About two weeks ago I was making out my grocery list and decided to check the on-line coupons for "odd" items, such as eggs, milk, other dairy and such products you usually don't associate with coupons. My coupon search was short lived since I repeatedly came across informational sites written about the welfare of laying hens.
The first thing that really got my attention is the debeaking that takes place. I had no idea that our hens are left with only a minimal amount of beak with which to eat. This is supposedly done to protect the hens from pecking each other - aka - establishing a pecking order, as they do when in a natural environment.
Secondly was when I learned about the battery cages. This is a practice which is supposedly being phased out, but is in fact, still a widely used practice and the majority of our "store eggs" are currently being produced under these horrendous conditions. Hens are stuffed, four to seven, per cage (which is about the size of a file drawer). Often times some of the hens will die, and their bodies are usually left in the cage with their living "cell mates."
Hens are most productive at egg-laying between the ages of six to eighteen months. Between the ages of eighteen months to two years old, they are cruelly discarded by their "employers." The hens are snatched violently from their cages and THROWN into a large cart where they are taken to either a wood-chipper type device (alive) or carted into a large gas chamber. Unfortunately, by the time these birds are old enough to be discarded, they no longer resemble anything close to a chicken. Most have broken bones (usually wings or feet), almost no feathers what-so-ever, and are covered with open wounds and feces.
Other than the above-stated reasons to no longer support those giants in the egg industry, there is one last reason to buy from a local farmer who has TRUE - free-range hens. The eggs produced by real "farm-hens" are much healthier for human consumption. In most cases you are free to pick the eggs you want to buy and are usually welcomed to look around the farm in order to check out the living conditions of the hens. Oh, by the way, these hens will actually look and act like REAL chickens; with beautiful feathers, full beaks, meaty bodies, and will probably be strutting around as if they own the farmyard.
DON'T BE FOOLED BY LABELING!!
Terms used in egg labeling are misleading, bordering on downright lies! "Free-Range" does not necessarily mean that hens are hanging out in the barnyard, pecking the ground for feed and small insects. In fact, most of these free-range birds are housed by the thousands in cramped living areas (they are also debeaked), and are allowed access to the outdoors very rarely, if at all. Access to fresh air is limited to a small caged in area and not all of the hens are able to go outside at the same time (there just isn't enough room in the "outside" cage).
For more information on "deceitful" labeling practices, please read the following articles:
Compassion Over Killing: How Free is Free-Range?United Poultry Concerns:
Free-Range Poultry and Eggs: Not All They're Cracked Up To Be
From Mother Earth News:
Most of the eggs currently sold in supermarkets are nutritionally inferior to eggs produced by hens raised on pasture. That’s the conclusion we have reached following completion of the 2007 Mother Earth News egg testing project. Our testing has found that, compared to official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs, eggs from hens raised on pasture may contain:
• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene
To find a natural and/or organic food store in your area, go to Local Harvest. Once there, you can click your area on the map located on their homepage, then scroll down to see the list of farms, co-ops, and other retailers in your city or state.
Mercy For Animals went undercover, to a NuCal Foods, Inc plant in May of this year and filmed the following practices of ongoing abuse. NuCal is one of (if not the largest) egg supplier to the western US.
NuCal Abuse Video **Warning - contains violence and cruelty**
Last link here is for the US Humane Society's article on battery cage use. This is a must-read for anyone who doubts the cruel treatment endured by the nation's laying hens.
US Humane Society - Prestigious Pew Commission Supports California Anti-Cruelty Measure
Here is a photo of my recent purchase of TRUE free-range eggs. They were bought from a local farmer and yes, his hens live at a REAL farm.
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