Egg Nutrition Facts (battery hen vs range)

[Fred's Fine Fowl]

Your Health Matters!



Free-Range Eggs & Meat Are Healthier



I came across this article in the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy paper

Volume 22, Issue 5



Information freely distributed by: www.FredsFineFowl.com



A recent study conducted by Mother Earth News has found that eggs from pasture raised hens have higher values for a number of nutrients than USDA data for eggs from hens in confinement houses. Pastured eggs contain: 50% more vitamin E; 4 times the beta carotene; 35 times the omega-3 fatty acids; and half the cholesterol. And, they contain 10.5 mcg of folic acid (that is 10.5 mcg more than USDA’s data for eggs).

A recent study funded by the USDA shows meat from chickens raised on pasture contained: 21% less total fat, 30% less saturated fat, 28% fewer calories, 50% more vitamin A, and 100% more omega-3 fatty acids.

A study conducted by James Madison University found bacterial contamination to be lower in pastured poultry: 133 colony-forming units per milliliter (cfu/ml) in pastured poultry compared to 3600 cfu/ml in conventional poultry.

A Virginia Tech study found pastured poultry to be 70% lower in fat, and of the fats present, poly-unsaturated were much higher than mono-saturated.

And a study by Pennsylvania State University found 3 times the omega-3s, twice the vitamin E, and 40% more vitamin A in the eggs of chickens on pastured compared to conventional confinement. (“>


For more information visit: http://www.motherearthnews.com/eggs/ or www.eatwild.com


ALBC News, Sept/Oct 2005 Page 11

Consider joining the ALBC: www.albc-usa.org


American Livestock Breeds Conservancy

PO Box 477

Pittsboro, NC 27312 U.S.A.

[gardengirl72]

Fred this is great! We should do something in Ezine on this.

[Fred's Fine Fowl]

I'm all over it!

There are so many different directions we can go with that... you just say what you think folks would like to know about and I'll deliver.

I'll keep the political stuff out of it though... you know, how the egg board attempted to supress free range nutritional comparisons. Big money, big business, free range is a very small percentage. I'll be glad to quote from ongoing studies.

As always,

Fred

[rosemom]

And free range birds lay more eggs in my yard. The "bird" pen - chickens and ducks is about 1/4 acre. As the weather got colder the laying obviously had dropped down except for the "yard birds" - 2 hens that are escape artists and that we have given up trying to keep out of the yard. They lay consistently every day. The birds have just about eaten all the grass and weeds in the pen but the yard still has lots of green stuff so we thought we would give it a try, letting all of them range over the back yard also which is about 1/2 acre - within 2 days the egg production was up. During the growing season we don't want them in there because they would eat every seedling but now there is nothing they can bother. They are so much happier with all that new green stuff. They go back to their coop every night and this morning I noticed that they hadn't really touched their feed because they were eating all the free stuff.

[gardengirl72]

By letting them free range you have also enriched the soil! Grass and green stuff is what they love to eat. Another benefit is that you will save on feed too! The varied diet that your chickens are getting of course helps give you nutrient rich eggs.

[rosemom]

They were free range in their 1/4 acre but had eaten everything in there. Now they can work on the remains of the garden. This morning I found a hen egg in a little wallow in the dirt under a frost eaten tomato plant - the little chicken had rolled a frost bit roma tomatoe into the nest with her egg. Wonder if I should have left it and she would hatch a tomatoe for us

[MoniDew]

When I was the staff nutritionist in the healthfood stores around here, I would spend so much time educating people on the health benefits of both the eggs and meat of organically-fed, free-ranging animals. It's logical to me to raise an animal on the biologically appropriate diet for its particular species and to treat it in a humane and sensitive manner. When the animal is healthier and happier, the humans dependent upon it will be, too!

It's nice to see how wide-spread the studies (and therefore the PROOF) have become! Thanks for the article!

[jrmontana]

Hi Patti,
How did you make your goat pens? Do you move them around like the chicken tractor too.
Your sight is great, I have thought about doing something like this, but your idea is better.:)
Thank you very much for your info and great site.

[JudyH]

I can't wait for mine to start laying! I've got a little ways to go though -- they are only 6 1/2 weeks old LOL

I can remember when I was little -- my dad worked with a guy who had a farm with chickens and he would bring the eggs to work and sell them to the guys he worked with. They were beautiful, big brown eggs. I had never seen brown eggs before because all the ones in the grocery stores were white.

Those were the best eggs! And they were huge too. It wasn't unusual to crack open one to find that it was a double yolk.