Search This Blog

Define: Organic Eggs & Forced Molting

When you buy organic eggs you are getting eggs from chickens that meet the following regulations:

Organic Eggs: Chickens are fed organic feed, have access to the outdoors and live in a cage free environment. Antibiotics can only be used during a infectious outbreak (as opposed to all the time like factory farms). Forced molting is not allowed. (see below)

And I thought you might need some further explanation of what Forced Molting is.....

Forced Molting: Chickens naturally molt to replace their old feathers with new ones. This happens at the beginning of winter when chicks are not born. (the hen stops laying eggs in order to stay warm and grow new feathers, this is a natural instinct in all sense of the word). Farms starve chickens for 5-14 days in order to send their systems into shock thus forcing the molt. Egg production and quality peaks after molting this boosting the farms production rate. It is considered cruel and inhumane by many. (For more on forced molting, Google: Forced Molting)

By purchasing organic eggs you are making a statement that you are against forced molting and cages!

(Image: craigiestreetbistrot.com)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

By purchasing organic eggs you are making a statement that you are against forced molting and cages!

By not purchasing eggs you are making a statement that you are against the rest of the cruelty present in any commercial eggs!

Hens on just about any farm are kept indoors in huge, unnatural numbers (by the thousands) and debeaked since the intense stress often causing them to kill each other. They never see the light of day until they are taken to slaughter at a very young age when their egg production begins to wane. Broken bones are the norm. These hens almost always come from industrial hatcheries where newly hatched male chicks are killed immediately.

Eggs are by no stretch a necessity and there are so many great alternatives. Why bother buying and touting organic eggs? The best thing you can do for the hens is decrease and ideally cut off your consumption.