Following on from numerous threads such as this..
Which eggs do you buy and why?
Do You Buy Caged Eggs?
smashed on 05/11/2017 - 16:36
Last edited 05/11/2017 - 17:25 by 2 other users
Last edited 05/11/2017 - 17:25 by 2 other users
Poll Options
- 473Free range from supermarket
- 466Whatever is cheapest (usually caged)
- 53I have my own hen
- 42Free range from local farm produce
- 28I don't eat eggs
- 7Barn eggs
Comments
I buy based on size, the larger the better
That's what she said.
My wife does the shopping and I swear picks the most expensive ones on the shelf
I normally buy eggs in cardboard cartons. Never seen any in cages.
I only buy the 10 pack 700g Jumbo Eggs.
Yea I do. My wife and I even loudly ask each other where are those tortured eggs just to get a rise out of the misinformed do gooders. Neg away lol
Seems to me you are the only one thats misinformed - just a misinformed moron instead of a do gooder lol
I really care about animals. I know we eat them and farm them and even wear them but it doesn’t mean we have a right to make them suffer. Cage eggs are from suffering hens. It’s awful.
So I buy free range. However imagine my anger when I find that almost all WA free range in Coles and Woolies no matter which one and no matter how expensive are complete cons! And they know it! And the ACCC knows it! And they get smack on the wrist fines again and again while taking in the money! Disgusting.
So I really struggle to find true free range eggs. I buy ones that often don’t appear on CluckAR because it’s list is REALLY limited and I wish Choice would up their game with it. Meanwhile I’d also like to buy farm direct but there just isn’t much out my way.
I'm vegetarian and I hate caged eggs, they taste differently and its brutal they way they are raising them
How do you know what eggs taste like if you're a vegetarian? lol
If you knew a bit about vegetarians you'd have a better understanding that vegetarians are different to vegans, what you're talking about right now is vegans, Vegans don't eat eggs, ice cream and basically any product that comes from animals even milk & cheese etc. Vegetarians are very similar to vegans but we can eat/drink milk, cheese and ice cream.
Vegans 'can' eat those things, they just choose not to :) And you can easily get vegan ice cream, milk and cheese! So it doesn't really feel like you're missing out on anything
@Soybeanus: wouldn't you not be a vegan if you ate eggs? I don't think choice comes into it, unless you mean choosing whether to be vegan or not.
Are you sure you are a vegetarian?
Eats like a vegetarian.
Replies like a vegetarian.
Must be vegetarian.
Free range at aldi or qvm.
I do have my reasons for choosing free range over caged but not the place to argue for which is the better choice.
The real question is if non caged eggs really non-caged? How would we average consumers know? Just because they write on the box?
Yep, because there is no taste or quality difference. People are paying for labels, advertising and packaging & that's it.
That is the problem.
But it doesn't mean that you shouldn't do the right thing.How do you know that the charity donation went to the charity, or that your tip went to the waitress.
Buying caged eggs shows Coles that people are willing to pay the lowest price and the shop will continue to source them.Bizarrely , the USA (self proclaimed best country in the world) sell 90% of their eggs from caged hens. That is pretty shocking, but at least they are now committing to change that.
How do you know that the $100 shirt you purchased wasn't made by a child?
The sad truth is that no doubt some eggs labelled as free-range are the complete opposite :( It won't stop me buying free range though.
DOn't get me wrong, I'm all for free range. I'm buying from a local farmer guy I know, and actually the egg do taste better, richer yellow yolk! Definitely not paying double for those "labelled" as free range, just because they label as such..
Well, I don't eat caged eggs which is a personal decision but I am sick of those immoral and injustice aggressive rebellions, rioting and shoving their personal ideas everywhere down people throats like no one else has a brain.
Thanks for bringing this up OP.
Free range from the supermarket. I've outsourced my reasoning on this. Basically some very very very smart people in the effective altruism movement frequently point to battery cages as a high impact animal cruelty issue. The price differential is insufficient for me to investigate beyond what I already have so it's a pretty easy CBA.
That's right, some very smart people have pointed out the cruelty of battery cages AND some even smarter people who work for egg producers have figured out how to exploit that to their advantage. Cruelty remains the same, you're just paying extra for the print. (unless you purchase the really expensive ones in the top 5%)
10,000 v 1500 hectare issue or are you arguing the cruelty of 10,000 v battery is equivalent?
Not at all, I'm arguing the fact that the vast majority of 'free range' eggs are being produced with similar animal welfare - They just tick some bureaucratic boxes.
'free range' eggs are being produced with similar animal welfare
Not really, 10,000 chickens per hectare is about 1 chicken per square metre.
Caged chickens are far worse off, they can't even stretch their wings.
1 metre is far from ideal, but much better than caged.
@Scab: 1 chicken per square meter doesn't sound too bad at all - much more than most other captive birds have.
