With Easter right around the corner, focus is put on brightly colored Easter eggs sitting in Easter baskets nestled into plastic, green "grass". Believe it or not, there are many options in eggs these days as well as a heated controversy that is gaining rapid attention from large companies.
Traditional cages, cage-free and free range. What's happening?
Traditional caged chickens live their entire lives confined to a single cage about the size of a microwave. They lay an egg on a conveyor belt, they drink some water, they eat some chicken feed off a conveyor belt and that's about it until the next day. They can't really move. They can't really lay down. They can't stretch their wings. They can't dust their feathers. Their whole lives, which are slightly longer than if they lived in the wild, are confined to that one cage where their bones grow brittle and their feathers rub off against the sides of the cage.
Cage-free chickens live a more free lifestyle. They still don't see the outdoors, but they do get to stretch their legs and roam around in as much space as their particular henhouse allows. They get to lay their eggs in a nesting box where they can be semi-alone as their egg drops onto a conveyor belt underneath. The hen spends the rest of her day in a dust bath and later goes to perch up on galvanized steel perches. Hens do have a pecking order, so to say, so there are moments when fights break out between higher-level hens and their lower counterparts.
Free-range chickens live the good life. They are free to go out and play in the sun and chase bugs in the yard. Inside the buildings, it is a bit dusty, but does not have the alarming ammonia smell that is characteristic of chicken houses. A 19,000 hen facility could easily fit 250,000 hens if it were a traditional, caged facility.
Although cage-free and free-range are better for the chicken in many ways, chickens can be mean to each other which lowers the mortality rate among the flock. There is also the issue with price. It takes more people to clean up the hens' area and to collect the eggs that are laid in places other than the nesting boxes. Although free-range chickens get to experience the outside, there are no regulations as to how much of the outside they get to experience - from a field or a small, covered porch. Finally, there is the bottom line...the more money that goes into raising hens, then the more costlier the eggs are going to be. I just paid .88 cents for a dozen eggs for Easter and got 3 dozen. Would I have gotten as many if they were $5 per dozen?
Sadly, many animals that we use for food are at the mercy of our wallets and I feel the American people are very wasteful when it comes to those animals and the meat that they provide. I think that we have sacrificed quantity for quality. Personally, I would rather have smaller portions of better animal products either that or go back to the days where some of the food was taken care of at home. I don't think I could butcher my own animals because I attach myself WAY too much, but eggs?...if I could get away with it from my husband...SURE I'd raise hens for eggs for my family! Our society has become very dependent upon fast food, super grocery stores and Starbucks.
Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs are a company that sets a great example of high standards. Click here to learn more about their farm!
So what do you think? Are you okay with traditional hen houses or would you pay the extra money for eggs and know that the chicken are at least a little more comfortable?
