paper shell eggs

[gypsyseagod]

this was on another thread but something i always wonder about- steroids in our food. ever notice how store eggs crack w/ a good sneeze but farm raised eggs take a good cracking on the pan... i say it's the steroids.... any opinions... farm fresh is always better....and no, i don't trust tyson either.... course i grew up on south texas brown eggs...

 

[monty]

My opinion only.

My chickens' eggs did require a solid whack to open them. I fed them a layer mix prepared locally by the Poulin Grain Company. And when I was home for any length of time I let them run free and snap up whatever they thought looked good.

My layer stock was all based on large breed brown egg layers. I had a number of regular customers and the girls kept up very well with a combination of prepared mix without any ***** or additives and the occasional natural smorgasbord.

Unfortunately, shortly after my Molly passed on my coop was raided by coyotes in my absence and all the birds were taken.

I will start next spring with a bigger stronger coop and a pair of German Shepherds of similar breeding to my dear friend.

Cheers!

 

[nolabel7]

I also noticed the difference. We normally buy our eggs from the farmers market, but in the winter we buy farm raised free range vegatarian fed eggs (the one's for 3 bucks a dozen). I didn't know the difference until my girlfriend at the time (currently the boss) pointed out there were much better eggs than the 98 cent dozen.

A couple of weeks ago I bought some cheap ones because I was in a hurry and didn't want to pay for eggs at the store, and I certainly noticed the shell is very different, and they certainly don't taste like a fresh egg. Carry on Egg people, we love good eggs!

 

[deejaydebi]

We always have a comercial on TV that says:

"Brown eggs are local eggs and local eggs are fresh"

I worked on nearby chicken farm when I was a kid after school and weekends from 12 to 16 years old and their eggs were always brown and real thick shelled. Alot of supermarket eggs are white and thin shelled. I always wondered why that was.

We had a Quarantined egg farm up the road that makes white eggs and the folks have to wear clean room clothes that work there. I can't imagine a clean hen house but they supposidly do weird things there to genetically enhance the eggs - Always sounded spooky to me.

 

[bigarm's smokin]

Hey Monty, sorry about your Molly. For whatever its worth, my son had chickens for about 3 years. We liked to let them out of the pen everyday. I have two dogs, a half lab, half sheperd, and a black and tan hound. The first year, we didn't lose any chickens, the 2nd year, the coyotes started getting one every now and then, last year the coyotes started killing them in the middle of the day, the dogs were always around, but weren't any deterrent to those coyotes. Now we use store bought eggs.

Terry

 

[monty]

Don't know how true it is but I have been told that a chicken that is not stressed will also lay a better egg. Most chickens kept on production "farms" never see the light of day or get to eat a bug or two.

Mine loved August when the grasshoppers were thick. And it seemed that the shells were stronger and the yolks a darker orange. No comparison to the store bought variety produced by stressed out clux.

And as far as dogs on the property Molly always kept a border around the homestead well marked and even chased off a few of the land sharks. When the birds were free she kept a watchfull eye from a particular vantage point. That is where she rests now. If a bird ventured too far toward the woods' edge she would herd it back.

When she was a gone a few days I noticed that a few coyotes had come around. They were also coming into song much closer than before. At that very point I also noticed that egg production slacked off a bit, too.

Within a few days one of the scoundrels found a weak point in my fortifications and the birds were all gone in two days.

But, to end my rambling, a country coop with a few well kept chickens will indeed produce superior eggs in quality, appearance, and flavor. There will be more in the spring!

Cheers!

 

[deejaydebi]

Now it's a bit harder to do but IMHO ducks make the best tasting eggs! Huge orange yolks and if you like yolks like I do they are big, rich and sweet!

Dad used to take them hard boiled to work and had the boys convinced he was raising ostridges.

 

[monty]

Thanks, Debi!

That really quacked me up!!!

Cheers!

 

[webfoot]

Not sure about steroids as the cause of thin shells. We no longer raise chickens but there is a big diff in the qlty. If you ever read the grading stds you'll soon note the typ egg from a store isn't grade A, no matter what the carton says.

Wonder what the chance of not getting fresh eggs are at any store other than a small mom-n-pop corner store. Have a large egg farm just a couple hundred yards away. Daily output is around a half million eggs/day. They are a large producer for Safeway and I see Nest Best trucks there all the time. There are other egg farms in the area and I see their brand in a lot of stores.

Commercial eggs are not the best but aren't all that bad.

 

[smokin for life]

When Ilived in Cailf. I had a couple of geese, you want to see a big egg. One egg makes a really good omlette. The trick was getting them with out the goose seeing you. I never knew they had TEETH. Yepper a bunch of tiny little teeth.

 

[deejaydebi]

They don't call it goosen for nothing!
We had a few geese nice eggs too lots of yolk but somethig got in the coops and all that was left was a few feathers!

One time Mama was feeding the dogs some leftovers and one snuck up behind her and bit her real hard right on the butt! She beat that thing with her spaghetti spoon and chased it all over the yard. Dad came home and thought something attacked his geese. It was just left over spaghetti sauce.