zxcvbob wrote:
> Where does one find eggs that are not produced in battery cages if you
> don't personally know someone with a flock of yard chickens? I don't
> eat all that many eggs, so if they cost, say $3 per dozen instead of
> 99¢, that doesn't really affect my food budget at all. But I don't want
> to pay extra just for a marketing ploy that really doesn't mean what is
> says.
>
> To be honest, I haven't looked for them yet. And I just bought a dozen
> eggs this morning at the convenience store that were so cheap there were
> probably produced in triple-decker cages by chickens fed a diet of
> garbage and roadkill.
>
> I don't want necessarily to pay $1 apiece for Amish™ heirloom-chicken
> Organic™ eggs (What does even that mean? I bet those chickens aren't
> even Amish at all)
>
> Just free-roaming in a crowded barn with nest boxes, roosts, and a dirt
> corner for "dust baths", even if the chooks never go outside or eat a
> bug would be a huge improvement if not totally cruelty-free.
>
> Bob

This is something I am pondering and acting on. Some years ago, I
started going to the source for cage-free eggs. I hate to say how
long it was before I realized that I never saw the hens! I
explored a bit and found that cage-free meant that they were in
barns. Oooops. There is one farm around here that I know of that
sells eggs from hens that are out in the fresh air. (There is
another tiny place that MIGHT have a few eggs, but it is not a
reliable source.) Yesterday, I was again perusing the information
on the boxes. I ended up buying eggs at WF that claimed to come
from a farm in Texas (not good, not local) where the hens are
living as they should. It is called Vital Farms. If they are
selling eggs all the way up in Massachusetts, it must be a big
farm, so I wonder... Here is the link:

http://www.vitalfarms.com/

As you indicate, they are not cheap--nor are the other eggs I find
at the farms cheap. I find I am eating less and less meat, eggs,
etc. and trying harder to buy products from critters that have had
a good life.