Back Yard Eggs Nutrition . . . ???

[tswb]

First off I would like to say im not hear to make any enemys or start any fights. I was only saying what I have learned in all my classes and research I have done on this topic. and thank you Alicefelldown for the welcome.

The article you posted above if you read the whole thing it says they were questioned by the Egg Nutrition Council. also did you read all the comments at the end were it was not to have been scientifc in any way. and I have worked in layer houses and I am not saying its right but the those birds are healthy. they are being tested continuously being tested. If the bird was not healthy it would not lay to full production so they would lose money dont you think? according to the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association there is no diff between the eggs. I knw this will be an on going argumnent in the industry for years.

 

[Warthog]

twsb, I will just say this, do you have your own birds. If not find someone who does and taste the eggs.

 

[ams3651]

I will just use my own example. My step father is allergic to eggs, terrible gastric problems. My eggs have no affect on him what so ever. My feed comes from a local feed mill, I also feed them cracked corn from my dads farm, add some scratch grains from the same mill in the summer. they eat lettuces, melons, grapes, etc as well as ranging in the yard for a few hours a week. So whats the difference, I cant say exactly but my eggs have nice orange yolks and taste much better. The chickens that are raised less than a 1/2 mile from here in 4 large industrial barns eat only what they truck in each week.

 

[ams3651]

Quote:
We in general feel that raising our own chickens and eggs assures that they are healthier for us and we know what they are being fed. If you feel commercial chicken and eggs are adequate for you, you may not feel it necessary to raise your own. We may not have a lot of scientific proof of how we feel about our eggs but simply know we like what we do. If your looking for lots of scientific data from backyard poultry owners you probably wont get it.

 

[alicefelldown]

Quote:
There is no difference between Free Range and Cage Free because they are same thing (when mass marketed in giant layer houses). You could almost lump normal battery caged hens into that same nutritional category (eating nothing but premixed mash due to their being de-beaked) (and maybe chock-full of antibiotics depending on the farm due to over-crowding).

That isn't the same thing at all however to the chickens that we raise - which are pastured (eat greens and insects in the sunlight). The term free range appears to have been completely co-opted by big commercial companies and no longer just means 'birds that freely range in a yard'.

Has your poultry science class covered yet how there are no USDA/Federal regulations on the terms Free Range or Cage Free for egg production - as there is for meat? And how even for meat production, the regulations only stipulate that the door needs to be open for at least five minutes a day and the farm will qualify as free-range? Have they mentioned that, apart from the 'open door', no other criteria such as environmental quality, number of birds, or space per bird, are included in the term free-range?

Does that sound at all to anyone like the same thing as a pasture raised hen? Because there is a world of difference there tswb - I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, but I'd like you to clarify which farming methods you are referring to - industrial "free range/cage free" or our pastured girls.

BTW - the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association is lobbyist group (pdf link) and not an independent organization (which can include research universities or government agencies) - and is in face made up of "members that include producers and processors of broilers, turkeys, ducks, eggs, and breeding stock, as well as allied companies. " - nope, no bias there!

 

[tswb]

The more yellow yolk i just from the greens. it doesnt mean any more nutrional value. have you ever fed your girls alfalfa it will turn there yolk orange, or have you fed them alot of garlic with alfalfa it will turn it almost green.

And yes I have chickens lots of them, and yes they free range. And i can tast no diff between the eggs. In my class we have gone to local farmers markets and asked people if hey can taste the diff between free range (like the free range you do with your birds)76% of the poeple asked said no. and we asked why they bought them and they said because they do not want to support caged birds.

And yes I am refuring to Free range not industry free range. and yes i know all about the USDAs regulations.

I am not saying I am for the caged birds.

I wanna know what makes you think your girls eggs have more nutritional value? because they eat grass? bugs? undigested seeds out of there own poo? maybe a dead goffer or mouse?If what they eat reflects how the eggs will be What if they eat a black widow will they have poisonious eggs? Ive read posts on hear about peoples chickens eating a rattle snake wouldnt that make there eggs poisonious ? or tast meaty?

 

[ams3651]

so why come to a chicken forum and ask a question or make a comment which will clearly stir up controversy ..... just so you can argue your more informed than us? It seems that way as your not willing to take anything we say into consideration, just insist we are wrong.

