are pastured eggs worth it in the winter? - Page 2

[wednesday]

Thanks AM for the clarification on terms -- I was aware that "free-range" technically means only "access" to outdoors, not necessarily the freedom and space that people would assume. It's so misleading though that it's still how I think of chickens who are outdoors. I went back and edited my post to say "pastured" when that is really what I meant, i.e. chickens who spend the entire day outdoors on very large parcels of land. Oh, I also call them "happy chickens"

[carnelian]

As pps have mentioned supermarket/hfs eggs are not always as good as the labels would have you believe. Cage free doesn't mean much these days. Most chickens have their beaks clipped as conditions are so crowded that pecking becomes a real problem. Searching out a local farm is your best bet. OP is there something in between your local eggs and Walmart that might work for you?

Another poster mentioned the chi factor in the food. This is not to be discounted and in many cases the conditions the food was raised in are as important as the food itself in terms of what truly nourishes.

[kbchavez]

Originally Posted by tamagotchi

Are you in the SF bay area too? We also pay $8/dozen for pastured eggs, but can't afford them with all the eggs we eat (my DH eats a half dozen eggs in one sitting, we can easily go through 5 dozen or more in a week) so we have been buying cheaper eggs lately.

Yes! I get my eggs through Three Stone Hearth. DS doesn't eat them too fast, so it's not so bad. Plus, I believe in paying farmers well and supporting businesses like TSH. Of course, if I couldn't afford them, it would be a big bummer to have to get grocery store eggs.

[Brookesmom]

Have you checked eatwild.com for any listings in your area? It seems like they'd be easier to find being in a rural area. Would raising some of your own chickens for eggs be a possibility? I wish we could!

We have 3 different stalls at the farmer's market with local eggs at $3.00/dozen but I'm back to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods in the winter. I believe the egg production goes way down in the winter with the lower number of daylight hours, correct? Perhaps we weren't meant to eat many eggs in winter. I'm trying to figure out what to replace them with... Bone broths plus what else.


--Kelly

[UUMom]

Originally Posted by Brookesmom

Have you checked eatwild.com for any listings in your area? It seems like they'd be easier to find being in a rural area. Would raising some of your own chickens for eggs be a possibility? I wish we could!

We have 3 different stalls at the farmer's market with local eggs at $3.00/dozen but I'm back to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods in the winter. I believe the egg production goes way down in the winter with the lower number of daylight hours, correct? Perhaps we weren't meant to eat many eggs in winter. I'm trying to figure out what to replace them with... Bone broths plus what else.


--Kelly

I am still getting over a dozen a day out of 16 young hens. Well fed, young cared-for hens do continue to lay. Especially if they are let outside.

[wednesday]

Originally Posted by Brookesmom

I believe the egg production goes way down in the winter with the lower number of daylight hours, correct? Perhaps we weren't meant to eat many eggs in winter.

Yes, production goes down with shorter days. We have 10 hens and typically get 8 eggs a day in summer. During the coldest, shortest days of December it was down to 1 or 2 eggs a day. Now they are picking back up and we've been getting 4/day the last week or so. It really varies by the chicken, too. We have all heirloom breeds, I think 5 different kinds, and they all lay slightly different colored eggs, so we usually know WHO is producing. We have a pair of Auracanas that didn't make hardly any eggs at all for several weeks -- but now that the days are growing longer again, they're laying more consistently than any of the others, we're getting one from each of them almost every single day.

[UUMom]

Yes, the Australorpes seem to be the most productive right now. It's fun being able to see who is laying .

[gentlemango]

Originally Posted by Brookesmom

I believe the egg production goes way down in the winter with the lower number of daylight hours, correct? Perhaps we weren't meant to eat many eggs in winter. I'm trying to figure out what to replace them with... Bone broths plus what else.

Wow, intriguing observation! You're right, maybe we aren't meant to consume tons of eggs during the off season. Hmm.

Milk production goes down in the winter? Isn't there a festival to celebrate the bright yellow cream when the grass comes in, in old Swedish societies? I wonder how far we have strayed from seasonal eating in our land of year round availability. Are there benefits to following nature's lead in our food choices? Or, ya know, would we all end up starving to death in March.