Eggs can give you a lot to think about. Like—why are some eggs white while other eggs are brown? And are eggs good for you…or will they kill you? And what’s the big deal about “cage-free” eggs? And, is it true that chickens are dinosaurs?
I’ve often wondered why brown eggs are more expensive and if they are somehow more “natural” and good for you. The answers to these questions are at once fascinating and disappointing. First of all, the reason some eggs are white is that they come from chickens with white feathers and—get this—white ear lobes! (Be honest—you didn’t know chickens had ear lobes.) Brown eggs come from chickens with red feathers and red ear lobes. These chickens tend to be bigger than white chickens and eat more and therefore their eggs cost more. But (this is the disappointing part) brown eggs are no more nutritious than white eggs.
But are any eggs good for you? Yes. The government standard for daily protein requirement is based on the protein in one chicken egg. For years, we have heard that eggs have cholesterol and can lead to clogged arteries. But a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition argues that eating eggs actually lowers the risk of heart disease.
This brings us to the question of cage-free eggs. The Associated Press reports that the sale of cage-free eggs rose from 4 percent in 2010 to 28 percent in 2020 and should reach 70 percent by 2026. This change will not come cheap. A study by North Carolina University predicts the cage-free conversion will raise the price of a dozen eggs by around 65 percent. Why? For one thing, labor costs for raising cage-free chickens are 10 to 20 times higher. Chickens that get to roam around eat more. And when chickens are not in cages, predators sometimes eat them. This results in a substantial loss for chicken producers (not to mention, for the chickens themselves).
If it is so expensive and time-consuming, who wants cage-free chickens? Well, we do. The poultry industry was resistant to going cage-free (I’m not saying they were chicken), but they had a system that was efficient and well-established. But customers have been demanding that chickens be treated better and not have to live their entire lives squished in a box the size of a filing cabinet drawer. Obtaining eggs from humanely-treated chickens only raises the cost of a dozen eggs by about a buck sixty—which doesn’t seem like too much to ask to make chickens happy. Mary Skinner of Des Moines told the Associated Press, “I feel as though I want the chicken to be happy. How would we feel if we were stuck in a cage?”
The cage-free revolution will affect Iowa in a big way considering we are the No. 1 egg producer in the US. With 59 million laying hens, Iowa produces 16 billion eggs a year, enough to give every American one egg a day for 47 days—or every person on Earth for two days.
That leaves the question: are chickens genetically dinosaurs? Yes. They are.