Nice piece in the Intelligencer this morning on buying local eggs, and why it makes more sense than ever. Good quotes from Tom Colbaugh, owner of The Happy Farm (Kintersville), and Tim Rick, owner of Rick’s Egg Farm (Nockamixon).
“It’s a lesson to be learned for the consumer: to try to buy as local as possible, to know where their (food) source is coming from,” said Tim Rick, owner of Rick’s Egg Farm in Nockamixon.
Read the full article here.
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Buying local tastes better!
Buying local and organic is always best, but unfortunately, it’s not the best for the chickens. Before you buy eggs, please ask your local farmer if he or she practices de-beaking, what they do with the male chicks and if the hens are allowed to brood, which is natural for them after they lay an egg. All male chicks are killed since they can’t lay eggs. If there’s already a rooster, no need for another unless it’s a large farm. Normally, a hen will lay 15-35 eggs per year because they expect them to hatch. When the egg is taken away (stolen), their body produces a replacement. If the eggs continue to be taken daily, as in all farms, the hen continues to lay a replacement, expecting it to hatch. A hen can lay up to 300 eggs per year. In a factory farm, they can lay up to 500! These many eggs rob the hen of valuable nutrients to keep her healthy, so when she is no longer productive (a couple of years), she is killed for human or pet food. How would you like YOUR eggs??