Organic egg's

[Hoot]

I know this has been ask a million times. But I wasn't here then.

What are the requirements for organic egg's?

Hoot

 

[Master S.M.C]

Complete organic feeding for your birds, no exceptions

 

[tinners204]

Like what? Can you buy feed from the coop and expect this?

 

[Hoot]

They have to be fed total organic feeds. So no clippings from the garden or free ranging in a yard that has fertilizers or pesticides?

Is that correct?

 

[waynesgarden]

Quote:
Organic certification is hard to achieve. The main points:

All the bagged feed you use must be certified as made from only organically grown crops.

You will find organic controls for chicken diseases and pests. (There will be no dousing your birds with Seven at the sign of a few mites.)

No free-ranging on lawns doused with Scotts chemical weed killers and chemical fertilizers.

Getting an organic certification is difficult for poultry but admirable if you can work it out. But anyone calling their eggs "organic" without meeting all the requirements is guilty of fraud and should be prosecuted under the law.

Wayne

 

[greathorse]

You may not certify that your eggs are raised organically without the whole certification process.

There is nothing that says you cant feed your chickens organic grains keep them off any sprayed forage, use only organically approved treatments and then tell your egg customers exactly how you grow them. You can detail your process. You may not of course use the USDA logo on your eggs.

For many customers the above would be all the information they need to add some value to your eggs.

 

[CovenantCreek]

Requirements also include no medications for the pullets when they hatch and no beak trimming (so no buying started pullets from a hatchery). No antibiotics -- though if a hen gets sick or injured and requires antibiotics for proper treatment you are expected to provide them, but take the hen out of the organic egg production pen. After the necessary withdrawal period from the med, she would have to relegated to a non-organic flock.

Then, if you're looking to get certified, you have a lot of paperwork to complete, a lot of fees to pay, and a lot of hoops to jump through. All of which will be ongoing. On the other hand, you can tell people that you provide the hens with certified organic layer feed, that their environment is free from chemicals, and explain why you don't want to carry the brand name of Certified Organic because of all the bureaucratic nonsense that doesn't make the eggs any better and because part of "the good life" for hens includes eating table scraps that might not qualify. Most consumers who are searching for a better product will probably understand that.

 

[greathorse]

There ya go. That is the ticket

 

[Hoot]

So much for that idea!

I'll call them farm fresh and leave it at that. Thanks for all the information.

Hoot

 

[redoak]

In New York we also have a farmers pledge organic. "Those who sign this pledge agree that consumers may inspect, by appt, their farm/garden to judge the truthfulness of this statement." This is for small farms where certified organic is financially unattainable.