I have a small flock of heritage chickens, about 16 hens. Chantecler (the only Canadian breed of chicken) and Buckeye. They are cold-tolerant (no combs to freeze on these chickens) and very friendly. I built them an insulated coop with 2 large South facing windows for lots of natural daylight. Normally they are out from dawn till dusk, foraging. Even in winter I will leave the pop door open on most days, and some of them will venture out (as long as I shovel the snow away from the coop) and sit in the sun or wander around.
Well, these hens give me a glorious abundance of eggs in summer - usually a dozen a day. The yolks are dark yellow, almost orange. We feast on eggs in summer! Omelets, scrambled, fried, boiled. I pickle bottles full that disappear just as fast as I can make them! I sell some and give some away to family.
But Fall arrived and my hens started molting. And stopped laying. One by one, until I was getting an egg a day. Now - nothing. And its Christmas baking season, I need eggs!
So off to the store I venture. Hmmm. The cheapest eggs are $2.81 per dozen. Doesnt say anything about free run or free range. There are some Organic Free Range eggs for $5.89 per dozen, and some Free Run eggs for $5.79.
In principle, buying cage raised eggs for $2.81 a dozen just seems.... wrong. If you have ever been to an egg farm (and I have) and seen 5 hens per cage that is about 2ftx2ft, with wire floor, stacked 5 high in a barn with about 2,000 birds..... no sunlight, no green grass, no dirt to scratch in. No quality of life. These hens are pale, their eggs are pale. They have a conveyer bringing them food 24/7, and a conveyer collecting the eggs that roll out of the slanted floor 24/7. Oh, my heart breaks for them. Sure, they know no different, but is that a good reason to treat them the way we do?
I have full empathy for city dwellers who cannot have a backyard hen or 3, and that want to eat ethically produced, natural food. And all that on a budget. How do you justify buying $5.89 eggs when you can buy $2.81 eggs?
So what did I end up buying? The $5.89 organic free range eggs. I gave my support to what I believe in.
