Interested in raising your own eggs? The idea is catching on, with more and more suburban and urban families taking chickens under their wing.
They are doing so for a variety of reasons, with probably the biggest reason being the quality of eggs. Study after study has found that free range eggs are healthier. A new study by Mother Earth News, for instance, found true free range eggs contain a third less cholesterol, 25 percent less fat, double the heart-friendly omega-3s and more vitamins and nutrients. Free range eggs also pack a full rich taste — something lacking in their insipid commercial counterparts.
So why not just buy free range eggs from the store? Because the U.S. Department of Agriculture, beholden to agribusiness, has cynically allowed the term “free range” to be used in a way that makes the words meaningless.
Chickens raised in massive barns — where each chicken is allocated space the size of a laptop computer and fed a diet of agricultural waste products — qualify as “free range” as long as they are provided, for a few weeks of their short lives, a door to an exterior service area. The exterior service areas are often concrete. Not that it matters: Very few chickens figure out how to get outside since during their formative first months of life they are kept entirely indoors.
This misleading definition means that the vast majority of “free range” eggs bought in our stores are just another low quality, appallingly treated commodity — despite the cute farm names and pastoral pictures on the cartons.
Consumers are fighting back by growing their own. People often get chickens for the taste and quality of the eggs. In no time, they fall in love with chickens for other reasons.
For one thing, chickens make great pets. They are extremely social animals that are great with children. They are the source of endless entertainment, petty scrabbles and tender affection. The chores involved in raising chickens are small and child friendly, helping to keep the family in touch with the bucolic values of farm life.
For those into keeping an organic yard, the benefits go through the roof. Backyard chickens control pests and weeds without resorting to pesticides. Their poop, which is high in nitrogen, is a source of fertilizer second to none. These two functions allow the organic gardener to have a complete recycling loop, where waste from one part of their yard is the food for the other.
Backyard eggs also reduce global warming by eliminating trucking, a significant source of greenhouse gases, while striking a small blow against the massive agri-business corporations that seem to twist every wholesome food into an Upton Sinclair nightmare.
Chickens can find a space in even the smallest of yards. Two to four birds is usually enough to supply an entire family. For a few birds, I suggest keeping chickens in a confined free range coop. These are small lightweight coops that are placed over fresh ground every few days, giving chickens access to bugs, grasses and seeds. The coop provides protection from predators. My favorite confined free range coops are the home-built “chicken tractors,” but companies such as Omlet also make great little free range kits like the “Eglu.”
Although roosters are often illegal in municipalities, a handful of chickens are almost always allowed. Chickens come in hundreds of breeds, which are often evaluated based on color, egg production and temperament.
Certain varieties of chickens produce colorful eggs. Eggs from the Ameraucana and Araucana breeds lay eggs in subtle shades of blue and green, making natural Easter eggs. Morans produce rich chocolate colored eggs.
Next Easter, instead of mimicking an ancient spring tradition with plastic eggs and high fructose corn syrup candy, consider bringing the simple pleasures and natural rhythms of the farm into your backyard.
INFORMATION:
For those interested in learning more about chickens and coops, visit the following Web sites:
Mother Earth News’ Free Range Egg Study:
www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx
ICYouSee Chart of Chicken Breeds:
www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
Commercial Poultry Conditions:
www.chickenindustry.com
www.eggindustry.com
Build Your Own Chicken Tractor:
http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/tractors.html
Omlet’s Eglu Chicken Coop
www.omlet.us
Forrest Linebarger is CEO of VOX Design Group Inc., a Mountain View architectural firm which specializes in green building. He can be reached at forrest@voxdesigngroup.com or (650) 694-6200 ext. 511.
