CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
21
This sounds like a fluke, or a 1-off type sale, for the brown eggs to be essentially half the price of the white eggs.
Generally brown eggs tend to sell for a bit more (if looking within the lines of same producers) because people think[1] they’re somehow better or more wholesome. I wonder if in your case here the market simply had a surplus and was trying to move the product efficiently. I mentioned in another thread that I pay $5/6 oz for raspberries and sometimes they’ll be BOGO. Last week they were $1 each. Eventually a store manager told me they just got a ton of them by accident and needed to sell them before they rotted.
[1] They’re the same thing, basically, as pointed out by Lectroid.
No, I can’t explain. Where I live there’s always a wide range of market prices that doesn’t correlate all that well with “organic”, “cage free”, “Omega 3”, graded size, A vs. AA, expiration date, etc.
Other than the rare instance where new-bought eggs present with runnier whites or yellower or double yolks, I don’t see or taste much difference between any of them.
mega-scale production of eggs is white.
smaller scale production is brown.
“economies of scale” apply.
people/companies selling eggs to make a living are acutely aware of which breeds produce the most eggs per hen.
add/subtract “free range” as appropriate.
the definition of “free range” entails the opportunity to go “outside” - not all chickens are so inclined to do so, even when the door is open. fwiw.
couple years back the world went upside down and Grade A large brown eggs were less expensive than the same in white. lasted a couple months, no longer the case.
Where I live, Los Angeles, CA, brown eggs are more expensive than white eggs and always have been.
I wish it weren’t so. I am aware that there are no flavor or nutritional differences between eggs due to shell color. However, in my experience, brown shells are thicker. I appreciate this, especially when I’m making hard boiled eggs or separating eggs.
I am amused that most of the commenters midread your post and misunderstood that in your area brown eggs are much less expensive per egg.
I’m fully aware that cage free eggs are marginally better than caged birds. They are still de-beaked and have extremely limited access to fresh air and the idea that they can “freely roam” is ridiculous. I am also fully aware that pasture raised eggs are commercially viable. My point is that many people think cage free and pasture raised are interchangeable.
Also, sometimes when you buy a smaller quantity, it will be priced higher than the average price per unit if you were to buy a larger quantity of the same item.
For example, one bottle of coke might be $1, but a six pack of the same bottle coke would be only $4, even though it should be $6 base on the price of buying just one bottle.
Chicken houses are very large. When there are no cages, the chicken can roam anywhere around in the chicken house, in an area that is large enough to also take flight if it feels like it (they can’t really fly but they can get into the air briefly). That is far more than “marginally better.”
All chickens confined to a small area, including “free range”, are debeaked. It is necessary to prevent them from cannibalizing each other. There is no way that eggs produced at scale can be produced except by debeaking, and that includes free range. There is also no way eggs can be produced to scale by flocks that are kept outside. Essentially all eggs in normal commerce are produced from hens that spend most of their time inside. Anyone who thinks you can buy eggs in a normal supermarket that came from non-debeaked chickens running around outside scratching for grubs is living in la-la land.
The terms cage-free and free range have legal definitions, just like the descriptors for every other food and non-food item in commerce. Anyone can look it up. If any consumer doesn’t understand what the terms mean that is on them not on the producers.
FWIW, Happy Egg’s Heritage brand works for me. Bright orange yoks and rich flavor. i buy them at Grocery Outlet, one dozen MEDIUM size at $3.99, sometimes 2/$7. I find them an excellent value, and the medium size works fine for us.
No, they didn’t misread it. The dozen brown eggs are 29 cents each, while the half-dozen white eggs are 58 cents each. (And in response to another poster, they were both “large” eggs.
Perhaps you run a commercial egg farm? Free range/cage free are essentially meaningless and if you think John Q. Public will bother to look up the definitions then you are in la la land. I never suggested pasture raised chickens/eggs are viable for commercial production. To suggest that warehouse chickens have plenty of room to roam is laughable. But, there is clearly no reasoning with you so I am out.
A half dozen eggs are always more expensive than a dozen eggs (of many types, except organic) at stores near me.
Has this changed for you @eleeper, were a half dozen cheaper before?
Usually only one or two brands of 6 count are stocked at stores near me. So if you’re not comparing the same brand (or type - ie cage free / organic), there’s no point, because even prices for a dozen vary significantly.
I can also get 18 medium of a premium brand cheaper than 6 large of either a store or premium brand, but again that’s apples and oranges.
Cage free is not meaningless. Cage free vs. conventional is a very meaningful distinction. What is meaningless is your original post. What term should the industry use to designate eggs that are produced by chickens not confined to cages that would be acceptable to you, and would be “understood” by the general population?
You brought “pasture raised” into this discussion. Now you admit that pasture raised is not commercially viable. What was the point of bringing it up in a discussion of terms used to market eggs found in the supermarket?
Chickens kept in cage-free conditions (in a henhouse but not caged) have lots of room to run around whether one thinks so or not. You are apparently confusing the average space available per chicken with the total space inside the henhouse in which they can roam. This may come as a shock, but cage free chickens can run everywhere around the henhouse including getting airborne.
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
36
Maybe part of the issue is a misunderstanding based on what looks to be a mis-type in your prior response. Above, based on the whole context, it seems you likely meant to write that pasturing for egg production was not commercially viable, but instead you wrote that pasture raised eggs are commercially viable.
Getting back to eggs (types) and prices: I almost always buy at Costco. It has several different types of eggs and different quantities bundled together. The prices are usually about 60% of retail grocery stores in the area. I try to buy cage free and hope for the best.
Because I use eggs mostly in recipes, if they are not daily fresh, I don’t care. My budget trumps other considerations.
6 eggs are always priced much higher at every store near me, almost as much as a dozen.
Sometimes that’s because the type of 6 stocked is a more expensive brand or type (organic, free range, etc), and the cheapest dozen are a less expensive brand or type.
Are the two you’re comparing the same brand and type?
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