Recent content by twork

  1. twork

    Comparing and improving egg quality, flavor

    As for the soy business... I have read what struck me as credible studies to suggest that large amounts in our diet can hurt us, particularly as it pertains to thyroid health. (Sorry, no links here, it's been a while, my memory is crap, etc. etc. etc.) I'm a thyroid cancer survivor so I'm touchy...
  2. twork

    Comparing and improving egg quality, flavor

    I definitely understand the organic/synthetic distinction being overblown. I shouldn't have emphasized that so much. To the extent that I am concerned about organic anything, it's that there have been so many instances where some chemical was "proven safe in studies" but the detrimental aspects...
  3. twork

    Comparing and improving egg quality, flavor

    I spoke too soon, kinda. I did overlook some studies mentioned, and I do find some numbers, but not links to the research, only names and dates. In my experience, that sort of citation can be tough to track down, and without reading the papers themselves (at least), there's no way to know how...
  4. twork

    Comparing and improving egg quality, flavor

    I read those pages, and I don't find links to the studies themselves, only summaries to the tune that I've seen elsewhere. It's articles like those that confused me in the first place; credible enough and they pass the gut test, but where's the methodology and data.
  5. twork

    Comparing and improving egg quality, flavor

    I just can't get my head around the idea that diet doesn't matter at the output end. My birds eat really, really well, if my research and the label on their feed can be believed. No soy, all organic, nutritionally balanced... But that can be true at the grocery store too, at prices equal to mine...
  6. twork

    Comparing and improving egg quality, flavor

    Thanks. Very helpful, though for me it does still raise some other questions. (And doesn't do much for my mood.) My yard isn't big enough to free range, especially if I don't want my vegetable beds to be nibbled to nubs. My birds do get some other space to peck around in when I can be out to...
  7. twork

    Comparing and improving egg quality, flavor

    Oh yeah, I can definitely vouch for the shell thickness thing. I've also had a time or two when I let their supply of oyster shell run low (it doesn't come in the feed I use so I keep a separate cup out for them) and the shells got thinner. My guess is that commercial operations, watching every...
  8. twork

    Comparing and improving egg quality, flavor

    Okay, so flavor is, at most, a matter of opinion and might even be a matter of imagination. Fair enough, not so surprising, and until I conduct a blind taste test of my own, anybody else's experiences won't necessarily apply to my flock anyway. What about nutrition? The egg's purpose is to...
  9. twork

    Greetings from a budding egg farm in Pullman, Chicago

    Yep, that's actually how all this came about. Initially the birds were just for me, my friends and my garden -- eggs for us, manure for the plants, excess veg for the girls, all that shortening-the-cycle hippie jazz. But word has gotten around, and yeah, a stack of used cartons has been piling...
  10. twork

    Greetings from a budding egg farm in Pullman, Chicago

    I know it's not fashionable to hold this opinion, but the city's animal regulations struck me as really sensible. Like I said, one writer of the latest law told me that they're mostly concerned with preventing nuisances from poorly managed animals, and protecting the responsible farmer from...
  11. twork

    Greetings from a budding egg farm in Pullman, Chicago

    I did check with the city. They've just recently passed a new ordinance to cover small scale farming, and I spoke on the phone with one of the writers of the law. He told me that they considered covering egg layers, but decided that it wasn't really necessary. They were more concerned about meat...
  12. twork

    Comparing and improving egg quality, flavor

    I've had a laying flock for about four years now. Before they started laying I was told that once I tasted back yard eggs I'd never go back to storebought, and that's certainly been true. Other people who've tried "my" eggs have agreed, and people ask my wife at work if she has any of "those...
  13. twork

    Greetings from a budding egg farm in Pullman, Chicago

    Hi all. My name's Michael, and I've been keeping chickens in my back yard in Chicago since 2010. Until this year I've had four Easter Egger hens, which I love. This spring I added eight Australorps and my goodness, what they said about egg production was all true. The eggs are smaller than the...
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