These chicks get around. Just as nature intended! The hens at Vital Farms are living it up: roaming free…and posing for the most gorgeous chicken portraits we think we’ve ever seen. Did you know that hens raised on open pastures, rather than in indoor enclosures, actually lay healthier eggs? The quality of pasture-raised eggs negate most of the common health concerns surrounding these incredible edibles, plus the whole chicken farming situation is much more sustainable with pasture-raised animals.These are just the kind of facts that inspires our commitment to healthful, more mindful consumer habits. Here are all fifteen reasons we encourage you to upgrade your omelette with pasture-raised eggs…

Pasture-Raised Eggs are Better for your health…

They have less of the bad: 1/3 less cholesterol, 1/4 less saturated fat.
They have more of the good stuff: 2/3 more vitamin A, two times more omega-3 fatty acids, three times more vitamin E, up to six times the vitamin D (this makes pasture-raised eggs one of the best natural sources of vitamin D), and up to seven times more beta carotene.
Eggs are recognized as a great superfood, offering a great balance of protein and nutrients, and pasture-raised eggs are the best by a long way!
Better nutritional profile and wider range of proteins (such as lutein, which come from xanthophylls in the grasses they eat, which is important for eye health).

Pasture-Raised Eggs are Better for the hen…

Pasture-raised hens (raised to the Certified Humane standards that Vital Farms follows) are outside on pasture all day, year ’round. Each bird gets the equivalent 108 square feet of rotated pasture, ensuring a constant supply of fresh greens and naturally occurring goodies. (Free-range chickens, by comparison, get about one square foot, only a small amount of which is outdoors, and with little or no vegetation)
Outdoor living, with fresh air and sunlight, makes for happier, healthier hens – egg lay rates are higher (a good sign of how a hen feels) and flocks do not need to be given a constant supply of antibiotics to keep disease at bay. In fact, we never, ever give our girls antibiotics or hormones.
Living outdoors with so much space means that hens can engage in a full range of natural behaviors – dust bathing (to keep clean and get rid of any unwanted guests), perching, foraging and socializing (chickens are very social birds, but if they are cooped up, this translates into high stress and aggression, which is why caged birds have their beaks cut back).
The supplemental diet we provide means that the girls never go hungry, but they’re free to eat whatever takes their fancy from the pastures, and the varied diet of grass and protein is what makes the eggs nutritionally superior.

Pasture-Raised Eggs Are Better for the farmer…

Pasture-raising does require a little more work, but farmers earn a better living from smaller flocks as the eggs are premium priced.
Infrastructure costs are lower, so farmers are less debt burdened. This supports smaller, family-owned and-oriented farms in rural communities.
Healthier birds make for generally less stressful farming.

Pasture-Raised Eggs Are Better for the environment…

No pesticides or herbicides are ever used on the pastures, so there is no polluting run off harming the environment, and the farms are family-friendly: Many of our farmers’ kids get to enjoy spending time with their feathered friends.
Constant rotation of the pastures allows for a long enough fallow period between uses to disrupt any parasite life-cycles. The chickens provide all the fertilizer that’s needed!

Pasture-Raised Eggs Are Just all Around better eating…

Richer, darker yolks and fluffier, firmer whites are obvious characteristics of pasture-raised eggs.
Pasture-raised eggs look better and taste better.