These pastured/free-roaming and organic chicken produce eggs which are an amazingly nutritious food! The yolks are a deep yellow color which indicates the presence of nutrients and they are unlike what you've seen from the store.
They are rich in vitamin A, D, DHA, and choline due to the wholesome natural diet of the chickens. Pastured eggs contain 2-10x the amount of Omega-3 DHA as eggs not raised on pasture* (reference under Research tab). And it's important to note that "Organic Eggs" and "Free-Roaming" eggs from the store does NOT mean they are pastured. It's tricky marketing language.
These chickens are NOT fed any soy or GMO corn. Their natural diet consists of grasses, worms, insects, and food scraps/leftovers from the farmer's kitchen (which they love!). Chickens are NOT vegetarian by nature, thus eggs from vegetarian organic eggs are missing nutrients. These pastured chickens are also given an organic mineral rich supplement food (see ingredients below).
Certified Organic Chicken Feed: cracked corn, wheat, crab meal, peanut meal, nutribalancer, aragonite.
The chickens have happy lives and are free to roam anywhere on the farm except for Becky Miller's flower garden which is off limits :-)
You do NOT need to refrigerate these eggs. They last at room temperature about 3-4 weeks.
The "Certified Organic" eggs you find at the supermarket are from chickens mostly raised in barns, not on pasture, even if the box says "free-roaming". That's because in order to make that claim about "free roaming", they only need to be exposed to fresh air a small percent of their life. So making that claim is usually unjustified! You need to KNOW YOUR FARM and be able to call them an verify how they are treating the animals. (or go for a tour of the farm).
"Certified Organic" eggs are certainly better than those for the typical battery egg. However, the USDA has determined that the chicken is a vegetarian, and they can be given no animal foods. Chickens are in fact, omnivores, and their eggs will be much healthier if they are getting animal foods.
In the photo, the pastured egg and the organic egg both have two parts to the white, a viscous part around the yolk and then a thinner part around the edges. This is a sign of freshness.
WASHED or UNWASHED?
If you choose to get your eggs unwashed, they will have natural bacteria and chicken excrement on the outside of the shell. Basically, the eggs are picked right out of the hens nest and placed right into the egg carton. Exposure to natural farm bacteria from chicken eggs has been found to build the immune system and help prevent allergies. Many people suck the egg raw right out of the shell and want the exposure to the bacteria to help strengthen their systems. If you are not "ready" for this, then get your eggs "washed". No commercial cleansers are used to clean the eggs.
LEARN ABOUT HEALTH BENEFITS OF (soy-free) PASTURED EGGS
1) Why Organic Store Eggs are a Scam
2) Nutrients in "Pastured" vs. "Free Range" Eggs
3) Video: Difference between "Pastured" vs "Free Range"
4) The Egg and Cholesterol Myth
5) Raw Eggs for Your Health by Dr. Mercola
6) Epigenetics: Nutrients in eggs affect gene expression
7) 20 Egg Recipe Ideas by Gnowfglins