My cockatiel had a tenth of that and he was a pretty happy guy.
What does Commonwealth Bank have to do with animal cruelty?
Cost benefit analysis.
Despite all their rage they are still just hens in a cage
I'm not a vegetarian but I believe all animals I use for food should be kept as humanely as possible. It depends on what your conscience will allow you to do.
try2bhelpful is oblivious to the tortuous plight of pumpkin smashing.
People want equal rights for chickens now? Damn you slippery slope!
I want equal rights for slippery slopes.
So which eggs are better?
Caged eggs from big brands
or
Supermarket branded free range eggs
They seem to be similar priced
I buy free range because I like to think I'm giving the hens a chance. Whether that's true or not I have no idea.
That was the most accurate statement of them all.
These arguments are like religion and life after death. No one has spoken to God and no one has come back from death, yet people are jumping around screaming about how we should do the right thing according to them, while they are having their chicken sandwich, watching million dollars Hollywood movies on their Apple iPhones and wearing their Nike shoes, paying for their next leather jacket out of their leather wallets, spoiling every single hole in every single possible loophole,…
And actually, every one of them is keeping an animal as their pet.
Give us a break
You care about animals? Pull out them totally. Let them live their lives in the wild and if you really care, care for humans.
As usually it's around 40% of society are scumbags.
We all know how bad caged eggs are, yet given the choice 40% will still choose caged eggs.
And before you start crying poor, you are likely on a PC or mobile device and have to pay for internet you can afford to buy non-caged.
BAN CAGED EGGS people are not responsible.
What are the other issues where 40% of society are scumbags? I like the potential of identifying scumbags via ratios of 2:3. Definitely applies to Take That, Boyzone and Backstreet Boys. Dunno about Human Nature, though. They're 100%. Maybe if they are onstage with Humphrey and Marina Prior and some elves the prophecy holds.
I don't really eat eggs except for baking so buy free range or organic when available, only because I buy them so infrequently. I'm not going to sit in judgment over people buying caged eggs - it's so easy to do that rather than focus on the producers. I'm sure the producers love the fact that people blame those who buy them and not the ones doing the actual harm to the animals.
Seaworld will keep dolphins until people stop paying to see them.
Rhino's wouldn't be slaughtered if people didn't buy the ivory.If you kill the demand then you stop the suppliers.
Sorry, but you are partly culpable if you hand cash over for this produce.
I don't disagree with you but have a look around on the Internet - how much of judging and attacking people for their behaviour has actually caused them to change their behaviour? It's a great failed social experiment.
You know what.. I think social views on certain things such as racism and homosexuality have changed greatly since the Internet.
Animal welfare won't be far behind human welfare. Education helps.@smashed: I agree, education and awareness helps although it's a fine line between that and personal attack. The post above mine referred to people who buy caged eggs as scumbags. It's counterproductive.
@MissG:
By education, you mean propaganda suggestibility, but carry on the self-admiration society love-in.
This 'survey' is starting to have the legitimacy of an Alan Jones cash for comments favourable editorial. It's called leading the witness.
Whatever is the cheapest. Free range means nothing and can be anything.
Ill take a dump in a carton and sell you it as a dozen for half a buck.
I buy straight from farmers because it is not too far out of the way.
I know that barn and free range eggs are indistinguishable (all else being the same). I have friends in food analysis and the chemical composition of the contents apart from the shell is the same (inconsequential variations only).
I just like the thought of happy birds in the care of responsible farmers.
Free range, lowest chicken per hectare regardless of price (within reason of course, not paying $100 an egg, would just stop eating eggs).
It's a sentient beings entire existence, and it's worth trying to make it as nice as possible.I buy boxed eggs.
I stopped buying eggs altogether. All it took for me was seeing male chicks on a conveyer belt leading to a giant grinder. I decided I didn't want to be a part of systemic exploitation of sentient life.
Unfortunately my contribution is a drop in the bucket to the tens of billions of animals that are killed for human pleasure every year. On a personal level I feel a great relief knowing I have distanced myself from those abuses. Naturally I am complicit in other abuses like buying cheap clothes, driving a car, etc, but it's one step at a time - and the easiest step has already been taken: the choice of what I put onto my plate and into my mouth.
From memory there are over a billion chickens killed per year in the UK alone.
The contributions of people like yourself are adding up. What was once a drop is now a splash. Change is happening!
Eggs are not healthy. It will increase your risk of heart disease.
"The real life effects of eggs were recently investigated in a large population of nearly 6,000 vegetarians and 5,000 non-vegetarians over a period of 13 years. Within this group of nearly 11,000 people, those eating eggs more than 6 times a week had a 2.47 times greater risk of dying of heart disease than those eating less than one egg a week."
