Chicken Egg Wars: Store Bought vs. Free Range

This week was the first week I bought eggs from the store in five years.

Why would I do that when I've get eggs for "free" from my hens?

(Free is in quotations because I still have to pay for feed, housing, and bedding. If you asked my husband how "free" our eggs are, he would say they are thousand dollar eggs, haha!)

I bought eggs, because I was curious to see the difference between one of my chickens' eggs and the eggs they sell at stores. Here is a picture of the eggs I selected:

The egg on the left is from one of my Olive Egger Hens. The white eggs are from Kroger. All the eggs are about the same size.

According to a Google Search, store bought eggs are four to six weeks when we take them home. Stores are able to sell them for up to 100 days old. My green egg on the left was laid yesterday. The age of the eggs, the living conditions, and the chicken feed are all huge factors on the difference between the inside of these eggs.

Are you ready to see what's in the inside of these two different types of eggs?

Drum Roll Please....

Which one is store bought and which one is laid by one of my free ranging chickens?

If you guessed the egg on the left is from one of my chickens, you are correct! The egg on the right is store bought. Look closely....what differences do we see?

1. The yolk of the farm fresh egg is slightly larger.

2. The yolk is a bit more orange in the farm fresh egg. The orange color intensifies as the yolk pops while cooking.

3. The egg whites on the farm fress egg is much more yellow. It was also thicker. The store bought egg whites were extremely runny, just like water.

Free range eggs are laid by hens who spend most of their life outside eating bugs, grass clippings, and foraging for all sorts of different bugs. Free ranging hens are constantly exposed to fresh air and sunlight. They are not overcrowded in a cage. They are happier and healthier. Because of all the different types of nutrients they get from finding food outside, those nutrients go directly into their eggs, which directly goes into us when we eat them. Free Range Eggs are higher in Omega, Vitamins A, D, E and Beta-Carotene (another Google search).

Store bought eggs still contain all this nutrition, but farm fresh eggs just have a higher concentration inside them. Plus, the taste is SO MUCH BETTER! The yolk is much thicker and has a richer taste.

Because of the taste being so much better, my family has become egg snobs....we are extremely picky about our eggs. I asked my daughter if she would like to eat the rest of the eggs I bought from the store. Her answer? No way, yuck!

But, I found one member of my family that doesn't mind eating our store bought eggs....

Thank you for reading my Country Squawk,

Kelly

PS 2026 Babies are A-Cookin, 22 Chickies coming in March!!!

The incubator is right next to my CrockPot, which interestingly has chicken cooking in it too. I have the beginning and the end on my kitchen counter...how poetic!