Seven Springs Farm eggs come from grass-fed chickens. Barbara E. Cohen

Organic eggs and chickens cost more than traditional counterparts, but how do you know their real value? Although many unregulated terms appear on product labels, the only ones that count are those regulated by federal or state law.

Poultry and eggs may be labeled natural, organic, organically raised, cagefree or free roaming, free-range, or grass-fed or pasture-raised. Eggs may also garner labels like nutritionally enhanced, fertile, in shell pasteurized or vegetarian. Altogether, there are lots of choices and decisions for the consumer.

“Even a local Wal-Mart may have seven or eight different varieties of eggs, in different sizes, grades and colors,” says Mark Straw, executive administrator of the Indiana State Egg Board.

What is organic?
Use of the term organic follows guidelines established by the National Organic Standards Board. Poultry products marked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s A Organic seal were given feed that is free of conventional pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and commercial fertilizers, and they were not treated with growth hormones or antibiotics. Hens whose feed is free of animal by-products produce vegetarian eggs. Because it can be expensive to garner official certification as organic, some producers use other labels for their products.

“Many local producers use the terms organically raised or raised with organic methods to show that their products meet federal guidelines, whether or not the farm is certified organic,” says Darby Simpson, owner of Simpson’s Farm Market in Martinsville, Ind. Simpson’s Cross-Rock chickens are the same breed as those from the big producers, but are raised in an environment with access to fresh air, sunshine and grass.

For chickens and eggs raised in a sustainable, environmentally responsible way, expect to pay two or three times the cost of conventional chicken or eggs. For the additional expense, consumers get the best quality meat and eggs from organically raised or certified organic chickens fed partially on grass and living in the fresh air and sunshine.

Darby Simpson displays a Cross-Rock hen while son, Ethan, beams with pride. Photo courtesy Simpson’s Farm Market

Poultry pride
Trendy labels, such as free range, non-cage or cage-free, don’t specify where the chickens were ranged or how often. The preferred term for animals raised without confinement is pastured or grass-fed. “People buy our birds because they are concerned about health issues or nutrition, care about the welfare of the animals or want a bettertasting chicken,” says Thomas Weddle, marketing consultant for Free-Range Chickens near Evansville, Ind.

Eggs-ellent value
Small-production egg sellers are regulated the same as supermarkets by the Indiana State Egg Board, which licenses more than 4,500 large and small egg retailers. Random inspections enforce quality control no matter who raised the hens.

At Seven Springs Farm in Carthage, Ind., Luella Porter raises grass-fed chickens, turkeys and beef, as well as eggs. “We follow biodynamic methods to build up the soil health by rotating the chickens around the farm daily, and we use no hormones, antibiotics, chemical wormers or drugs on our animals,” says Porter, who has up to 2,000 layers in midsummer.

Porter prefers Golden Comet hens for their brown eggs, which she distributes within a 50-mile radius of her Rush County farm. Thirty percent of the hens’ diet is grass and bugs, while 70 percent is a certified-organic grain mixture of corn, soybean meal, oats, a calcium source such as oyster shell, and a kelpbased mineral mix. The rising cost of feed grains has contributed to the rising cost of organically raised eggs.
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Buying power
Unless specifically labeled, packaging for farm-raised poultry and eggs doesn’t distinguish it from other kinds of production. Eggs look remarkably alike except for their color, and brown eggs offer no additional nutritional value over white ones. The color of an egg is based entirely on the variety of hen doing the laying.

For the best quality, ignore confusing marketing terms and focus on how the chicken was raised, what it was fed and whether the feed was nutritionally supplemented, such as with vitamin D or omega-3 fatty acids. Furthermore, get to know farmers who sell these products, especially if you worry about cruelty to animals raised in confinement.

“Your best guarantee of quality is to know your grower,” Weddle says.

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