Do you buy caged or free range?

Free from farmer up the road, free from chicken-owning work colleague, free from local farm shops, free from Morrisons or Waitrose. Same for meats.
Mrs prefers über free range, organic, raised while wrapped in cotton wool, fed only milk and honey by Cuban virgins, but they're very expensive!
 
randomshenans said:
Hate myself for this sauce, but: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nge-chickens-crammed-shed-NEVER-daylight.html

That's the sort of thing you get with the COMMERCIAL free range farms, not the likes of your nan/uncle/brother's actual small hold/ farm.
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That is what you get, yes. Free range birds come inside at night and are then shut in (the barn in the first of the pics I posted above houses 5,000, the smaller shed, to be demolished in the coming weeks as it's EOL, houses 2 or 3,000, and there's a third 3,000 shed - half the eggs go to Waitrose), and they are packed in to the extent you see in those pics.

That article is a bit dramatic about it all. It's fair to say the houses stink, and it's quite a sight to see 5,000 birds in one area like that - but the chickens are quite content.
 
Always freerange for me from our local butcher. He sources his from a responsible egg farmer. Battery hens live in terrible conditions -.-
 
GinG said:
15 eggs or whatever quantity from Aldi for £1.

Would only buy farm shop ones at one stage, but can't tell the difference between the 2 so just pick up the cheap caged hens eggs when out shopping.
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Christ, I think eggs are worth more than that! I think they're 1.50ish from sainsburys. (for 6 free range)
 
GinG said:
15 eggs or whatever quantity from Aldi for £1.

Would only buy farm shop ones at one stage, but can't tell the difference between the 2 so just pick up the cheap caged hens eggs when out shopping.
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It's not all about taste though. Why are you happy buying into a method that treats the animals in such a poor way? You might not be able to tell the difference between the two, but there really is. Free range just tastes better, and surely the extra £ or two to ensure you're buying from a more friendly and responsible farming method is worth it too? I just don't understand how you can be happy paying such a pittance for what is essentially a hen crammed into a cage churning out eggs all day everyday with no movement whatsoever. It just isn't right.

I'm no animal rights activist but I do believe in buying good quality meat and eggs sourced in a manner that is respectful of the animals providing it. It just seems like the right thing to do.

By the way, crack open a caged hen's egg into a bowl, and then crack open a Burford Brown egg and see if you can tell the difference. You'd be surprised at just how noticeable it is.
 
Free if I can, generally they come from places by the side of the road. They're fresh and taste so much better, even if most of the time they are smaller than I'd like (just means I use more of them).
I don't KNOW they're free range, but I assume they are because the chickens are generally running around all over the road trying to knock me off my bike/commit suicide.
 
SonniLombardi said:
That is rank :-/

Asians! Their culture and cuisine I suppose so I can't really make judgement on them.

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Strange meal that one.

Accidentally made one of those. Before my father-in-law started commercial egg production, he had a couple of dozen hens and a cockerel. Making hard boiled eggs, and one of the eggs we got from him must have been incubated by its mother for a week or two and had a foetus inside. Was pretty rank.

I do happily eat whitebait, though. I suppose that's similar.
 
I always buy Clarence Court eggs, they are really good. Never knowingly buy caged hen eggs but members of my in-law family do which is frustrating. They are well-off, they just don't want to spend the extra pennies :(.
 
Mr Jones said:
When I was a student, I got whatever I can afford to live within my means - which means I end up with plenty of battery eggs. Since I can afford "Free Range" eggs now, I get them unless there's no other choice.

There's a definite difference in quality.

My next goal is to own my own chicken and have proper eggs from them fresh. Still awhile away yet, need bigger garden space.
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I'd have to question the difference in quality between free range, barn reared and battery. There may be a difference due to feed but I can't see why why there would be from where they are kept.

I only buy free range but unfortunately the other half buys most of our eggs. I've been drumming it in to here a lot though so now she generally buys free range as well. I can't tell the difference TBH, but I'm far more interested in the animal welfare than taste. If there was a proper farm shop nearby that sold properly raised eggs I'd probably buy from them instead.
 
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