What makes organic?

[WindcrestChickens]

Dumb question - what are the rules to be able to call my eggs organic? We are feeding Poulin grain grower etc. I am sensing this is not organic?

help...

 

[ibpboo]

one thing is you have to make sure they never ever EAT anything that is not organic. Any table scraps must have been certified organic, and your lawn and weeds must be organic, which your soil has to go through a process before anything grown in it can be considered organic. And what about the bugs they eat? What if they crawled on some non-organic dust some where and then your chickens ate them. Free range or cage free is a better term to use

 

[pozarnsk]

"Organic" is something you will have to have a certification by the FDA for, and alot goes into getting it. You can't just throw that term around.

Free-range, all natural, no antibiotics....those are safe terms to use.

 

[WindcrestChickens]

Well following the bug issue....no one would be organic! So then in a nutshell...the chick starter they were raised on....Not organic right?

I know our farm is not organic as the previous owners used pesticide within the prior 3 years.

Does anyone out there use the term organic for their eggs, and if so - what is the process and such?

 

[MissPrissy]

You have to contact the the agriculture dept. The process can take a few years to complete before you can even begin to lable something organic. It is a BIG expense and hoops to jump through.

The feilds cannot have been treated with chemical fertilzers or pesticides, the barns and things can't ever have any pressure treated lumber, the feeds have to be certified organic, they can't eat bugs, etc.

If you have a few thousand dollars over the next 2 - 3 years to waste you can be certified organic.

However, most people interested in good foods know that the gov't is interested in money and red tape and not the real quailty of the chickens the eggs come from.

It is more important to produce eggs from humainly treated hens than to worry over a stamped lable "Organic".

I consider my eggs better than organic.

 

[ibpboo]

here's one article I found so far

http://www.animalsvoice.com/PAGES/writes/editorial/news/features/factory_vs_farm1.html

 

[WindcrestChickens]

Yikes. Red tape is lovely isn't it. I bet my hens would eat the red tape if I let them.

I will just certify them yummy. If they ever arrive...How long until I find my first egg anyway? My husband is getting impatient for his omelet!

 

[MissPrissy]

18 - 24 weeks. Some pullets take longer to get started.

 

[ibpboo]

About 6 moths of age, but sometimes, if the 6th month falls in the coldest part of winter, it may take slightly longer

 

[ibpboo]

In organic egg production, the flock must live cage-free with access to the outdoors. Organic egg layers are still raised in confinement like industrial egg layers are. The birds are raised to live free-roaming throughout the barn. The number of birds that live in a barn is calculated using the amount of square footage in the barn and the square footage birds need. In an organic operation, nesting boxes are placed above a belted system. This allows for the free roaming birds to lay their eggs on the belts instead of on the ground. Eggs laid on the ground are not allowed to be sold for human consumption. The belted system then collects the eggs so that farmers don’t have to on a regular basis, which could upset the birds and affect egg production levels. The birds must be trained to lay eggs in the nesting boxes, which is achieved through light manipulation. The birds must also be allowed to have access to the outdoors "if they so choose". This means that there are small doors placed throughout the barn. Periodically, the doors open up to a paddock enclosed by nets, which are used to keep predators such as birds of prey and raccoons from getting into the paddock, reaching the birds, and killing them.

Ok, so the bugs aren't an issue, I was just throwing that out there anyway, cuz what if they did eat a non-organic bug! Also doesn't mention that the outdoors must be organic, but if it weren't, then it wouldn't truely be organic.