Cook with fresh eggs and you’re food is bound to be tastier and healthy too! Not only is sourcing fresh eggs a wonderful and popular breakfast addition, but they offer a great deal of needed daily nutrition. However, it’s important to note that eggs from our local grocer may not offer the same nutritious value and freshness as those that can easily be raised in our very own backyard.
Aren’t all Eggs Fresh?
- Egg freshness is determined by the time between when an egg is first laid until it is used for a meal. Store-bought eggs generally can be upwards of a week old by the time they are laid, processed, and delivered to your nearby grocery store. Backyard eggs however can easily be collected the same day as they are laid.
The Major Differences Between Backyard Fresh Eggs and Store-Bought
So can you really taste the difference between sourcing fresh backyard eggs versus store-bought? Yes! Not only is the taste difference evident, but it’s visually notable too!
- Store-bought eggs are generally white due to the breed of chicken and can sometimes be labeled as medium, large, and jumbo-sized. Backyard fresh eggs can vary in color from hues of brown to green and blue!
- Comparison in the yolk can be immediately evident as backyard & pasture-raised eggs are much more golden as opposed to the paled yolk of store-bought eggs. These significant details tell a great deal when it comes to the nutrition and lifestyle of the bird. In comparison to store-bought, backyard and pasture-raised eggs generally have less cholesterol and saturated fat. As for the good stuff, you can expect much more Beta Carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and Omega-3s.
- Raising your own chickens for fresh eggs also gives you a greater ability to control your chicken’s health by excluding antibiotics and hormones used by large-scale chicken farmers.
How a Chicken’s Life Affects Egg Quality
There are two factors that make a difference in a chicken’s egg quality, its diet, and its environment. A common phrase regarding a chicken’s environment seen in the egg aisle of groceries is cage-free, free-range, and pasture-raised, but what do these phrases really mean and how do they affect quality?
Cage-Free
- These eggs are primarily laid by hens not kept in cages that may or may not be given the opportunity to roam outside. Often when allowed to range it will be with hundreds of other chickens in an enclosed barn space. These chickens are typically fed pellets without access to other commonly loved protein sources found in nature.
Free-range
- Eggs laid by free-range hens are slightly a step above cage-free in that they are allowed enclosed access outdoors, but still spend the majority of their life in a barn atmosphere. Similar to cage-free eggs, these hens are limited to natural supplemental forms of food that are found in nature.
Pasture-Raised
- By far the more freeing of the options, pasture-raised chickens are given the greatest opportunity to supplement their diets through foraged food in their surroundings. Whether these hens are given organic or non-organic feed in conjunction varies.
Backyard Chickens
- Regardless of your backyard space, backyard chickens can produce eggs that are equally nutritious as those of pasture-raised chickens. Chickens in general don’t roam far from their coops. Flock members find common nutritional sources in our backyards that will supplement their regular feeds.
Lifestyle Benefits of Raising Backyard Chickens
Raising your own backyard chickens for fresh eggs can go far beyond the value of a healthier meal. Raising backyard chickens allows you to be grounded in the natural world in a way that soothes your mind. Most important of all…receiving fresh eggs is fun and rewarding! This can also be a great introduction to self-sufficiency.
Raising chickens with your family can bring a great number of opportunities to teach responsibility as well as educational experiences. For more information on how to introduce kids to chicken keeping, visit our blog post here!
We hope you enjoyed reading about the benefits and differences of sourcing fresh eggs! For more great backyard farming tips, check out our helpful blog posts written to help backyard farmers, like you, succeed.
Have questions or comments regarding anything mentioned in this blog post? Please feel free to email us at support@roostandroot.com or give us a call at 877-741-2667. We’re real people and are always happy to help! To learn more about what we offer, check out our chicken coops for sale.