Earlier this month I attended a wonderful mom blogger event in Phoenix, Arizona as the guest of the American Egg Board’s Good Egg Project along with Anitra from The Mama Zone, Laurie from Doublebugs, Shanda from Parents with Style, Tonia from All America Mommy, Marla from Family Fresh Cooking, Kristina from MOMFormation, Ann from Healthy Tasty Chow, and Karen from the Eclectic Cook. It was a terrific group of moms who blog about motherhood, cooking and health – sometimes all in the same post!
A total egg-mersion
Our group was granted the rare opportunity to visit the Hickman Family Farms to see how eggs are produced. Before this trip I was a dedicated free range, organic egg consumer. I felt that happy chickens – ones that get to run around outside eating organic feed, bugs and whatever they could find in the fresh air and sunshine – made a better, tastier and healthier egg.
The Hickmans’ farm in Arizona is a conventional farm. Chickens are in caged stacks in sealed, temperature controlled barns. I was surprised that the barns were cool and not terribly stinky. That’s because the chickens in the top cages aren’t pooping on the chickens in the lower cages like I had previously thought they would be. Instead, there are conveyer belts between the cage levels to remove the waste. (At Hickman Family Farms, all chicken waste is turned into fertilizer, water is recycled and broken eggs are composted.)
The chickens had constant access to feed and water and the lights are kept on most of the day, turned off during the afternoon for a couple hour nap, turned back on in the late afternoon and early evening, and kept off at night. Yes, their beaks are trimmed, but if we weren’t told that, we wouldn’t have known. Their beaks looked normal and were just missing the very tip. Yes, there is a pecking order with chickens – the dominant females peck at and bully the less dominant ones. Trimming (not removing) their beaks prevent them from seriously hurting each other.
The Hickmans explained that they keep seven hens per cage – one chicken every 67 inches. The size of the cage is based on scientific studies that show that laying hens need so much room and like sharing a cage with other hens. The natural instinct of the chicken is to get cooped up (thus the expression) with their fellow chickens.
Free range vs. caged chickens
I know a lot of people think it’s cruel to stick a bunch of chickens in a little cage. But we have to remember that chickens aren’t people, elephants or dogs and don’t have the emotional or physical need to run around in big, wide open areas. In fact, wide open areas are scary to chickens because it makes them more vulnerable to predators like foxes, coyotes, hawks, dogs, and so on. Since they’re birds, they like to keep close to their flock and “coop up” in small spaces because it’s a natural behavior that makes them feel safe.
On organic, free range farms, so many hens shove themselves into the nesting boxes that farmers use automated arms to shove them out. Often they get so mashed in that they crush other chickens to death.
We were able to see one of the chickens close up when Clint Hickman pulled one out of her cage to show us her beak. She looked clean, healthy and fairly calm for being handled. Later, I noticed that the chickens made a lot of fuss when we took pictures – the cowered at the back of their cages and started making a great deal of noise. It was our group that was stressing out the chickens (see the video), not their living conditions.
The Hickmans also run a free range chicken farm in California. Having free range chickens in Arizona is impossible because it’s too hot most of the year. They also explained to us that they lose only 4% of their conventionally farmed chickens and 40% of their free range chickens. Free range chickens bully and peck at each other, pull each others’ tail and neck feathers out, and are exposed to wild birds and bugs like mosquitoes that can carry diseases that could infect the flock. Free range doesn’t mean happy, it means survival of the fittest and a mangy, more stressed out flock.
It also means that birds are running around in and laying eggs in their waste. It’s impossible to clean out the free range barns and yards and they only do it after they euthanize an older flock and bring in a new one. On the tour bus, they showed us a video of a free range farm – Morning Fresh Farms in Platteville, Colorado, which is just minutes from my home. We saw how the dust (basically dirt, hay and manure) got kicked up by the chickens, so they’re living in pretty nasty conditions compared to caged chickens. Plus, workers are exposed to and breathing in that stuff, too.
Not convinced that cage chickens could be happy chickens? Read this article (PDF) by Linda Valdez of the Arizona Republic.
Egg biohazards and cleanliness
The Hickmans are very concerned about biohazards, the health of their flocks and making sure that the eggs are very clean and disease free when they reach the consumer. There is barbed wire all around the farm to prevent people from casually strolling on to the grounds. People who work with the baby chicks are not allowed in the laying barns to avoid cross contamination. If any of us had parakeets at home, we would have not been allowed in because our bird could be carrying a disease that would infect their flock.
While we toured we followed GMP (good manufacturing practice) and wore hair nets, booties and lab coats or smocks depending on what building we were touring. We also walked on chloride pellets or through a disinfecting solution on the floor to kill any germs that were on our shoes. Even the tour bus that took us between the laying barn and the facility where they make pasteurized eggs had its tires hosed down with disinfectant.
After the hens lay their eggs, the eggs are washed and go through a machine that exposes them to UV to further disinfect them. They also test their eggs for things like salmonella and e. coli, and have an FDA inspector onsite checking the eggs. Finally, they send them out for testing to a third party lab.
