What Are Pasture-Raised Eggs?

Egg Definitions

Let’s start with the basics. You can find caged, cage-free and free-range on store shelves and here’s a rundown of those terms.

Caged Eggs: About 90% of eggs in the U.S. come from caged hens. The birds are confined to cages for their egg-laying lives and are given 67 square inches each. They eat a corn or soy diet.

Cage-Free Eggs: These birds have more room than caged hens, as they are each provided with less than 1 square foot. They are confined to the barns and eat a diet of corn or soy.

Free-Range Eggs: These hens are allotted less than 2 square feet per hen which is more than caged and cage-free hens, but don’t go outdoors too often. They are usually fed a corn or soy based diet.

What Is Pasture-Raised?

These hens are allotted at least 108 square feet per hen. They eat a combination of carefully balanced organic supplemental feed and whatever they can find in the dirt when they go outdoors including grass, worms and bugs. They are able to leave the barns early in the morning and are called back before nightfall.