Poll: Do you buy cage eggs?

[Bradeck]

Eggs from caged chickens is bad? Tell me more about the clothes you wear made in Indonesia sweat shops, or the shoes you were made in Chinese sweat shops. Or the computer you use made in Chinese Drone factories. Selective hippy is selective.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I don't buy any animal product. Not because I care about the animals, but because I just don't like any animal derived food. Not that I would go out of my way to hurt an animal or condone their abuse, but so far as food is concerned, circle of life and such. For example, I love my cats and dogs, but have no issue with people farming such animals for food in China. It's not a nice fact of life, but things die and are eaten by others. *shrug*

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Eggs from caged chickens is bad? Tell me more about the clothes you wear made in Indonesia sweat shops, or the shoes you were made in Chinese sweat shops. Or the computer you use made in Chinese Drone factories. Selective hippy is selective.

Now, now. That was pretty damn presumptuous and offensive.

 

[Akyho]

I buy free range...why? Because no one stocks Caged/battery or barn. Because "its unethical".
Personally I dont care. However Free range is there and probably the same price as battery?

It is cheap, its bought, if it matter to the people that care go ahead dosnt bother me.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm pretty sure they took free-range eggs off my grocery store's shelf, but I didn't pay too much attention anyways.

 

[Lucem712]

Eh, I don't eat that many eggs, so whatever happens to be the cheapest. And honestly, I don't bother with 'free-range' because it's pretty much a scam.

But whatever helps people sleep at night, ya know?

 

[malestrithe]

I buy whatever is on sale.

I don't have a problem with keeping chickens in cages because I've seen the alternative first hand. Like most bird species, chickens are cannibalistic. If they see a drop of blood, they will frenzy and attack whatever is closest to them. A good frenzy can kill ten percent of the group and leave the survivors weak against predators.

Yeah, it sucks we keep animals in cages, but the alternative is far worse.

 

[The Lunatic]

My parents have their own chickens, they're allowed to roam the garden.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Now, now. That was pretty damn presumptuous and offensive.

Not really, because if some people are going to point fingers at others for being unethical consumers, they'd better not be raging hypocrites themselves.

But you have no idea if any of it is true and it was entirely based on conjecture, thus the presumptuous part of my comment.

 

[gazumped]

It's pretty much the only thing where I bother making sure I buy the 'ethical' version (put in inverted commas because people here are saying it's a bit of a scam and I have no idea if they're right or not).
Mostly because they're pretty much the same price and I don't buy them often enough for the few pennies extra to ever bother me.

I don't know why people are saying they cost soooo much more? Maybe they're shopping at places that only stock posh free range eggs?

 

[MysticToast]

I could not care less where my eggs come from. Whatever eggs are the cheapest are the ones I'll be buying

 

[karcentric]

I own chickens, free eggs to throw at people.

 

[Fishyash]

If I go to buy eggs, I rarely see battery eggs. I only see free range ones.

Honestly though I don't really care.

 

[Eamar]

I'm a massive hypocrite in that I buy free range eggs but battery chicken. It's a cost thing. I eat a LOT of chicken and I'm a student, so it's sort of a balance between eating healthily and keeping costs low. I don't eat as many eggs and they cost less anyway, so I do what I can.

When I graduate and have a job I fully intend to go back to free range only though.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I only buy meat and animal products from farms I know the exact specifications of and think are acceptable, for example, anything with the freedom food endorsement in the UK. I think vegetarianism is pointless, and that there is nothing wrong with eating meat, but if more people eat food from ethical farms, then it will show there is a market for it and people will invest in it.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

Well, I never buy eggs at all (just because I don't like them, not for any moral reasons), but even if I did I wouldn't bother with free range. It always amazes me how people can get up on their high horse about these sorts of things and still make it so obvious they haven't actually bothered to read Michael Pollan's books, since it's from his work that the contemporary concern with food is derived. Pollan was the author of the book that Food Inc (the documentary which kicked off the current craze) was based on. And if you'd read Pollan's work, you'd realize what a scam "free range" eggs are. The conditions that "free range" chickens are raised under are almost identical to those that caged chickens are raised under.

The requirements for getting the "free range" label by the FDA are such that the chickens only have to be allowed out of the cage for a certain portion of their lives. They grow up in the exact same living conditions, and when they are older they are allowed to roam, but by that time most of the birds are so set in their ways that it is actually very rare that any of them venture out into the yard.

Now, if you're buying your eggs directly from an institution which has been researched like Polyface farms, then yes, you might actually get eggs from chickens which are raised free. But if you're buying "free range" eggs from a grocery store you're just getting ripped off by corporate interests which know that they can take advantage of the public's naivete and feelings of guilt. If you want to avoid buying eggs from chickens raised under abhorrent conditions, your only option is to either not buy eggs or to actually take the time to research who you're buying the eggs from (and don't think that just because you're buying at a farmer's market means you're in the clear, YOU HAVE TO RESEARCH!!!!!!!)

 

[mental_looney]

Always buy free range organic ones, I mainly use my eggs in cakes and I think they make better cakes and have a nice colour for the occasional fry up

 

[Powereaver]

I dont buy cage eggs... i used to get fresh eggs from my sisters hens but now when i buy eggs i buy free range/organic eggs especially from the farmers market.

How do you know that farmer doesn't use cages?

I cant be 100% sure but you know ... id rather trust them then a supermarket supplier sometimes.

 

[Eamar]

The conditions that "free range" chickens are raised under are almost identical to those that caged chickens are raised under.

I'd just like to point out that, fortunately, the same is not true outside the US. In the UK, for example, free-range is very much a cage-free thing.

 

[Hell-On-Wheels]

I have 17 chickens running around my farm. They're great for keeping the bugs down.

I get a roughly a dozen eggs every 6 days or so, the bulk goes to my neighbors.