Store Bought or Farm Fresh?

[cluckcluckgirl]

On a backyard poultry board I do not think one is going to find many folks who prefer "store bought" to "farm fresh." I haven't bought eggs from the supermarket in years.
But backyard poultry keepers are just as susceptible to incorrect folklore about eggs and poultry as anyone else is. "Store bought" are not necessarily old eggs. The law says they have thirty days to be sold then afterwards they are out of date. It is entirely possible in some cases for the eggs from the store to have been laid literally yesterday. The whole mechanized, industrial egg production system is built around getting those hen fruit from the egg factory to the store as quickly and efficiently as possible.
I keep hens and sell eggs. I don't care for the way our modern egg and poultry farming systems have evolved. But this isn't to say they aren't efficient. In that area they mostly beat the pants off us "backyard poultry" folks.

The main goal in factories is, like they said, to try to get as many eggs out. They feed them a feed that helps them to lay eggs more often, like one a day. But their main mistake is the cages the chickens are kept in (unless the carton is labled "cage free"). Each bird has 1/2 sq ft and they don't peck at the ground for rocks and bugs. Unless you buy organic eggs. I think that in order to maximize your egg production, you need to make sure your chickens are happy and can peck at the ground. Our new chickens proved that; they laid their first egg when they were 4 1/2 months old!

 

[BradnKellie]

From my backyard chickens only!

 

[SnowPeeOstrichU]

Farm Fresh! Some store eggs are just as good, like Pheonix's Egg Farm. Some are almost as good. With most store bought, you don't know how well the chicken was actually treated. Even if there is a cage free or free range, they try to trick you, in my opinion, into thinking it is better than the reality(like free range. same as a different one i forget which). With farm fresh, which you could consider Pheonix Egg Farm farm fresh, if it is yours or a friend's, you know and can garantee the chicken is happy and well fed and eats lots of green!

 

[7L Farm]

 

[ChickenPeep]

Farm fresh! They're more delicious and more nutritious.

I just rhymed.