WHICH EGGS DO YOU BUY?

A healthy mommy means a healthy baby.  Just google that to see how many sites you come up with.  Shouldn't the same be true for hens? Shouldn't a healthy hen mean a healthy egg?

If you've purchased eggs lately you may have noticed how many different options there are.  White, brown, organic, cage-free, the labeling on the cartons can be daunting, especially if you don't know what the labels actually mean.  A lot of the labeling is actually bogus and means nothing.  For example, "All Natural" and "Farm Fresh" really  have no officially defined meaning.  And "no added hormones" is only true because it's been the law for  more than 50 years! Other terms have been defined and many people think they know the meaning, but do they really?  Think about it: do you really know the difference between cage-free, free-range, and pasture-raised?  Are all cage-free requirements the same?  Why do some eggs cost significantly more than others? Which eggs are better?  Which eggs are healthier for my family?  So many questions lead to confusion and it is just easier to buy the cheapest eggs and move on. Trust me, I've been there.  My goal today is to very simply describe the basic  differences between the third party certifiers so that you can at least make a somewhat more informed decision when purchasing eggs for you and your family.

Two things to understand when purchasing eggs:

1. Not all eggs are third party certified.
2. Third party certified eggs are better because they had to meet stricter standards.

In general, the eggs that come from companies that are third party certified are the most humane to the chickens and in turn this means they will also be the healthiest eggs for you and your family! This is because they are the companies that will have the strictest rules in place regarding what the hens are fed, how much space each hen has, whether they can go outside or not, when and if antibiotics or other medicines may be used, and if they allow  beak cutting.

LAYING AN EGG

DUST BATHING

How those general conditions can affect the eggs you eat:

1. The quality of the egg is directly affected by what the chicken eats (like a mother to an unborn child). Every egg certification discussed below has rules with respect to nutrition. However, you should decide if you care whether or not the food contains GMOs or animal by-products.  You are what you eat!  Right?
2. The amount of space each bird has also directly affects the quality of the egg.  The amount of space varies from less than 1 square foot per bird (caged) to 10 times that for pasture-raised.  The less space a hen has, the more condensed the hens will be, so the potential will be greater for bacterial contact and transfer (think feces).  
3. The chickens having outdoor access can also affect the quality of the egg, but the rules for each certification vary.  Some do no require any outdoor access and others do not state a minimum amount of outdoor time or space. Being outdoors is important for a chicken so it can forage (eat bugs and natural vegetation), dust bathe, spread its wings, and have access to natural sunlight. They belong outdoors!  Some certifications even require vegetation and rotational grazing (This is important so that the vegetation has time to replenish.). 
4. Growth promoters, antibiotics, vaccines and other medicines can all effect the quality of the egg. Do you care if those might be in the eggs you and your family are eating?  Note: growth promoters are not the same as growth hormones (growth hormones are not permitted to be used for any poultry as per the FDA).
5. De-beaking, also called beak cutting, (not the same as beak trimming) is generally permitted, especially where the chickens have very little space, to prevent them from cannibalism and pecking each other (the less space they have the more common this is).  Other physical alterations that are generally only necessary when chickens have very limited space: blunting or tipping the beak, declawing, de-spurring, de-toeing, toe punching, pinioning, dubbing, notching, and trimming the wattle or comb. The only alteration that is actually known to not physically harm the chicken is feather trimming. Read  more: poultry mutilations.

The beak is the mouth of the chicken. They use it to fight and to protect themselves. It also acts like 'teeth' so the bird can break up vegetation and bugs into 'bite-sized' pieces.

FORAGING HENS

OK.  So where does that leave us when it comes to buying eggs?
There are five third-party egg certifiers, some with more than one area of certification (so eleven certifications total).  I started out by making a spread sheet to compare them all but there were so many differences and so many levels it just became too much.  What I have done here is list them in order from what, in my opinion, is the worst at the top to the best at the bottom.  I have included a brief description of why I chose to place them where they are in the 'pecking order' (yes, pun intended). If you want to read the actual requirements for each certification I have included the links under 'sources' at the bottom of this post.

