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["Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>]

'Organic' doesn't necessarily mean they are good. It means that the hens 
aren't fed low doses of antibiotics (like commercial hens), and are fed 
grains raised organically.At least the eggs won't be overflowing with 
antibiotics and synthetic chemicals. It doesn't mean they get any access to 
grass...I think they have to have some access to sunlight, but they probably 
never walk on anything but concrete.

Even 'free-range' doesn't mean much...I've seen a large dirt pen called 
'free-range'. Mine can literally go where ever they want, eat whatever they 
want.They regularly chase the cats away and eat the cat food. I've seen them 
attack a snake.  I've seen them attack a nest of voles in the compost. That 
was scary...chickens running around with squeaking voles in their beaks. 
Chickens can be vicious things. I'm glad they are so much smaller than me.

Lynn Wigglesworth

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bobf" <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 10:44 AM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Chicken Feed Quest.


> Usually at the market they are close to $2.00 dz, here.  But, the market 
> has them regularly, on sale, for 99 cents per dz. Because I know (I wish I 
> didn't) how chickens are raised, today, in big ag; I don't mind paying 
> more for healthier eggs, but I just don't trust the market 'organic' eggs 
> to be much different than the others.  Roxanne said her tests showed they 
> were similar.  They taste the same.  When I bought free range eggs, the 
> yolks were more 'orange' like someone mentioned, but the market eggs all 
> seem the same except for the carton and the price...............
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> --- On Sat, 1/3/09, Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> > I have the problem, also, of the local family store
> > undercutting my egg
> > prices. When I raised my price to $1.50/doz, they charged
> > $1.25. I know that
> > they have penned chickens, so they must be buying food and
> > selling at a
> > loss.  They went up to $1.75 by the end of the summer. Now
> > neither I nor
> > they have any extra eggs to sell. In fact, last time I was
> > in that small
> > store, they had NO eggs, commercial or local.
> >
> > My hens are free-range, too. I don't lock them up at
> > night. I don't seem to
> > have a preditor problem here; they roost on top of the
> > stalls and things in
> > the barn at night. I feed a couple handsful of layer
> > pellets a day in the
> > winter, but they find their own food in the summer. They
> > also find my garden
> > (who knew that chickens loved tomatoes?). I'm glad that
> > they are so
> > industrious in finding food, but I won't share my
> > garden with them...they
> > take a bite out of every tomato and squash, and pull up the
> > bean plants.
> > This year, it's either fence the chickens or fence the
> > garden. The garden is
> > easier to fence.
> >
> > Lynn Wigglesworth
> > Tioga Co. PA
>
>
>
>
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