Animals

Happy Eggs!

Posted on Feb 24, 2013 in Animals, Living | 0 comments

I had eggs yesterday morning and this morning.

Yesterday, I got a twin egg, aka “double yolk”! I think I’ve never cracked a twin egg before. Probably the first time! It means good luck, doesn’t it?

And then this morning, again! It’s rare that I cook eggs 2 days in a row, so it has never happened that I got twins in a row!!!

Super Lucky!?

What kind of lucky things will happen to me!?

And then this morning, my late-rising hubby also made eggs for his breakfast, and it was also a twin! This time I took a picture.
I read young mama hens can lay twin eggs more easily. So these could be from the same mama. But still it’s only 1 or 2 % chance to lay twins.
3 twin eggs in one dozen already. Could be still counting…

Anxiety about how to treat “economic animals” is never ending, and human selfishness makes them suffer so much and they become our food. We still have some choices to treat them better.

One of them is to make hens roam free a bit more out of their cages. If we choose to buy “Free Range” or “Free Run”, demand for that will increase, and encourage farmers to shift to these better conditions.
In fact, in more health conscious countries, people are buying more “Free Range” or “Free Run” eggs. These are a bit more expensive, but when you think of a pregnant woman being caged in her room, compared to a pregnant woman being freely active by going out of the house/getting exercise/getting more sunshine, of course, the latter can produce a much healthier baby. It’s easy to imagine. (I always put myself in the animal’s shoes, and I get a headache very easily.)

In Hong Kong, we saw “Free Run” eggs at the supermarkets, but they are double or triple the cost of cheaper eggs. So we couldn’t buy them all the time. Very expensive.
But in Canada, they are less than double the price. I wonder how it is in Japan.

By the way, I didn’t know the difference between “Free Range” and “Free Run”.

Free-run eggs:
“Free-run” means chickens can move around in open barns, but they don’t necessarily have access to the great outdoors and overcrowding may still be an issue.
Certification: none

Free-range eggs:
“Free-range” means hens see the light of day (depending on the weather) and their feet actually come in contact with the earth.
Certification: none

So, these ones aren’t independently verified!?
When I read the David Suzuki Foundation‘s page, an even better one is “Organic”. To print that on the product, they have to be certified by passing the highest welfare standards. So it’s the best!

Organic:
Hens that produce certified organic eggs benefit from the highest welfare standards. For example, the BC SPCA Certified label assures eggs come from farms that have passed their animal welfare standards. Certified organic labels often require the use of organic feed without growth hormones or antibiotics, too.

Reference: David Suzuki Foundation

Organic eggs… I’ve never seen them at Super Store, I think. Low standard…

To eat healthy food, it costs money… it can’t be helped.