Behold Gallus Domesticus, the backyard chicken and latest slow food phenomenon. Traumatized by images of chicken warehouses, disgusted by food recalls and perhaps even longing for animal companionship, urban dwellers are becoming enthusiastic chicken owners. Urban Chickens is their gathering place, Backyard Poultry their manifesto and Mad City Chicken their rallying cry. But just where does one procure a baby chicken? How many eggs can a person expect? And what level of companionship are we talking here? All this and more after the jump.

Chickens make good pets for a number of reasons, according to their enthusiasts. These reasons divide neatly into three categories: usefulness, companionship and environmental friendliness. Chickens are obviously useful in their production of eggs, which are collected daily. Each hen lays up to four eggs a week and so only three birds are needed for a weekly dozen. Chickens also like to forage for seeds and bugs, making them ideal lawn caretakers - they keep grass short and gobble up weeds and pests before they can reek havoc. Their excrement is particularly nitrogen-rich and makes nutritious, valuable compost.

In terms of companionship, chickens are low-maintenance - needing minimal grooming and attention. They are generally mellow and friendly to human contact. According to those who own them, they have distinct personalities and show affection. Contrary to public perception, chickens are quiet animals - provided you don’t have a rooster.

The environmental benefits are obvious: no trucks necessary to get eggs to your house. The lawncare services they provide replace toxic weed killers, pesticides and plant growers. Additionally, chickens can digest most human food, so they make excellent “garborators” - eating scraps and turning them into nitrogen-rich manure.

My Pet Chicken - a home chicken retailer and resource site also mentions the ethical benefits of saving a chicken from a factory farm, where they might otherwise end up.

I buy my eggs from an organic chicken farmer at my local farmer’s market - what I had previously considered the best possible egg-buying scenario. But this still requires a weekly 106-mile round trip drive for the farmer. That’s 5,512 miles per year - and that’s a good scenario. Imagine the carbon impact of grocery eggs. I shudder to think of the carbon expenditure of merely refrigerating and lighting them in a superstore glass case.

And for those of you concerned about the potential health risks, bird flu expert Dr. Michael Greger spoke to the filmmakers of Mad City Chicken where he assured them that small-scale bird tending would not increase the risk of transferring avian flu to human populations. On the contrary, outdoor free-range chickens enjoy lower stress levels and better health. It is the cramped factory chickens that are a worry: their immune systems are lowered by stress and the high density of the population in a factory chicken coop means the disease can spread quickly.

While certainly not for everyone, backyard chickens are a well-rounded option for many households. Luckily, a growing number of cities are modifying bans on livestock ownership to exclude chickens. Madison, Wisconsin, New York City and the Bay Area are just a few of the newly avo-hospitable cities. Make sure your city is chicken-friendly by writing to municipal officials in your area. With so many cities jumping on board, the legislation is sure to have a domino effect.

(Photo courtesy of My Pet Chicken, an extraordinary resource for potential and current chicken owners and the chicken-curious).

Photo copyright Billi-Jean.com. Used with permission

Want some of the most beautifully colored eggs this Easter, but don’t have time to dye them? No problem, you can get eggs in all colors from soft, warm brown to light sage, blue-green and olive or even pink. The best part? The chickens do all the work.

Different breeds of chickens produce different egg colors. This shell color is a result of pigments that are secreted by the hen and deposited on the eggshell’s outer layers during formation in the chicken’s oviduct. Brown eggs are from the pigment protoporphyrin, a breakdown product of hemoglobin. Blue and green hues are caused by the pigment oocyanin, a by-product of bile formation.

I was a bit skeptical of some of the information I found from the Egg Nutrition Center. The Center reported that the color of the eggs a chicken lays is related to the species of the chicken and the color of the chicken’s earlobes. Chickens have earlobes? (Tips on buying eggs and what the labels mean after the jump).

I loved the fresh brown eggs we used to get from our neighbor when I was a kid in rural Missouri. The beautiful brown shells and bright orange, firm yolks were almost worth reaching under the chicken for. Almost. The rest of the memory is of pecking beaks and chicken poop, I am likely scarred for life. Not enough to call the 24-hour Alektorophobia hotline, but we chicken-phobes can all rest better knowing operators are standing by to take our call. These days, I like my farm fresh, brown eggs, washed, and in a carton.

