On Thu, 24 May 2012 06:25:52 -0700 (PDT), Kalmia
> wrote:

>For some reason, I bought cage free eggs (feeling sorry for caged,
>crammed hens, maybe). I scrambled one , and then a regular cheapo egg
>in another pan. Same timing, same heat level.
>I could not tell a difference in taste. They may be nutritionally
>superior, but other than that.........
>
>Do you buy cage free? Why?

Chicken physiology does not permit nutritional change to occur in eggs
regardless of free range or caged, nor flavor, only yolk color changes
with feed... Mother Nature saw to that eons ago for maintaining
reproduction. Chicken eggs do vary however with the age of the
chicken, as do mammal eggs. Free range chicken is purely a marketing
device, hype for extracting more dollars from those with fewer brain
cells. If anything caged chickens are much more likely to be disease
free as will their eggs. And naturally folks who spend double for
eggs will swear they taste better... same as the ignorant peons said
about The Emperor's New Clothes

On Thursday, May 24, 2012 10:04:46 AM UTC-6, Brooklyn1 wrote:
> On Thu, 24 May 2012 06:25:52 -0700 (PDT), Kalmia
> > wrote:
>
> >For some reason, I bought cage free eggs (feeling sorry for caged,
> >crammed hens, maybe). I scrambled one , and then a regular cheapo egg
> >in another pan. Same timing, same heat level.
> >I could not tell a difference in taste. They may be nutritionally
> >superior, but other than that.........
> >
> >Do you buy cage free? Why?
>
> Chicken physiology does not permit nutritional change to occur in eggs
> regardless of free range or caged, nor flavor, only yolk color changes
> with feed... Mother Nature saw to that eons ago for maintaining
> reproduction. Chicken eggs do vary however with the age of the
> chicken, as do mammal eggs. Free range chicken is purely a marketing
> device, hype for extracting more dollars from those with fewer brain
> cells. If anything caged chickens are much more likely to be disease
> free as will their eggs. And naturally folks who spend double for
> eggs will swear they taste better... same as the ignorant peons said
> about The Emperor's New Clothes

Nutritional value may not change but taste is influenced by the food consumed
by chickens. Feed a mixture of fish scraps or stinkweed and the taste of the
eggs may be quite disagreeable.

On May 24, 12:04*pm, Brooklyn1 <Gravesend1> wrote:

>
> Chicken physiology does not permit nutritional change to occur in eggs
> regardless of free range or caged, nor flavor, only yolk color changes
> with feed... Mother Nature saw to that eons ago for maintaining
> reproduction. *Chicken eggs do vary however with the age of the
> chicken, as do mammal eggs. *Free range chicken is purely a marketing
> device, hype for extracting more dollars from those with fewer brain
> cells. *If anything caged chickens are much more likely to be disease
> free as will their eggs. *And naturally folks who spend double for
> eggs will swear they taste better... same as the ignorant peons said
> about The Emperor's New Clothes

Just did a bit of reading; Free range may not be so liberating after
all:
http://veg.ca/content/view/272/101/
{
Alternatives to standard egg production methods are being used in
Canada to a small degree. While these are an improvement, they are by
no means free of cruelty. Chickens can live up to 12 years, but most
alternatively-raised hens are still hauled to slaughter after a year
or two. And male chicks are killed at birth, just as they are in
factory farms.

Author, Michael Pollan, visited free-range chicken and egg farms to
see conditions for himself as part of the research for his book,
Omnivore's Dilemma. He discovered that a lot of companies market their
eggs under family-farm-sounding names but are in fact huge industrial-
scale operations. For example, Petaluma markets their "natural free
range" eggs under the label, Judy's Family Farm. What "free range"
means in this case is an enormous shed with a small door out to a tiny
grassy area. The farm managers don't want the birds going outside,
since these "defenseless, crowded, and genetically identical birds are
exquisitely vulnerable to infection. This is one of the larger ironies
of growing organic food in an industrial system."

Pollan visited a typical organic chicken farm, where the little doors
to the outside remain closed until the birds are five weeks old. They
are slaughtered at seven weeks, so "free range turns out to be not so
much a lifestyle for these chickens as a two-week vacation
option." (page 172)

Free range
Generally speaking, free range eggs come from chickens who have some
access to the outside, but how much access? The U.S. regulates the use
of the term on chicken but not on eggs, and doesn't stipulate how much
outdoor time is required. Canada regulates neither. No other criteria,
such as environmental quality, size of the outside area, number of
birds, or space per bird, are included in this term. Typically, free-
range hens are debeaked at the hatchery, and have only 1 to 2 square
feet of floor space per bird. The birds may or may not have litter and
access to nests and perches.


}