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/march/050300pueaster…
Issues with population-based studies aside, less than one or more than 6 eggs is a pretty wide range. Most people would eat in between that, and as per the Australian National Heart Foundation guidelines, this is absolutely fine.
https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/healthy-eating/food-and-n…
it's not at all in their best interest to tell you that eggs are OK, right? :)
They are evidence based guidelines based on peer-reviewed research that has been reproduced independently by multiple sources across the world. Unless there is a worldwide conspiracy designed solely to make people eat more eggs, requiring the organisation collusion the Europeans, Americans, Australians, British, and other non-Westernised countries, involving thousands of people who all agree with this collusion….I'd say that argument doesn't really stand up anywhere but on the evidence-free, opinion heavy corners of the Internet.
I had always been buying free range..
Until one of my friends who was doing working holidays in farms told me that most free range chicken are being worse off than caged ones as they are practically just same or more amounts of chicken in a shed with no cages.
He describe that the place is so packed the hygiene is close to 0 and chicken have to stand on top of other chickens coz simply theres no room
At least caged chickens they don't need to stand on each other.
After that it seems like it wont matter for caged or free range so I just buy whatever is the cheapest.
We can't kid ourselves that factory farming of any form is as clean as you think. There are pros and cons to both free range and caged hens. You can't think of hens as being human, acting like humans or even liking the same things as humans. However, you can make an informed choice and buy the type of egg you prefer.
Cons of free range chooks include:
- are more susceptible to diseases like bird flu as they are in contact with flying birds, who can enter the sheds.
- tend to spend all their time indoors even though they have access to outdoor spaces. This is because the birds have been bred as indoor birds and seem to prefer that environment.
- birds attack each other and injure or kill the weakest ones. Unfortunately, they are not all friends and will round on weaker birds.
- cleanliness and hygiene as pointed above. It is much easier to keep caged eggs clean and tidy as they poo through a cage on to the ground (not each other).
- cost of production.Cons of caged hens:
- lack of opportunity to move;
- mental / social welfare;
- lack of dusting opportunities;
- higher incidence of foot lesions.You decide which is better. But remember the animal welfare benefits of free range eggs versus caged eggs are not clear cut. If you think your animal likes the same things we do and should be treated like a human, than you should consider becoming vegan.
One of the most reasonable comments of this thread.
Unfortunately the pro free range buyers don't understand/unaware the cons of "free range"
I'll scour the internet for days and days to find my mass produced item, which was made by bangladeshi children for $1 / mnth and report the savings on Ozbargain
But the guys who buy caged eggs are the real villains.
Chickens don't even get paid!
But get free food/housing/water
I mean that's enough right? Eggs don't sell for much anyways!
Check your "free range" eggs through the app if you're unsure http://newthings.choice.com.au/cluckar/
I don't know why they even sell caged eggs anymore. I buy my free range eggs in bulk so it is cheaper than the supermarkets caged chooks eggs anyway.
If you actually care about animals then this is why you shouldn't buy caged eggs
http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/7-reasons-cage-eggs…I buy caged eggs because they are cheaper and taste the same, regardless of whether people think a chicken actually values walking around outside before being slaughtered anyway.
If I sit down and have a moral dilemma on everything I buy, I wouldn't buy anything!
Oh no the poor Australian farmers, oh the poor suicidal Chinese iPhone workers, Ohno German made cars are so good but at some point in time some guy killed heaps of people so I'm supporting a Nazi regime. Oh the USA bombs the shit out of innocents daily,. But the chickens, what about the chickens.
A chickens life is not going to change the world. If you think spending $3-4 more on true free range eggs is better for your moral conscious, go for it.
Witch eggs How to Basic buy?
Looks like free ranged eggs are a scam anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uIqgTmLTdU
147,000 chickens / hectareLink to a picture of the hens conditions for your "free ranged eggs"
https://youtu.be/4uIqgTmLTdU?t=223So yeah, I buy the cheapest possible.
ill second this. I buy caged because i dont believe that for the most part the conditions of "free range" eggs are any better. Sure there will be some companies who do it properly but on the whole i think the chickens themselves go from one bad to another in caged to "free range"
Anyone tried Emu Eggs?
emulated eggs?
Emo eggs?
Yeah they taste fine. The only issue is that visually they look like the world's largest dark avacado and when you crack the shell open, it's mostly just warm yolk that comes gushing out. Can be a bit off-putting visually, but taste-wise there's no issue.
SO taste on chicken eggs?
I go to Costco and buy the 30 pack of caged eggs. Some times I buy two.
Dont support Battery Cages you tightass, buy free-range.
Im sure you can make up an extra $3 / week from something else like ditching a can of beerDon't tell me what to do. You're not my wife.
This comment is strangely inappropriate in a website where the main point of this site is to save that $3 a week.