The color of the eggshell has nothing to do with the flavor or the nutritional value of the egg. Both of these depend on the diet of the chicken, how it is raised and the freshness of the egg. There is a lot of confusion, however, with all the terms regarding eggs. Caged, Cage-free, Free Range, Pastured, Vegetarian-Fed, High-Omega-3 … what does it all mean?

The information out there does not make the learning curve any easier. For example, the American Egg Board, sponsored by industrial chicken and egg farming, states that “The nutrient content of eggs is not affected by whether hens are raised free-range or in floor or cage operations.”

This statement can be true, but not always, and it is incredibly misleading. The problem is the use of the term free-range. You see, a chicken that has access to the outdoors is free-range or cage free, but this chicken may live in a pen and its diet may be the same commercial feed as a caged, factory farm chicken. The access to outdoors may be such a limited event in the chicken’s brief lifespan, that “free-range” doesn’t even apply.

Chickens who live in “cage and floor operations” have some of the worst living conditions of any large scale livestock farming. They are often force molted to increase egg production. Force molting is achieved by staving the chicken for five to fourteen days. The stress causes the chicken to lay more eggs temporarily. Just by supporting free-range chicken and egg production, we would be making a better choice. This choice may not greatly increase the nutrition content of the egg, however.

The nutrition of an egg is primarily determined by the chickens’ diet. A chicken that is free-range and has access to pasture and a natural diet of bugs and grass in addition to non-commercial grain produces eggs that are higher in Omega-3 and other nutrients.

Factory farmed eggs can be made higher in Omega-3 and some nutrients by supplementing the chickens’ diet with things like flax seed. These are more nutritious eggs than conventional factory farm eggs, but not a true substitute for the eggs produced from a pastured chickens’ natural diet.

A good clue to the nutritional content of an egg is the color of the yolk. The deep orange color often seen in a naturally-produced egg yolk is related to the chickens’ diet. If the diet includes yellow and orange plant pigments called xanthophylls, the yolk will be deep yellow-orange. If the diet is low in these pigments, the yolk can be almost colorless.

The yolk holds all of the egg’s vitamin content including six B vitamins, as well as vitamins A, D, and E. The yolk also contains the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin and trace amounts of carotene, phosphorus, iron, and magnesium.

The American Egg Board’s claim of equality also does not address any differences in egg nutrition for a chicken on a diet of commercial feed and antibiotics for “floor and cage operations” versus a chicken raised cage-free without antibiotics and not fed commercial feed. Commercial feed often contains animal by-products such as bone, feathers, blood, manure and animal parts. It can also contain arsenic.

These “animal by-products” are often from beef. This is the same ingredient that has been banned from commercial feed for beef cattle because of concerns over Mad Cow disease. Ironically, the “meat by-product” now used for the protein source in commercial cattle feed is chicken by-products and feather meal. So, which comes first? The chicken that eats the cow, or the cow that eats the chicken?

It’s important to note, that unlike cows (ruminants), chickens are not vegetarians. They do eat protein sources like bugs. The reason you see “vegetarian-fed” on labels is to reference the lack of animal by-products in the grain that the chickens’ diet is supplemented with.

The ideal egg, for both humans and chickens, would be one from a chicken that has unlimited access to pasture and a natural diet of grasses and bugs in addition to grain that has not been supplemented with antibiotics, toxins or animal by-products. You can’t find these eggs in most grocery stores. You have to find the farmer or a grocery store that sources quality local eggs.

The Eat Well site has a great guide to what you should ask your local farmer when sourcing eggs, but here are a few important questions to ask so you can be sure you are getting the best eggs possible for you, and for the chicken:

1. Are chickens allowed a natural and varied diet along with grain?
2. How much access to pasture do the chickens have? How long do they get to be outdoors?
3. Have producer describe “cage-free” conditions, or best yet, visit the farm
4. Is the feed free of animal by-products (vegetarian)? What type of feed is the chickens’ diet supplemented with?
5. Is the feed supplemented with high Omega-3 sources like flax seed?
6. Was the chicken ever fed antibiotics?
7. Was the chicken ever force molted?

