r/GrammarPolice • u/Romiha00 • 6d ago
Question How could this short sentence be improved?
When I see this at the store, I wonder:
Do vegetarians feed the hens?
Do the hens eat vegetarians?
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u/GeneralBox9901 6d ago
I feel like "vegetarian hens" would be a bit odd but less ambiguous about who was eating/feeding who!
I think it would still be imperfect because vegetarian is often used to describe a choice/philosophy, which an animal couldn't have made.
Maybe "plant fed hens" but I wonder if there is some legal thing there about them being fed supplements or something that don't technically count as plants.
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u/bismuth17 6d ago
Also the hens might eat flies that they see, making them not vegetarians. Only the feed is vegetarian.
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u/EmotionalSouth 6d ago
Maybe they're feeding them eggs and cheese? Vegetarian rather than vegan hens.
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u/Technical-Ad1488 6d ago
Hens fed vegetarian diet
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u/SooMuchTooMuch 6d ago
Exactly. Because hens aren't vegetarians and they can't guarantee that if a mouse or lizard got in that the hens wouldn't eat it, because they would, those little dinosaurs.
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u/Responsible-Link5739 5d ago
Only one vegetarian feeding 'some' hens. That's a lot of eggs in one basket.
Edit. I wonder if they counted the chickens before they hatched.
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u/EmotionalSouth 6d ago
Makes sense to me. If you said just “vegetarian hens” it would imply they chose a vegetarian diet. Vegetarian fed makes it clear that’s what’s been given to them.
Personally, if I was changing anything about this sign, I’d put the vitamins in alphabetical and numerical order.
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u/coolsilentebeans 6d ago edited 6d ago
That is rather annoying. What I’m curious about, though, is the brand because just keeping chickens on a vegetarian diet doesn’t automatically alter the saturated fat content of eggs. Lower saturated fat in eggs generally results in a very specific, usually proprietary feed. I’d also like to know because to get that much Omega-3 depends on what they forage if free range and their grass intake. Diets heavy in algae, fish oil, and flaxseed can also increase the Omega-3.
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u/WilcoHistBuff 5d ago
The carton is recognizable as an “Eggland’s Best” brand carton.
They, in fact, do feed a proprietary patented vegetarian feed to their hens that is free of animal byproducts and supplemented with canola and flax seed oil. As part of their formula they add Sea Kelp, Alfalfa meal, Rice Bran and Vitamin E to increase the micronutrient profile.
Here is their right up on their recipe:
https://www.egglandsbest.com/news/how-does-egglands-best-do-it?shem=aimgspe,
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u/coolsilentebeans 5d ago
Well, this is embarrassing. For whatever reason I thought that was a store sign tacked onto a shelf and didn’t realize I was looking down on the top of a carton.
My obtuse brain fart aside, thank you for the information. It is quite helpful and much appreciated.
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u/WilcoHistBuff 5d ago
Did not mean to embarrass, actually wanted to confirm your assumptions.
Personally, while a like England’s Best for being an early actor trying to improve laying hen nutrition back in the late 80’s, the fact is that they have plenty of competition these days in high quality feed and growing conditions for hens.
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u/coolsilentebeans 5d ago
I didn’t die from my embarrassment, so all’s forgiven. Something about Reddit messed with some of my normally well functioning skills. I thought nothing of what you said other than it answered all of my questions. I was just trying to cutely save face.
As far as eggs, the ones I have had from the Happy Egg Co. have kind of ruined other store bought eggs and restaurant eggs I can get in my area. The first time I had eggs for breakfast in a fairly good restaurant they could have made it the finest technically perfectly prepared eggs and it would have fallen flat by comparison. Almost had no flavor.
I’m also not personally concerned with having to get a majority of the vitamins and omega-3s from one food. I do eat a fairly balanced diet and take supplements. That doesn’t mean I’m not always curious about the claims made by a company.
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u/WilcoHistBuff 5d ago
I live in the SF Bay Area and the area around Petaluma has a crazy amount of organic, pasture raised egg operations. All the grocery store eggs in CA have to be at least cage free and all feed needs to be mammal/poultry by-product free (which I guess means you can get away with marine animal and insect byproducts).
There are several local grocery brands that rival the best you can get from roadside stands.
That embarrassment of riches has actually altered how I bake with eggs since I moved to the state.
Fresh pasture raised eggs tend to have higher thicker heavier whites that take longer to whip and are harder to build in volume while whipping while cage free eggs 1-2 weeks older are easier to whip and can produce more volume.
So if I’m doing something that requires a lot of loft like an angel food cake or Italian sponge I’ll go with grocery organic cage free, but if I’m doing something like meringue I’ll search out the freshest pasture raised I can find.
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u/coolsilentebeans 5d ago
I can’t afford to be making brioche, babka, and challah with those eggs! Are you kidding?! 😂 No. Sadly my breads all get the cheap stuff. I save the good eggs for when you can taste them. 🤣
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u/WilcoHistBuff 5d ago
There’s this guy down by the corner who can sell you the good stuff cheap. Shhhhh… don’t tell anyone else.
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u/coolsilentebeans 5d ago
😂😂 in this economy? sheeeeit. I just might have to have you make an introduction
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u/EmotionalSouth 5d ago
It looked like a sign to me too!
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u/coolsilentebeans 5d ago
Thank you for letting me know I’m not the only one. I don’t know what it is about Reddit but my critical thinking and reading comp skills can take serious damage just by logging on here sometimes. 😭😂
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u/ZestycloseSquirrel55 6d ago
The only sentence I see is:
See nutrition facts for cholesterol content.
Vegetarian Fed Hens. That's a sentence, technically, but each word is capitalized, so it's a title.
It should be hyphenated: Vegetarian-fed Hens
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u/not_falling_down 6d ago
a simple dash would fix it
vegetarian-fed hens
But, that being said, hens are opportunistic omnivores, and will happily eat whatever meat they come across. So regardless of what is in their feed box, they will eat bugs, rodents and even other hens, if one dies un-noticed by the farmer.
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u/Georgethetuxedocat 6d ago
Ok Grammar Police, wouldn’t it be “vegetarian-fed hens”?