You can be assured that any egg that comes from the Hickman Family Farms are disease free and super clean. If you live in a semi-rural area like I do and see those “fresh eggs for sale” signs in people’s yards, remember that those eggs come from unregulated coops and could be washed in detergent that can get into the eggs (if they’re washed at all!) Also, if you raise your own laying chickens, I doubt you’ll go through the hassle of checking your own eggs for diseases they could get from wild birds, domesticated animals, and insects.
To learn more about egg quality assurance and food safety programs, see how Morning Fresh Farms is running theirs. It looks very similar to what the Hickmans are doing.
Why I made the switch to conventionally produced eggs
I was very impressed with the Hickmans and their farm. We met the whole family – all three brothers, their sister, and their mom. They gave us full access to the laying barn and other parts of their facility and let us take all the video and pictures we wanted. They were honest and straightforward with us, and answered all our questions about conventional vs. free range farming.
It’s obvious that they care about their farms, their animals, and the people that work for them. They also make an effort to be a good citizen of their communities and to support their industry. I also admired that they work with the Arizona Department of Corrections to hire convict laborers to give them job skills and work experience that will help them when they get out of jail.
I also love that their grandma was the one who started the business in 1944. Their mom took it over and now that she’s enjoying being a grandma, she lets her three sons and daughter run the business. A woman founded company is one that I’d love to support.
However, it’s mostly an issue of economics and food safety. Before attending the Farm to Table tour, I thought I was getting value out of paying over $3 for a dozen, organic cage free eggs. I felt I was supporting “happy chickens” and getting nutritionally superior eggs that were somehow cleaner because the chickens were running around outside in the sunshine and fresh air. Instead, I found that I was eating expensive, not nutritionally superior eggs laid in chicken manure from stressed out, bullied chickens that were much more likely to be exposed to disease from mosquitoes and wild flocks of birds.
Also, according to the Egg Board’s nutritionist, Mary Lee Chin, organic and conventionally produced eggs are exactly the same nutritionally, with the exception that if you feed laying hens more Omega-3s in their feed, their eggs will have more Omega-3s. ALL free ranged chickens AND caged chickens are NOT given growth hormones or antibiotics, too.
So I’ve made the switch and decided to buy from local farmers like Morning Fresh Farms, which produces Eggland’s Best as well as their own brand. I will also buy Hickman Family Farms eggs that are sold at my local Costco and Walmart.
If you have questions, spend some time on the Hickman’s website and Sharman’s blog to learn more about their facility and how they help their community. I think you’ll be just as impressed as I was.
More learning and cooking at the Farm to Table event
Our tour ended at the Hickman Family Farm facility that takes the less than perfect eggs and cooks or pasteurizes them for industrial cooking uses. Then we went back to the Wigwam Resort and Spa for lunch.
During lunch we learned more about egg nutrition from Mary Lee Chin. Did you know that eggs are the most complete protein next to mother’s milk? It makes you wonder why you’re spending money on steak, pork or chicken when you could fulfill your protein needs with a simple omelet.
Farm To Table - Mary Lee Chin from Anne-Marie Nichols on Vimeo.
After lunch, we made omelets with Howard Helmer, Guinness Book record holder as the world’s fastest omelet maker. Howard has been an American Egg Board spokesman for over 40 years, is quite a character and a super sweetie! He was so enthusiastic and funny about eggs and cooking that he should get his own Food Network show.
Speaking of the Food Network, we also got to watch a demo by and cook with Chef Jeffrey Saad, runner up of season five of the Next Food Network Star. Jeffrey was terrific, and very patient with us home cooks. He even showed us how to properly flip an egg. (It’s all in the wrist.)
More Farm to Table pictures, videos and posts
See my Farm to Table photos on the This Mama Cooks! Facebook fan page.
My all my Farm to Table videos on Vimeo and YouTube. Sometimes the visuals aren’t that great, but the audio provides a lot of information about the Hickman Family Farms, how to cook eggs and egg nutrition.
Farm to Table Tour blog posts:
- The Good Egg Project - Farm to Table Tour from the Eclectic Cook
- Eggciting Eggs Farm to Table Recap from Doublebugs
- Egg Tuesday – Phoenix morning news, mom bloggers, and farm to table eggs from Jeffrey Saad
- Egg Farm Tour at Healthy Tasty Chow
- FFC Gets Cracking! Egg Farm Tour {& Giveaway} from Family Fresh Cooking
- The incredible, edible egg and a GIVEAWAY from MOMformation at BabyCenter.com
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Disclosure: The Good Egg Project provided the bloggers with transportation, lodging and meals and reimbursed us for our travel expenses. We were also given a grocery store gift card to buy eggs, and some promotional items like t-shirts and aprons. We also have the opportunity to do a giveaway of egg items from their Amazon store if we so wish. Writing this blog post was entirely voluntary.
