Arizona Chickens

[AZBootsie]

Demosthine: You might want to check out the article that Mother Earth News did awhile ago, where they tested various methods of preservation. They didn't use mineral oil, although I would suspect that lard would have similar properties when it comes to preservation. The end result is that the coated eggs lasted about six months, but the refrigerated eggs were still almost as good as fresh when the experiment ended, which they credited to the bloom still being on the egg. This matches pretty well with my own experience. I don't think that refrigeration by itself would mess with the bloom, but I can see where people would come to that conclusion, since a a lot of eggs do get washed before they hit the fridge. Personally, I stick my eggs in the fridge, especially in the summer, since my house is usually around 85 degrees, which is comfortable for me, but a good fifteen degrees higher than most sources suggest storing eggs unrefrigerated long term.

AZBootsie: It looks like Eucalyptus to me.

I put mine in the fridge also. Don't want any chicks hatching on the counter!!

I thought it was when we dug it up. But, it doesn't smell like Eucalyptus.

 

[Demosthine]

Demosthine: You might want to check out the article that Mother Earth News did awhile ago, where they tested various methods of preservation. They didn't use mineral oil, although I would suspect that lard would have similar properties when it comes to preservation. The end result is that the coated eggs lasted about six months, but the refrigerated eggs were still almost as good as fresh when the experiment ended, which they credited to the bloom still being on the egg. This matches pretty well with my own experience. I don't think that refrigeration by itself would mess with the bloom, but I can see where people would come to that conclusion, since a a lot of eggs do get washed before they hit the fridge. Personally, I stick my eggs in the fridge, especially in the summer, since my house is usually around 85 degrees, which is comfortable for me, but a good fifteen degrees higher than most sources suggest storing eggs unrefrigerated long term.

Kat, I'm not sure where I read the article stating that once fresh eggs were placed in the refrigerator, they need to be kept there. I wish I had saved that article, since I can't find it now. Interestingly, though, I did read the Mother Earth News' article and the results were quite impressive. Doomsday Preppers on the Discovery Channel was actually what got me interested in the backyard chickens, and one of their guests was discussing the mineral oil method. I've seen it on numerous sites, and I would agree it should be inline with the lard storage. That seems like a lot of work to keep eggs that are naturally shelf-stable. But hey, what do I know? I still don't even have chickens yet, although my wife said she is leaning towards "allowing" me to have them.

Oh, and that Mother Article was facinating to read. The comparison between fertile and unfertile, washed and unwashed was impressive.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I was on the other side of town this afternoon when my neighbor called and told me not to bother coming home for a while, our neighborhood was flooding. Finally did make it home to find 3.4" of rain in the gage and the chickens up on their roost giving me the stinkeye. Looks like they had 3-4" of water running through the coop. It broke through all my diversion channels. At least it drained well, their food didn't get wet, and it washed a lot of poo out of the run. All is well.

Kinda wish I'd been here to see it, but it gave me time to go shopping instead. Funny thing is there was hardly any rain at all a few miles east of here, where I was hanging out waiting for the water to recede. Did you get any rain, Gallo?

3.4 INCHES!!!

We got some here, maybe a quarter of an inch. You guys on the west side really have had the best monsoon this year. I was looking at the radar very early this morning and I saw that the far west side was getting hammered again with a massive storm. Did that one hit you too?

 

[Phottoman]

Thanks Photto. Next time we drive to NM to visit his family, we'll spend a day there, and get a personal sense of the place.

We don't gamble. My bf worked at Mohegan Sun (sp?) for about 10 years on the East Coast before here, and knows the odds. I'd like to stay here, I just don't know if I can afford to. And a perfect evening for us, is hanging out in the backyard with our little flock, and throwing something on the bbq.

I also love rockhounding, and would love to get an ATV. Spent a week at Burro Creek with a rockhounding group, and it was a blast!

One thing AZ has, is rocks!

I was glad to see that you want to spend a day here and get your personal sense of the area.

As long as you are spending time in the back yard, just be sure WHO you are throwing into the BBQ.

You are gonna LOVE the area for mountains, rockhounding and ATVing. I drive through a mountainous area to and from work daily, thirty miles from home to Oatman, and I love driving through that scenery. And Kingman is surrounded with all sorts of hills and mountains. Your biggest problem here is getting used to the pronouncements of some Indian Words.

HA !!! We live on Hassayampa Road, and I tell people that we were on a TV show where we bought too many "A's" and didn't know what to do with all of them. Plus we offer an extra ten points if you can pronounce our Street name correctly. And of course there is the Hualapai Mountains just South and East of Kingman. Believe it or not, it's pronounced Wall'-a-Pie.

Oh, yeah, and in California, it's Mojave, here in Arizona, it's Mohave. But I think it's actually all part of the same desert.

Little things.

Photto

 

[pimachickens]

I know it's a long shot, but do any of the Tucson folks live near Cortaro and Thornydale? My neighbor found a hen in her yard this morning, and naturally thought it was mine. It wasn't, so I thought I see if any of you happen to live near here and are missing one. There aren't too many chicken keepers in this area, so it's kind of strange. That chicken had to make it over a 7 foot block wall to get into her yard!

 

[AZKat]

In the Mother Earth News article, they mention that they are pretty sure that the difference with the eggs was because of them being washed, not the fertility. I'd be interested to see the experiment repeated using fertile and unfertile washed and unwashed eggs, but my gut feeling is that fertility isn't going to affect storing the eggs. In Arizona, fertility might have a negative impact, since it could easily get warm enough in a kitchen for the eggs to develop a bit. But it'd be interesting to test it out.

 

[Billiam]

Crazy girls just wanted to play in the rain!

 

[Fuzzybird]

Cute, I would have joined them!

 

[notinoz2007]

thanks guys for the link to that article. it was a good read.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
Yep. Gave us another tenth or two. So we got over 3.5 inches in the last 24 hours. That's more that we get in an entire monsoon season some years. I could get used to this