• Green Gift Ideas: Stubby Pencil Studio is now carrying wooden toys. The Spinny Speller is great for teaching children phonemic awareness and reminds me of the homemade phonics mediators my grandmother used to make for her first graders. The Made By Me wooden kits are perfect for little hands to decorate and assemble. Both toys are made in the USA. Stubby Pencil recycled cards and eco-art supplies also make nice additions to your child’s Easter basket. The cards now come in eco-friendly packaging consisting of a custom button/string tie envelope made from 30% post consumer recycled paper and green seal certified.
• Avoid food coloring and dye your eggs naturally Check out Autumn’s great post on “The Incredible, Edible Egg Dye” and last year’s posts by Phillip (”Weekly DIY: Natural Dyes for Coloring Eggs“) and myself (”Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs“).
• Give your child a book instead of candy; Whole World by Christopher Corr and Fred Penner is a new children’s book based upon the gospel spiritual originally sung by African American pianist and composer Margaret Bonds (1913-1972). We’ve reviewed a lot of great, green children’s literature on Eco Child’s Play that would be perfect for your child.
• Fair Trade basket, no plastic: Green Mom Finds featured this week a Fair Trade basket called the Bolga Basket. It is hand-made of straw by a local artisan weaver in the town of Bolgatanga, Ghana in West Africa and is colored with plant extracts. You and your child are sure to find a use for this basket long after the Easter egg hunt ends.

Skip the plastic eggs and fill your child’s basket with eco-friendly goodies this year. You can help the Easter Bunny leave a smaller footprint while pleasing your children! For more ideas, please visit my post from last spring titled “Prayer Flags for Easter“.

Image courtesy of Stubby Pencil Studio.

I would ask my grandmother, “Why do those tiny dye-things need such a big box? I don’t even use the rest of the stuff, and I have my own crayons.”

To which she replied, “So people don’t steal them.”

Consequently, that answer was given to me many times over during childhood, yet I noticed rolls of breath mints and tubes of lipstick eluded this logic. Nevertheless, I was optimistic each year that my eggs would be just as bright and blemish free as those on the box (they never were), and continued to wonder what would happen if I ate one of the tablets. Odds were that it would not taste like a SweeTart, turn my mouth blue for a week, and could even lead to possible gene damage. Such is the industrialization of a holiday.

Having my own kids now, I’m faced with an obscene selection of egg decorating kits at the store. They come in three main varieties: licensed, glitter, and “swirl.” Personally, I would like to see this age-old tradition carried out less like a bling contest and more like a science experiment.

Eggs can be dyed naturally using a variety of fruits, vegetables, and spices. I recently found some helpful tutorials on the topic:
Natural Dyeing of Easter Eggs - Good general directions with a list of dye color sources.
Easter Egg Colors to Dye For! - A very extensive look at the process, as well as some neat decorating techniques.
The All-Natural Easter Egg Dyeing Experiment - Written by one of my favorite food bloggers, Gezellig Girl. Her results are pictured above.

For me, it just isn’t Easter without the smell of vinegar wafting through the house. I’m glad to report that this ingredient remains essential in most of these methods. It also enables kids to learn about natural pigments, and engage in a more challenging egg hunt.

Best of all, you can most certainly eat the dyestuff without worrying about what happened when they tested it on lab animals. The Easter bunny would be proud, since said experiments caused his genetic mutation into a giant talking basket enthusiast.

Dear Vital Juice Daily,

I love eggs, but how many can I safely eat in a week without raising my cholesterol??

-In Eggony

Dear In Eggony,

We got eggxactly what you need from Heather Bauer, RD, founder of Nu-train.

Soft/Silken

Now, you’d pretty much use silken or soft tofu when you want to make something creamy, such as puddings, mousses, and pie fillings. You can also use it for salad dressings and sauces, and silken tofu also works great in baked goods instead of using chicken’s eggs. I’ll get back to that in a sec.

So, when you go to look for silken tofu in the grocery store, you may find soft and silken in the refrigerated section. But you may also notice that silken tofu is packaged in aseptic boxes that do not require refrigeration. Mori-nu is the most popular/common brand of this type, and it will usually be found in the Asian section, by the soy sauce, etc. If you don’t use the whole amount, as with all tofu, submerge it in water in a container, and store it in the fridge once you open it. Changing the water daily will help keep the tofu fresh for up to one week. But you can keep this vacuum-packed/aseptic box of tofu in your cupboard for up to a year without opening it.