Are free range eggs not really free range?

[BansheeofInisherin]

I am veggie, but I eat eggs. I buy expensive free range but read on another of those very angry threads that actually free range is just as bad as not free range. Is this true? Is there a way of getting more humane eggs? Any particular brands?

https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2023/03/13/how-free-range-eggs-became-the-norm-in-supermarkets-and-sold-customers-a-lie/amp/

I’ve not seen the thread but they’re probably not wrong… I buy organic free range and hope that I’ll have room for some chickens in my next garden.

There was no free range during the bird flu outbreak. The mandatory "keep inside" measures were lifted a few days ago so free range should go back to being free range now I imagine.

Nothing you buy in a supermarket is going to be small scale and lovely, even if it free range. Just think about the volume of chickens they must have, in order to stock a supermarket, if your average chooker lays one egg a day.

Best bet would be to find a local farm that you can see for yourself, or befriend someone with chickens. Or keep your own.

Free range are always better and higher welfare than barn. Just make sure you buy British eggs marked as free range. The only issue with hens who would usually free range is that Avian Influenza restrictions mean that all fowl are now housed from November to March, meaning that eggs laid during these months are not technically free range.
Do you have a farm near to you that sells eggs at the gate?

I buy farm eggs.

Local small farms. Many were outside but in large enclosures to separate them from wild birds during bird flu. Usually have a more natural environment, access to bugs to peck and a more varied diet.

I am in a London flat, so no way I can keep my own! Not near any local farms either.

That article says free range is slightly better than not free range, but not by much. If I google, I get mostly articles written by vegans, which tend to be very emotional ( but maybe true).

I'd buy organic in that case. Or buy a fortnight's worth at a farm shop if I went past one.

I worked on a poultry farm collecting and sorting eggs as a young teenager. There was a free range section but if it was a day when there wasn't enough free range eggs then they'd tell us to choose the best of the regular eggs and pack them in the free range cartons. This was around 22 years ago so I assume standards have improved a bit since, hopefully anyway.

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/eggs
I found this guide useful. When I buy eggs I buy the Waitrose ones suggested in it; duchy organic or clarance court leghorn whites.

As PP said free range will always be better than the alternative in a supermarket.

Do you know anyone with back yard chickens? They still can’t free range all over the garden during chicken lockdown but we have some and everyone else I know who has some has given their chickens the biggest most interesting run they can because we know now that bird flu will just keep coming back.

If not then why not get your own!

the housing order was lifted months ago not days ago.

Any hens will have been kept indoors or in enclosed covered areas during the outbreaks. It's not yet a given they will be inside every winter. The last few winters have involved housing orders due to Avian Flu but we have just had the worst year ever for it.

Any eggs you buy in a supermarket whether they're free range or organic will have been raised on big farms. There are many many acres for them to roam around though. The NFU, British free range egg producers association, the RSPCA and the Lion Code are four good places to find out some facts about the industry. The last three audit farms.

One small thing about buying from a supermarket rather than bob down the road with his 10 hens is that they are vaccinated against salmonella and also regularly tested to ensure compliance.

@shivawn things have definitely changed!!! Each egg has a number on it thay is stamped as it comes out of a shed so it would be very hard to do what you're suggesting. Farms also get spot audited with no notice numerous times a year to ensure they are following correct procedures.

Always get Soil Association certified eggs, that's the highest commercial welfare standard there is in this country. Or see if you have a local urban farm with hens?

I buy from a local farm, their hens are ranging very free, sometimes onto the roads!

Thanks @Comff that's useful.

Everyone I know lives in Central London with no hens:)

That's good but it's annoying that they have mixed in egg replacements. A fried egg needs an egg!

Well I mean 29 million male chicks are culled every year in the UK because they don't produce eggs and don't fatten up quickly enough, doesn't matter whether the eggs are organic, free ranged or caged. Depends whether you want to give your money towards that I suppose?

It is a useful and interesting guide but I wouldn't agree that free range hens don't go outside. As someone who shuts up free range hens on a sinner summer evening they most certainly do!

Sunny not summer

My friend used to tell me stories of when they worked on a free range chicken farm. The chickens were in a huge barn and they opened doors round all the sides so the chickens could wander out onto the fields and be free for the day. They rarely did. The daft creatures just hung around inside and devoured the easy food in the feeders. They used to have to shoo them outside but they would just wander back in.
Still beats the shit out of caged hen eggs though. I have no idea why they're even legal.

Not really willing to give up eggs @Mapples so I am just looking for the best possible option.

I think Abel and Cole sell eggs alongside their veg boxes and they are high welfare and they deliver in London. You can also look for Nourished Communities or other veg box schemes who certainly have presence in North London where you go and pick up the boxes and they also have smaller scale farms with organic eggs.
The other thing to look for are pullet eggs which are often rejected by supermarkets as too small and they are a good option if you want to be ethical

https://www.rspcaassured.org.uk/rspca-assured-products/free-range-eggs/

Free range isn't perfect but we do our best. Here's some facts.

Just seen your update OP, if you want to eat eggs but you live in a London flat and don’t know anyone who keeps chickens then maybe you just need to accept that buying free range eggs in a supermarket is the best you can do right now.

In the future you might live somewhere else or get to know people with hens.

We have lots of things where we do what we can, eg. We had a milkman but when DC moved from cows milk to breastmilk we couldn’t afford 12 pints from the milkman. We’ll go back to the milkman when the household milk consumption is less or when we earn more money.

I rehomed some ex-free range hens and they looked awful. Organic is a slightly higher welfare standard than free range but if you can find a local egg seller where you can see the birds that’s the best way to see the welfare standards.

I keep my own chickens so I know they’re happy and cared for.