 

[12GAGirl]

Well I think I will put in my two-cents! I think along with both of my parents, my grandmother, my uncle, my husband and my sister; we can tell a difference between the eggs from the local piggly wiggly and the eggs from my chicken kingdom. My sister is sensitive to eggs but seems to have no problems eating the eggs from my flock. I can also say when baking pound cake there is a huge difference in the cakes I made with eggs from the store and the ones I baked with my flock's eggs in the recipe. I have no idea about all the science hooha but I know my flock seem way happier than the ones you see at a poultry farm. My flock gets to take dust baths and scratch in the dirt for bugs and lay out in the sun. Where as the poultry farm chickens are stuffed in cages and some are depeaked as if that is normal for a chicken. I would rather know my eggs come from chickens who get to live a good life than the ones who have no clue what dirt is. A little dirt never hurt! My grandparents use to say everything needs dirt to grow and live and I agree. Even if my yard eggs are not better or worse than the store eggs I like them and I like having my own chickens and really don't give a hoot what some science book claims!

 

[alicefelldown]

tswb why are you here? Certainly it can't be much fun to act indignant when people disagree with you.

Yes, Mother Earth News can be pretty biased (in the same way the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association / Egg Board whom you've been referencing are - just opposite sides. The other studies listed though, do exist, and have quite a bit of evidence that would disprove your theory that all eggs are the same.)
(Since you are a student, you should take some time to check out the journals listed on JSTOR.)
(Perhaps you'd like to talk to your instructors and see what they have to say - since you clearly aren't listening to anyone else.)

I will agree that orange yolks do not accurately indicate better nutrition - it's been common knowledge for some time that high beta carotene content will color the yokes, and as such, most commercial feeds supplement for that like humans do with vitamins (calendula or marigold flowers for instance).

I think you are a bit full of it with your informal farmers market survey. If you are going to throw everyone else's experiences out the window for being anecdotal then you really should back that up with facts and not random percentages. (side note - not everyone instantly can taste the difference in eggs. Took my roommate about 3 months before he could tell the difference in taste. Not everyone is a foodie)

Mother Earth News did a study in which they compared the nutrients in real pastured eggs to supermarket eggs.

Compared to supermarket eggs (from factory farms), real pastured eggs have:

5 times more vitamin D
2/3 more vitamin A
2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
3 times more vitamin E
7 times more beta carotene

The Mother Earth News wasn’t the only one doing research on this. There have been many other studies over the years:

In 1974, the British Journal of Nutrition found that pastured eggs had 50 percent more folic acid and 70 percent more vitamin B12 than eggs from factory farm hens.

In 1988, Artemis Simopoulos, co-author of The Omega Diet, found pastured eggs in Greece contained 13 times more omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids than U.S. commercial eggs.

A 1998 study in Animal Feed Science and Technology found that pastured eggs had higher omega-3s and vitamin E than eggs from caged hens.

A 1999 study by Barb Gorski at Pennsylvania State University found that eggs from pastured birds had 10 percent less fat, 34 percent less cholesterol, 40 percent more vitamin A, and four times the omega-3s compared to the standard USDA data. Her study also tested pastured chicken meat, and found it to have 21 percent less fat, 30 percent less saturated fat and 50 percent more vitamin A than the USDA standard.

In 2003, Heather Karsten at Pennsylvania State University compared eggs from two groups of Hy-Line variety hens, with one kept in standard crowded factory farm conditions and the other on mixed grass and legume pasture. The eggs had similar levels of fat and cholesterol, but the pastured eggs had three times more omega-3s, 220 percent more vitamin E and 62 percent more vitamin A than eggs from caged hens.

The 2005 study Mother Earth News conducted of four heritage-breed pastured flocks in Kansas found that pastured eggs had roughly half the cholesterol, 50 percent more vitamin E, and three times more beta carotene.

That being said, I wish you well here tswb, good luck with finding whatever it is you came for.​

 

[AZKat]

Another good supplement is black oil sunflower seeds and mixed bird seed, along with plenty of table scraps. I think that the meat scraps that my chickens get helps improve the egg quality as well. Also, as you thin the plants and so on, toss the waste from your garden into the run, along with any weeds.

And yes, even though my chickens don't get to free range, their eggs are much, much better than any commercial eggs I've seen.