Pastured Eggs
Pastured eggs come from pastured chickens. Pastured is most often used to describe poultry and eggs from chickens that have been raised the way a chicken was created to live: they walk around in open fields and woods, they hunt and peck for food, and they go back into a hen house at night to roost, nest, and lay eggs. Pastured eggs are also seasonal, you’ll see more available in the spring and summer, with supplies dipping low into fall and through winter.
To compare pastured eggs to regular eggs is like night and day! Pastured eggs have deep yellow, even orange yolks from their greens-rich and varied diet, and the whites are clear and bouncy. Store bought eggs have a yellow to pale yellow yolk with usually a less clear white.
In the winter and during dry months when the pasture isn’t growing as fast, pastured chickens will probably be fed some kind of supplemental feed. The feed may be organic or it may not be. A lot of times the feed will not be organic because organic feed may be unavailable, hard to find or too expensive for the farmer.
If a farmer is marketing his eggs and poultry as organic, everything that goes into those birds must be organic! That means they can not have any antibiotics or steroids or hormones – ever, and the birds can not be fed any feed that is not certified organic! (Organic also means non-GMO…organic feed can not be made with GMO grains.)
So not all pastured eggs are organic and not all organic eggs come from pastured hens. If hens are raised in confinement but they are fed organic feed and given no antibiotics or other drugs, they can be labeled organic.
Cage-free doesn’t mean organic and it also doesn’t mean pasture raised. All cage-free means is the chickens are in cages, but they could still be crammed in a dark, stinky chicken house and never get to see the light of day!
Normally pastured poultry does not need antibiotics because they are not crowded together in a small confined space. Pastured animals usually are healthier than animals raised in confinement. Pastured animals are outside most of the day. They enjoy the sunshine, they benefit from microbes in the dirt they are on, they enjoy fresh air that isn’t full of urine, feces and disease and because of that, they have a stronger immune system than confinement animals.
Are Pastured Eggs Healthier?
So what does all this mean? Does it really matter how a chicken is raised? Is there any health benefit to eating eggs that come from pastured hens?
In 2007, Mother Earth News magazine decided to test the nutritional value of pastured eggs from 14 different farms.
They were measured in a lab, then compared to the USDA standard conventional egg.
As you can see, eggs from pastured hens were more nutritious than the conventional eggs you might find at the supermarket.
They were higher in vitamin A, E and omega-3s, as well as lower in cholesterol and saturated fat.
Another study showed that free-range eggs, which were laid by hens allowed to roam out in the sun, contained three to four times the amount of vitamin D than the eggs of hens that were raised indoors.
Pastured Poultry
Now, how about pastured poultry? What I mean is, chicken, duck or turkey that is raised on pasture and used for meat.
We have not raised any poultry for meat yet, but this is the next thing we are going to expand in to. When raising poultry for meat, I believe it makes a huge difference how it is raised. Not only is the meat more nutritious, better for you and better tasting, but it is also beneficial to the environment to raise animals in a natural way instead of huge confinement operations.
Doing away with CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations) chicken is one of the best decisions you can do for your health. Pasture-raised chicken is a more superior option because of the following benefits:
- Contains more vitamin A: Pasture-raised chicken contains 50 percent more vitamin A compared to conventionally raised chicken. This nutrient plays an important role in supporting good vision, cell division and growth, a strong immune system and skin health.
- Rich in omega-3 fats: In a 2008 study published in the journal Poultry Science, Portuguese researchers discovered that pasture-raised chicken has significantly higher amounts of omega-3 fatty acids than chickens that do not have access to fresh forage.
- Environmentally friendly: CAFOs are known for the large amounts of toxic byproducts they generate, which are dumped into the local ecosystem. One company, Tyson Foods Inc., released 104.4 million pounds of pollutants into waterways between 2010 and 2014. By supporting pasture-raised poultry, you can help reduce pollution that is currently devastating the environment.
- Has a lower risk of food-borne illnesses: CAFO chickens have a gained a negative reputation because they’re associated with food-borne illnesses caused by unsanitary farming conditions. Choosing pasture-raised chicken can help reduce your chances of developing such illnesses because they are cleaner and healthier.
Meat Chickens For Sale Soon!
We will be raising chickens on pasture and are taking orders! We would like to raise our first batch of meat chickens this fall (2019)! Are you, or do you know anyone who is interested in purchasing locally grown, pasture raised chickens? Spread the word!
If you are interested in any pastured raised chickens this fall, please message, call, or text me so I can get enough birds to cover your order!
We will have pastured turkeys available for sale next fall (2020)!! We will have more information later, but when you’re thinking about your Thanksgiving turkey next year, think about Back To Natural Farm Turkeys!!
