I wanted to buy the truffle ravioli from Sélection today and first read the list of ingredients. I am massively disappointed that barn eggs are used! The fact that Sélection products contain "cheap" barn eggs and not free-range eggs is shameful. I did not buy the ravioli and hope that they will switch to free-range eggs!
Guest
Hello
For an almost-finished product, barn eggs cannot be beaten for large-scale production, especially with the current cool outside temperatures. There are also no free-range eggs on the shelves between November and March because the temperatures outside are too low then. Laying hens can only go out again from daytime temperatures of around 8°C to 10°C and when it is frost-free at night.
Even the eggs from small farms or hobby hen farms are at best barn eggs in winter. No matter where you buy eggs in the cold season, they cannot be free-range eggs. Even if it says FREELAND on the pack, it is a lie and you are being cheated.
Greetings from the yellow Migi piglet
Hello Migi-Ferkel
And what do you think about the fact that - at least in Switzerland - free-range chickens must also be kept outside in a so-called outdoor climate area during the winter months? Maybe that the producers don't comply anyway? Well, then your statement is true: we, and the chickens, are being lied to and cheated...
Guest
Hello
Take action if producers don't comply with the regulations, it's like tilting at windmills. In principle, it would also be forbidden to manure the fields until the frost is completely over, but hardly anyone adheres to this. The farmers have their lobby in politics, and the only way to protect yourself against this is by consistently not buying certain products.
But back to chickens and how they are kept. A distinction is made between different types of husbandry as follows:
- Floor rearing
- BTS (particularly animal-friendly housing)
- Free-range farming
- Organic farming
The outdoor climate area or winter garden is prescribed for all the above forms of husbandry and is 43m2/1000 chickens for barn, BTS and free-range systems and 100m2/1000 chickens for organic systems. 
The main difference between free-range systems and barn and BTS systems is that the hens also have daily access to pasture. This is simply not possible in winter, when there is snow or frost. The corresponding requirements are regulated in the federal RAUS program (regular outdoor access). This means that the hens can not only be kept in the winter garden - which is also a requirement under the RAUS program - but also on the green pasture, where they can roam freely. Free-range hens need 2.5m2 of pasture per hen and organic hens need 5m2 of pasture per hen.
The RAUS program refers to "green pasture", but this is rarely available. It is usually a brown area because the animals have eaten all the grass after just a few weeks. The pictures on the egg packs show a non-existent "ideal world" because you couldn't sell free-range eggs with a real picture.
My sister has around 40 chickens, so we haven't been buying eggs from the stores for some time now. My sister's 60m2 run is moved around throughout the year so that the birds always have green grass. They also get home-made meadow hay and dried nettles in winter, which they really like. I also know other hobby chicken keepers, some of whom have more chickens. They also need more than one pasture so that the ground vegetation can recover.
If you want to find out more about organic and free-range eggs, you will find a lot on the web. Many interesting reports with detailed information, photos and addresses of the farms can be found at VgT:
http://w ww.vgt.ch/vn/0901/freilandeier.htm
It is possible that some statements are no longer completely up-to-date, but could be brought up to date with a little effort from several interested parties.
I found the following PDF on the regulations:
http://w ww.aviforum.ch/downloads/FB_Eier_Haltungsformen_13.pdf
Greetings from the Migi piglet
Thank you very much, dear Migi-Ferkel, for your interesting comments! I already knew some things, but I have definitely learned something new ;-) And I'll be happy to look into the subject in more detail again.
By the way: it's fantastic that your sister offers her chickens a nice life and that you get great eggs in return! I buy my eggs from a neighboring farmer, whose animal husbandry may not be quite as perfect as your sister's, but it is certainly much better than the well-known factory farming.
Kind regards from Suuschen
Guest
Hello suuschen
I'm glad if I could help. :-) Such information is there to be passed on, only then is there a chance that people will reconsider and change their habits.
My sister keeps her hens even when they have long since stopped laying eggs, it's a hobby that doesn't have to be profitable. Old hens still lay an egg now and again, maybe one a week or a month, sometimes they forget to wrap the shell around the egg, they are just chickens. :-)
She also plants seasonal vegetables such as potatoes, cabbage, leeks, Brussels sprouts, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis, lettuce, garden herbs etc. whatever she feels like. But she also has some fruit and berries. We only grow fruit, the more expensive varieties such as plums, pears, apples, mirabelle plums, currants, gooseberries and blueberries. This year we plan to add cherries, basil and thyme, and maybe a bog bed - we'll see. We also have about 30 meters of flowers so far, but this will be doubled or tripled in two years' time.
Everything is organic and dynamic with plant protection and fertilizer from home-made spray broths, such as nettle and birch leaves, fern and willow manure, etc.
We always share the harvest with each other or give some of it away. If you treat your own "flower and food garden" as a hobby, you can enjoy it all year round and always have the best food available.
Best regards from the yellow Migi piglet
Guest
Migros also had quail eggs from Spain on offer for years, but they were sold as Swiss barn eggs:
http://www.fm1today.ch/grosser-wachteleier-betrug-im-thurgau/277545
https://www.migros.ch/de/news/medienmitteilungen/2016/wachteleier.html
Moreover, in industrial egg production, even in organic production, the chickens are only marginally better off! Lecture by a Swiss farmer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZaRYw3l1Q0
That's why I wouldn't buy any eggs at all, let alone egg products in Migros.
Guest
Migros once said that you could find out the egg producer from the code with the date stamp on each egg. As I don't buy eggs from Migros, I was never able to test this. But if someone did, then you could have a look at the farms, especially for free-range eggs. Now in summer, there should be lots of hens outside at some free-range egg producers. I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't the case at all and/or the so-called free-range area simply consisted of a barren brown area.
Guest
We're desecrating thread corpses again, aren't we?
Well ... the quail eggs were misdeclared by the supplier (Eierhof Rusch) by apparently mixing purchased eggs with their own:http://www.srf.ch/sendungen/kassensturz-espresso/grosser-eier-betrug-spanische-statt-schweizer-wachteleier. This is, of course, unpleasant to a certain extent and will certainly keep one or two courts busy, but the eggs sold were in no way bad, inferior or harmful to health. If the eggs are now confiscated and disposed of 'only' because of the incorrect declaration, this would be food waste par excellence - it would be better to sell the cartons with a corrected declaration and a 50%+ discount. That wouldn't be a total loss for Migros and a bargain for customers. Perhaps I would then also try quail eggs.
I often don't buy eggs at Migros but in France because they are much cheaper there (from 99 cents per 10 eggs). But Migros eggs are by no means bad.
Guest
No 10 € cents per egg is certainly cheap, but I wouldn't buy it under any circumstances. Such dumping prices are only possible with cruel animal husbandry, even in France. The French also like foie gras and frogs' legs, they don't care about the welfare of chickens. Someone who buys this is no better than the person who tortures the poor chickens. That's not necessary, a good egg from a happy chicken can cost around 50 centimes, even in the EU. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people for whom only the cheapest price counts.
It is a pity - not to say frightening and incomprehensible - that people only pay attention to price when choosing animal products instead of origin and animal husbandry, i.e. quality and animal welfare!
