Eggs from Pastured Hens – CHRISTIAN JAX

When it comes to eggs, my daily staple comes from ‘Nutri-Spring Farms’, which I buy at Ambrosia Natural Foods. These eggs are from free-range hens who forage on green grass during the summer months and dried grass and mixed grains during the winter months (remember birds have evolved to eat grains). Their feed is drug and hormone free and 100% vegetarian:

When chickens eat grass, their eggs are very high in Omega 3, the essential fatty acid our bodies require for good health.

That’s why Morden’s features eggs from chickens who are raised right on top of living grasses, or “pastured” in low, wide, bottomless enclosures called chicken trailers.

These chicken trailers are moved to a new spot of fresh pasture at least once a day so that the birds can eat all the varied grasses, other plants and insects that they can find. In fact, chickens will eat up to 30% of their daily calorie needs in grass (and that is a LOT of grass)!

Read the full article: Our Eggs.

How to Raise Backyard Chickens (sierraclub.typepad.com)
Pastured Eggs (paleolifestylemagazine.com)

Jenn says:

6 April, 2013 at 13:37

I am glad you feel good about the eggs you buy.

Just to be clear, though, chickens (descended from Jungle Fowl) are NOT grain eaters but for extremely short periods of the year. Chickens are insectivores for the most part. They’ll eat seeds, shoots, and fruits seasonally. But they also eat small rodents, snakes, lizards, and any other creature they can catch and overpower. They are very, very predatory.

If you want the best for your health, you don’t want vegetarian chickens. You want free range chickens raised on sufficient acreage such that their diet can be at least 40-50% insects. You also don’t mind if they are fed a little bit of meat, especially in the winter in cold climates. Rest assured, in the summer they’re eating mice, small reptiles, etc. if they’re properly pastured.

What you want to avoid more than anything are chickens fed soy. Understand that a lot of vegetarian feeds do contain soy. The reality is, chickens need animal protein. This is how they evolved. To cheat them of it, farmers are forced to replace animal protein with plant protein and that does nobody any favour. If farmers feed vegetarian, but don’t feed soy, their chickens won’t do well and eggs are not nutritionally optimal.

“Vegetarian fed” chicken is a gimmick through and through. Marketing ploy. Most industrial producers already opt for “vegetarian” feeds (that contain soy) anyway because they’re cheaper. So don’t be fooled.

Christian Jax says:

10 April, 2013 at 21:17

Jenn,

I fully agree with you! I eat eggs that come from free ranging chickens (access to grass and all the bugs in the grass). Although fowl has adapted to consume grains, this is still not the ideal diet as you pointed out.

1. Jenn says:
  
  10 April, 2013 at 21:24
  
  We lucked out and found a farm where chickens are pastured with the cattle! She says the chickens have been the best natural pest control, and they’ll eat ticks and such right off the cows once they go into the barns, right into the winter (until the ticks are all gone, I suppose) so we’re very happy to have “free range” eggs into February/March. 😉
  
  1. Christian Jax says:
    
    10 April, 2013 at 21:27
    
    That is excellent, where is this farm located? Readers in that particular area would be happy with this information, I’m sure.
    
    1. Jenn says:
      
      10 April, 2013 at 21:35
      
      She is up in the Bruce, near Chatsworth. Check out Dragonfly Garden Farm (dragonflyfarmstore.ca) she does not market her eggs, but usually has some available. She also has grass fed beef, and pastured pork (I cannot recommend her sausage products enough!)
    2. Christian Jax says:
      
      17 April, 2013 at 20:37
      
      Oh yes, I have her listed on my post: Ontario’s Grass-Fed Beef

Edelmira says:

21 January, 2013 at 13:47

Really liked what you had to say in your post, Eggs from Pastured Hens, thanks for the good read!
— Edelmira

http://www.terrazoa.com

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