I grew up in a village, and it was definitely economical. But village math is not city math.

You feed them grain and seeds that your neighbours grew literally right next door, in exchange for eggs laid right at your home. You let the chickens scratch around for food, and they mostly care for themselves. You bring in a rooster from the next town over occasionally to incubate the next generation. Once the hen stops laying eggs, you butcher it, and invite your neighbours for dinner.

If you try trucking in formulated commercial chicken feed and straw and such, it gets expensive fast. But in a village, it all just kind of works, and it’s basically free food. I imagine it’s a similar situation on a bigger farm. Maybe more independent, you grow your own grain and have a silo and such. But basically you don’t buy feed or chicks at all, unless it’s an emergency like a poor growing season or you need supplements.

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I can attest that fresh free range eggs are better than any other eggs I’ve had since. Can’t get more organic than literally laid this morning. I will mention though some realities you may not be aware of that catch people off guard.

If you live in the city or suburbs, having chickens is more like having an exotic pet. It would take so much effort and expenses that it becomes a hobby.

• Buying food from the pet store.
• No roosters so you have to keep buying replacement chicks when they die.
• Neighbours wrinkle their noses at butchery.
• Gangs of bored cats fucking everywhere that will terrorize your animals.
• Half your yard and lawn torn up and reserved by a chicken run (they need a lot of space).
• The smell and feces buildup from too many chickens in a small space.

You can make it work, but you’re rowing uphill. The eggs will still be great, though.

The shell will be “sticky” and warm, and sometimes got a bit of poop on it. This is normal, you just wash the egg if eating today, or gently wipe if storing. Don’t wash them if you’re storing them, they have a natural barrier that prevents bacteria that doesn’t survive washing. That’s why some countries refrigerate eggs; they wash them as part of the processing stage but naturally they don’t need the fridge. They will last longer than you think in a carton, about 1 month unrefrigerated, or 4 months refrigerated.

More reading: https://coopeduplife.com/how-long-do-fresh-laid-eggs-last/

Oh totally. But not economical.

I mean, killing, plucking, and gutting a chicken is a huge pita. Depending on where you live, a few chickens for eggs can be done pretty cheaply. Not as easy or cheap as buying eggs.

Dude fresh eggs are so good, I don’t have chickens but my wife’s coworker has some and we get a dozen eggs every so often. The best store bought eggs are a pale comparison. Like a good store egg has a nice yellow orange yolk but the orange yolk of healthy home hens is just amazing

To me, these seem like marginal benefits. If knowing where your food comes from is important to you for some reason, by all means, carry on.

However, every scientific discussion I’ve ever seen on organic food has found the same thing - there is no significant difference in nutritional value between certified organic food and nonorganic food. Of course, “certified” organic food is still industrially produced - just according to arcane regulations that make it more expensive. You could make a case that “organic in spirit” food is more nutrient dense in some way or other - but the lack of a real scientific definition of “organic in spirit” will make it harder to study, and I have not heard any scientific discussion of this. And improved health in people who eat organic foods are corrolational, and can be chalked up to these people caring more about their health in general, and being wealthier. All the most robust science on diet and health points to the same thing - the big factor is simply avoiding junk food. Getting farm fresh eggs is just a way to show off how much money you can throw away if you use them to make french toast covered in locally tapped mapel syrup.

All that to say, I really doubt you would find any noticeable health difference.

The benefit of keeping chickens and eating their eggs is that you get to enjoy the process. You get to watch your chicks grow into chickens, feel pride when you get the first batch of eggs, and enjoy eating those eggs (which I find are tastier than the cheapest ones at the store that I buy - though I think the taste is comparable to the fancy high price eggs my friends sometimes feed me). Do it to enjoy the process. But don’t do it under the illusion that you are saving money, saving the world, or saving your health.