It's important to remember that chickens are foragers by nature! When we open our eggmobile early summer mornings the hens come pouring out grabbing blades of grass as they run onto the dewy pasture. There is nothing they like better than to scratch the earth, searching for bugs or selecting their favorite tender clover leaf. In contrast, a "cage-free" hen most often lives in a confinement building with access to a tiny muddy outlet open to the fresh air. When we confine animals that are naturally foragers to an artificial restricted diet of grain and expose them to poor conditions, we compromise the quality of the animal and in this case their eggs! (: Joel Salatin says, "Plants and animals should be provided a habitat that allows them to express their physiological distinctiveness. Respecting and honoring the pigness of the pig is a foundation for societal health." This principle comes around full circle in the following article from our egg brochure:
A few facts regarding Omega-3’s in eggs…
Eggs that boast high levels of Omega-3's have come from chickens raised on grass. But lacking this, some commercial enterprises are producing eggs from chickens fed on flax seed. They use the words "Omega-3" on the egg carton. Tests with these flax-fed Omega-3 eggs show that they raise one's good cholesterol (which scours the plaque out of your arteries), and lower your "bad" cholesterol. Of course, grass-fed chicken eggs are even higher in Omega-3's. Omega-3 fatty acids are one of two groups of fatty acids--the omega-3s and the omega-6s--that are vital to human life.They are called essential fatty acids (EFAs), which the body cannot make but absolutely needs for normal growth and development. These fats must be supplied by diet. People living in industrialized western countries eat up to 30 times more omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids, resulting in a relative deficiency of omega-3 fats. This makes the body more prone to heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. Eating diets rich in omega-3 acids can restore the balance between the two fatty acids and can possibly reverse these disease processes.We need to have approximately equal amounts of Omega-3's and Omega-6's in our bodies, to be free of degenerative disease. Omega-3's are generally derived from animals which consume green, living plants in quantity. Omega-6's are generally derived from animals which consume grains in quantity.
Orange Yolks
Grass fed hens whose diets are supplemented with green alfalfa or flax have increased DHA Omega-3 nutrients and Vitamin E which provide the egg with a rich orange yolk. In the picture below we cracked supermarket eggs and grass fed pullet eggs in the same bowl. You can easily tell which are supermarket eggs and which are pastured by their color.
