good eggs

With Easter only days away and chocolate eggs on the minds of every child I know, I thought it timely to begin the week with a post on eggs. Good eggs from happy hens such as the ones in the photo above, those eggs are from our local organic farm. We buy them at the farm gate and visit the chickens who roam truly free range with lush grass to peck around in and organic feed to nourish them.

I understand the basic facts of supply + demand but still it is beyond my comprehension why people buy 'cage eggs'. I wonder if they were labelled 'from chickens in cages' with a photograph of the chooks living conditions on the box, a bit like the photos on packets of cigarettes, I wonder if then they would sell?

As for 'free-range' eggs, well still there is the problem of the very loose definition of what it is to roam free and whether the birds have endured mutilations such as beak trimming, toe trimming or de-snooding. On the Animal Welfare Labels website there is a useful guide to brands of free range eggs and the criteria of each brands definition of free range.

I've decided that part of my Easter gift giving will be to encourage anyone I know who buys cage eggs to encourage them to make the change and only buy eggs from farmers that look after their chickens well. Perhaps you too could convince friends or family to consider where the eggs they buy come from and do they really want to eat eggs from chickens in cages and support this farming practice?

Go on. Get cracking :) I couldn't resist.