Free-Range Eggs

We’re proud to say that our eggs are sold in grocery stores, supermarkets, health food stores, and other locations nationwide. Please check our store locator for a store near you.

Our eggs are not pasteurized, so we unfortunately cannot recommend that you consume them raw. If you’re interested in using our eggs in a recipe that requires them to remain in raw form, we recommend trying an at-home pasteurization method like this one.

Double yolk eggs are fairly rare (about 1/1000) and tend to be very, very large - in fact, they’re typically graded as “super jumbos” due to their size. These eggs primarily come from younger flocks that are just learning how to lay eggs.

All of the farm fresh eggs go through the sorting machine together and, once they are identified as super jumbos, are sent to the first packing station where they are hand packed because they are too big for the machine to pack. They are then packaged as jumbos, even though they are technically super jumbos. All day the hand packing station runs, filling jumbo cartons with super jumbos.

These Super Jumbos are over 50% double yolks. As these cartons are filled, they all go into the same case. So, even though they are rare, double yolk eggs often wind up in the same cartons.

We take great pride in providing eggs that are farm fresh. Subsequently, the fresher the eggs the harder they can be to peel. This is because the egg white or “albumen” in a fresh egg has a relatively low pH level, making it acidic. When cooked, these fresh egg whites bond strongly to the inner shell membrane. As an egg ages, the pH level rises and the inner membrane is less likely to bond to the albumen, so the shell peels off much easier.

There’s a wise tip on steaming farm fresh eggs from The Prairie Homestead that we’ve found works well for many of our consumers.

No. Our free-range hens are fed conventional grain from reputable suppliers, but we cannot guarantee that this feed is free of pesticides or GMOs, and therefore it cannot be considered organic. Our eggs are a great choice for customers who would like eggs from hens treated with kindness and to the Certified Humane Free-Range standard, but at a lower cost than organic eggs

However, our sister brand Pete & Gerry's offer another option for customers who are concerned about pesticides and GMOs. They offer Pete & Gerry's Free-Range Organic eggs. These hens are fed exclusively organic grain which is free of any pesticides or GMOs. Our organic eggs are a little more expensive because of the feed costs, but we feel it is a fair price for bringing organic eggs to market without shortcuts. You can find out more about Pete & Gerry’s eggs here.

We find that store managers are eager to carry products that their customers ask them for, so we suggest letting your store manager know that you would like to see our free-range eggs at your store. You can also drop us a line at kindnesscrew@nelliesfreerange.com and we’re happy to see what we can do to help.

Egg shell color is determined by the breed of hen and is often related to the color of the feathers over the hen’s ears. Brown hens, like we have, typically lay brown eggs and white chickens lay white eggs (although there are a few breeds of white chickens with brown ear-feathers that lay brown eggs). Note that shell color is not related to the nutrition or quality of the egg inside. Occasionally, you may also see pigment spots on shells as well. These speckles are typically caused by deposits of extra calcium during the shell calcification process (and they can be quite beautiful!).

Natural fluctuations in yolk color can be due to flock age, the weather, the season, and even flock location. The bugs that the hens peck at also can play a part in the yolk color thanks to their high protein content. Each hen is unique and their eggs typically reflect that as well.

We routinely check our eggs for color and that they are generally much darker than caged, commodity eggs, representing their more natural and varied diet, but sometimes there are lighter yolks as well due to all these variables.