WORST TO BEST CERTIFICATIONS FOR EGGS:

11.  United Egg Producers Certified Caged (see example of certification stamp below)

• Battery Cages (67-86 square inches per bird - about a half a square foot per bird!), beak cutting is  permitted (they do NOT leave the cages)

10.  American Humane Certified Caged

• Enriched Colony Cages (.8 square feet per per bird - more space than battery caged), beak cutting is permitted (they do NOT leave the cages)

  9.  United Egg Producers Certified Cage-Free

• 1 square foot per bird, outdoor access not required, beak cutting is permitted

  8.  American Humane Certified Cage-Free

• 1.25 square feet per bird,  no outdoor access required, beak cutting is permitted
  

  7.  Certified Humane Cage-Free

• 1 - 1.5 square feet per bird, no growth promoters, antibiotics only for specific medical reasons, no animal by-products in food, no outdoor access required, beak cutting is permitted

  6.  Food Alliance Certified Cage-Free

• 1.2 - 1.5 square feet per bird, antibiotics only for specific medical reasons, no animal by-products in feed (except milk), beak trimming is permitted, toe-clipping and dubbing are NOT permitted, minimum of 8 hours of natural daylight required per day, outdoor access is not required

  5.  Certified Humane Free-Range

• 1 - 1.5 square feet per bird (indoors), no growth promoters, antibiotics only for specific medical reasons, no animal by-products in food, must have outdoor access minimum 6 hours per day weather permitting, 2 square feet outdoor space per bird, beak cutting is permitted.
  

  4.  American Humane Certified Free-Range

• 1.25 square feet per bird (indoors), must have outdoor access minimum 8 hours per day weather permitting, 1 acre of outdoor area for every 2,000 birds (1/4 must be accessible at any one time to allow for rotational grazing), beak cutting is permitted.

  3.  American Humane Certified Pasture-Raised

• 1.25 square feet per bird (indoors), must have outdoor access minimum 8 hours per day, 2.5 acres of outdoor area for every 1,000 birds (1/4 must be accessible at any one time to allow for rotational grazing), beak cutting is permitted.

  2.  Certified Humane Pasture-Raised

• 1 - 1.5 square feet (indoors), no growth promoters, antibiotics only for specific medical reasons, no animal by-products in food, must have outdoor access minimum 6 hours per day weather permitting, 2.5 acres of outdoor area for every 1,000 birds (1/4 must be accessible at any one time to allow for rotational grazing), beak cutting is NOT permitted (that is why this trumps #3 even thought the outside time is two hours less).

  1.  Animal Welfare Approved Pasture-Raised

• 1.8 square feet per bird (indoors), no GMOs or animal byproducts or fishmeal in food, herbal, homeopathic, non-antibiotic methods preferred, must have outdoor access minimum of 50% of daylight hours, beak cutting is prohibited as are all other forms of physical alterations, flocks must be less than 500 total hens.

So  take a look at the eggs in your refrigerator...ARE THEY CERTIFIED, and if so, by who?

And the absolute best eggs?  Raise your own backyard chickens!  You will know exactly what they eat, how they are taken care of, and if they are happy or not :-)

The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) “Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare”:

• Freedom from hunger and thirst 
• Freedom from discomfort 
  
• Freedom from pain, injury, or disease 
  
• Freedom from fear and distress 
  
• Freedom to express normal behaviors

EGG CERTIFICATION EXAMPLE

A happy chicken is a healthy chicken!

Sources:
How to Read Egg Carton Labels (The Humane Society of The United States)
Certified Humane Levels 1-3 Requirements (pdf file)
American Welfare Approved Requirements (pdf file)
American Humane Certified Enriched Colony Cages Requirements (pdf file)
American Humane Certified Cage-Free Requirements (pdf file)
American Humane Certified Free-Range & Pasture Requirements (pdf file)
Food Alliance Certified Requirements
United Egg Producers Certified Levels 1 & 2 Requirements (pdf file)

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