Is a free range chicken that eats anything.A healthier chicken than a cooped chicken that is feed grain with flax seed? I know eggs that come from chickens that are feed Flax seed sell for more than regular eggs around where I live.
I have never heard of feeding chickens flax seed to make the eggs better, sounds like a city thing. Around where I live fresh eggs from open range chickens are more enticing than store bought feed fed chickens that are penned up. My chicken free range, 90% of their food comes from nature.
It's a health food thing.. It makes the eggs have less cholesterol.. You get more for your eggs.. But it Cost a lot more to feed chickens.. Around here fresh eggs cost around 1.50 to 2.00 a dozen... Less cholesterol eggs usually go from 2.00 to 3.00 dozen... Mostly the chickens are Rooster free.
Flax seed in large amounts can alter the taste of your eggs. We get $3.00 to $3.50 for a dozen eggs. Our chickens are on pasture all day with feed supplements, light in corn.
Some of the sellers today have dropped there regular fresh eggs to 1.25 dozen... Don't know if they are free range...
I've raised Buckeyes now for over a decade in both "free range" and "cooped" conditions....there is NO difference in the meat or egg quality using either system provided the feed you supply provides the proper nutrition! Having said that I also feed supplements like Flax Seed (Omega Ultra Egg is a new product for improving the Omega Fatty Acids in eggs = healthier eggs) to my egg layers. Any chicken that is getting fresh greens and bugs will produce eggs that are lower in colesterol and higher in Omega's but for those that are cooped these supplements certainly help. EggLands Best has been feeding "caged" chickens Flax Seed for years and marketing it to the public as healthier alternative to other eggs, too!
Yes, there have been recent studies and tests that show that hens who are kept on pasture and are eating bugs and grass have a higher level of omega 3's, lower cholesterol, higher vitamin A and D etc. ANY meat animal that is allowed to forage on good old grass will have a higher level of omega 3's and 6's in the proper proportions. It's just how nature works. I saw a commercial from one of the big meat producers about feeding their hens marigolds to make a more golden appearance. Heck, let them eat grass and that will happen naturally. Mother Nature made the chicken to be a foraging creature. To wander around and eat as they go. I personally think that if we can keep them as close to that model things will go the best for them. Of course we also have to protect our investment. Just about everything out there thinks that chicken is just tasty!!
amen to that Roslyn! if you have a serious hawk predation issue maybe "free range" isn't in your flocks best interest?!?! i do both, "free range" and "coop" my fowl....breeding stock is generally "cooped" with large outdoor runs (covered by netting) so the birds get sunshine and fresh air. my younger fowl and meat birds get to "free range" and the hawks eat good as a result!