I mean you are concerned about the chicken and will pay more for it, but are ok with buying electronics/other things from Chinese/Bangladesh factories that are using cheap child labour who are probably worse off than caged chickens.
Double standards much?
Once in a life, everyone who has a small backyard, try buying a rescued(one who has spent 1st year of life in battery farm) ISA brown chicken which will cost around $5. She would be living on $1 a day feed and would lay 5-6 eggs in a week and the chicken will be thankful to you and would make a great pet.
Terrible advice for fellow OzBargainer's, IMO. Commercial Isa Brown's stop laying typically around 14-16 months and are bred to only live 2yrs, typically. Being that you can buy standard young Isa's or 8-16week old's for around $8-$15 from any fodder store, you shouldn't bother with the rescued chickens. A standard non-commercial Isa from any fodder store will live 4-8yr's and they will lay eggs for a good 4 years as well. That's a far superior ROI. The other main issue is that Isa's wont thrive unless their in a group of 2+ other chooks their own age.
Thanks for the chicken tips!
I'd love to get chooks but told you need at least 3 so two don't fight and you're not left too short if they get attacked. Possibly need a council permit too?
I'm the last person who would care about this, but I eventually did learn about the realities of caged egg laying chickens, and it's (profanity) horrendous and indefensible.
It's like $1 more for free range anyway. Honestly supermarkets should just stop selling caged eggs 100%. Take away the choice. No-one would notice.
You don't need to save that $1, it's one place where you can do without. Just buy free range.
Defence of something that does not require defending is moot. Maybe the hysterical left shouldn't be attacking.
What hysterical left? Huh? I'm just saying if you see the conditions for yourself, no-one in their right mind would think it was OK. Since the cost difference is $1. I'd just honestly advise everyone to do it for just basic human compassion reasons.
Have you seen the conditions of that factory that produces "free range eggs" for only $1 more?
Hint: It is worse than caged
It's hysterical to suggest people are even attempting to defend actions simply because you are critical of it. If I told you Australian land and roads were cleared by mistreated horses, would you boycott land use, ownership and never use roads? Do you really think transport conditions for horses from England were ethical? Are you going to do something about that or will you enjoy the spoils of animal cruelty. Most likely you are selective, a double standard.
That's not comparable.
One already exists, one is an ongoing practice.
If they still transported horses from england for that purpose, yeah, people would probably boycot and be outraged.
I started buying from the farmers market recently, they cost 5.50-6.00 a dozen but they are jumbo and have hard shells compared to the caged. I presumed the chooks have a better diet. Btw not all farmers markets are the same, don't go to the poshed up ones, prob selling the caged ones as free range. The farmers sell limited cartons so get there early.
Bad news, buddy. Your buying commercial egg's if the shells are hard/thick. Natural eggs are substantially thinner shelled in comparison to commercial eggs, because they don't typically have shell-thickener in their diet and they don't receive a commercial-grade coating of egg-wax on them before being packaged.
I'm tempted to buy my own chickens for fresh eggs. I'll be sure to keep them in tiny cages for that authentic caged egg feeling.
You should keep them in a cage most of the time so they don't get killed by foxes.
If you want to feel better you could call the cage a coop….it's still a cage.
Actually, family used to keep hens and they attracted rats. Never again.
Why is everyone complaining about this?
I can tell you right now, behind closed doors with Food products I can almost guarantee more worst things happens than 'Cage Eggs'.
I don't get why people are more concerned with the ethical ramifications more so than the damage eating eggs can cause to your health
Salmonella concerns aside, some experts suggest that eating even one egg a day may exceed the safe upper limit for cholesterol intake in terms of cardiovascular disease risk. Dietary cholesterol may also contribute to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and cholesterol consumption was found to be a strong predictor of cirrhosis and liver cancer. Those consuming the amount of cholesterol found in two Egg McMuffins or more each day appeared to double their risk of hospitalization or death.
Compared with men who rarely eat eggs, men eating even less than one egg a day appear to have twice the risk of prostate cancer progression. And, men who consume two and a half or more eggs per week—basically an egg every three days—may have an 81 percent increased risk of dying from prostate cancer. How could eating less than an egg a day have such potential impact on cancer risk? The answer may be choline, a compound found concentrated in eggs. The choline in eggs, like the carnitine in red meat, is converted into a toxin called trimethylamine by bacteria existing in meat-eaters’ guts. Trimethylamine, once oxidized in the liver, appears to increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death.
That website is very biased as it is trying to tell everyone to turn to veganism.
Consuming eggs actually have lots of benefits
here is a CSIRO study
https://www.goodfood.com.au/good-health/you-can-eat-eggs-eve…
and from medical news
Propaganda bullshit website.
Only free range based on the opinion that I think a healthier chicken free to roam will produce a healthier and tastier egg, I just can't by caged after seeing the conditions and the poor health of the chickens in them.
Who do you support?