Deleted]

Aug 17, 2016 23:06:00 GMT -5 @badwolf321 said:

@poppyc8, we've all known each other too long. We've run out of things to talk about. Tomorrow will be grass fed beef.

So true. At least we aren't yapping about the weather all day. My parents are 75 and have been married 40 yrs and it's pretty much their go to. That and parking spots

[Deleted]

Aug 17, 2016 23:15:34 GMT -5 @badwolf321 said:

Aug 17, 2016 23:11:52 GMT -5 @poppyc8 said:

So true. At least we aren't yapping about the weather all day. My parents are 75 and have been married 40 yrs and it's pretty much their go to. That and parking spots

Question number one. How do you know your parents are getting old?

Answer: First thing you discuss when on the phone or with them. Weather. For a good 15 minutes.

This is so true! They live in Southern California too where it's usually 70-80 degrees everyday with no tornadoes, usually no rain and no snow. So my dads fixation with weather now makes me feel he should live somewhere with actual weather!