I wish we could have grass here in central AZ, but on a rock hillside in the desert, grass is out of the question. I do buy good alfalfa hay to supplement the chickens' diet, as I agree with you that an all seed diet is no good. All omnivores need some kind of green.

I wish I HAD all that lovely grass -- in brittle northern Idaho we've been dried up and brown for weeks. The "soil" is extremely porous -- about half rocks and and half dirt, til you get a couple feet down and then it's all rocks with dirt only filling the spaces between them. It drains a little TOO well so that irrigation is very costly because it would have to be done so often; also we are on a community water system and charged per 1000 gallons -- and to drill our own well would also be very expensive because the aquifer is around 1200' down.

The chickens still enjoy getting out and picking at what little grass sprouts after a rain, the weeds in the garden, and chasing the bazillions of grasshoppers we've been cursed with this year. And yes, they also lay XL-XXL eggs with deep yellow yolks and real eggy flavor :-)

Let me know if you know anywhere I can buy eggs from grass fed hens and get them shipped to me :) Thx :)

Not really. Shipping small quantities of eggs by, say, FedEx is perfectly practical but is also expensive. I've often wondered if this wouldn't be a viable business, since it's literally impossible to find a steady supply of grass-fed eggs in most urban areas, and many people want the best even if it is expensive. Haven't tried it myself, though.

I just started raising chickens in may of 2009. I have a coop and fenced in yard. I also let them roam in our yard when the wether permits. I have been getting eggs that measure 3 inches long by 2 inches wide. They are the biggest eggs I have ever seen. I don't get them every day but some of the others I do don't fit in my egg crates. What is making the eggs so large? I'm sure I don't know.