Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[unkadan]

So far y'all have not helped. Telling her it will be fine will not cut it. She says that She will not put something in the refrigerator that has bacteria all over the outside of it. She understands the bloom and its protection of the inside of the egg but is concerned about what is on the outside of the bloom.

Where's Al? he must have a comment on this woman

 

[normanack]

x2!! She's lovely!

Aw shucks! I think so, too. In fact, Java's my favorite hen. Also my only crossbreed: the breeder guessed Dark Cornish plus . . . something else. She's shorter but stouter than my other hens, with a muscle-man look. She's top of the pecking order. Number Two is her main man Eliot, and Number Three is her best girlfriend Emeris. They sleep together on the feed can. The last couple days Emeris has stuck right next to Java in her nest box. Nobody messes with them. Eliot is The Man. He is the main protector of the flock and took a hawk strike protecting them last week. He lost a lot of feathers but is otherwise unharmed.

 

[Beekissed]

Seems like a good place to ask my question. In process of building coop and then get about 4-6 hens for fresh eggs to eat. Wife has been on board but now says she will not eat them unless we put them in the frig. She also says She will not let them go into the frig unless then have been cleaned first.
I told her I would ask the experts on how to "clean" the eggs so they can go in the frig. Remember she has made up her mind on this so help me out on the correct way to clean them.

I'd tell her, "Sorry about your luck!" and keep the eggs out of the fridge and eat them yourself. If she cannot be educated about the whole where eggs come from thingy, then she doesn't get to eat the goodness of your labors.

Once you start disinfecting eggs, you've ruined the whole purpose of having "fresh" eggs in the first place and you might as well just cut to the chase, save yourself the work and expense, and just buy them from the store...where they have big recalls on eggs tainted with salmonella. The salmonella that is tainting these recalled eggs is on the inside of the egg, not on the shell. Unless she is counting on your having horribly unhealthy chickens and then eating the actual shells, she shouldn't be in any danger of getting the dreaded salmonella.

You're married to her...don't take the easy way out, man! Take the time to educate the woman!

Here, let her watch exactly from whence her "safe" store bought eggs come:

 

[Beekissed]

Aw shucks! I think so, too. In fact, Java's my favorite hen. Also my only crossbreed: the breeder guessed Dark Cornish plus . . . something else. She's shorter but stouter than my other hens, with a muscle-man look. She's top of the pecking order. Number Two is her main man Eliot, and Number Three is her best girlfriend Emeris. They sleep together on the feed can. The last couple days Emeris has stuck right next to Java in her nest box. Nobody messes with them.
Eliot is The Man. He is the main protector of the flock and took a hawk strike protecting them last week. He lost a lot of feathers but is otherwise unharmed.

Ahem...he lost a lot of feathers??? How can you tell?

 

[Melissa6]

Hi, I'm Melissa. I've been lurking since the wintertime, when I started reading coop designs. Now I have a 4' x 4' raised coop, with good ventilation and a deep litter that's only 4-6 inches deep so far. The run is 8' x 16' with hardware cloth all around and over. Maybe a bit of overkill, but the popdoor can stay open all night and the racoons haven't gotten in. I have four "hatchery heritage" pullets, now 5-1/2 months old, of which 3 are laying. I'm still waiting for a 4-egg day. They are out in the yard (2500 sq. ft minus the vegetable garden I'm keeping them out of) all day. Apparently they find lots of bugs. I just love how they look wandering around.

I am writing for some advice. I started fermenting a combination of grains and grower crumble in August. I really didn't like the soggy, undrainable mess the crumble made, so I'm feeding that dry until it is gone (maybe another 10 #). I was concerned about not getting too much grain, especially if they wouldn't eat it, so I started with food-grade grains: wheat berries, steel cut oats, peas, barley, popcorn. (I didn't really like the way rolled oats kind of disintegrated.) So far, so good. Used Bragg's and got bubbles. Chickens loved it. So I got feed grains: oats, wheat, some winter rye. It didn't seem to ferment as well so a few days ago, I started adding a few peas, and the bubbles were back. I think the feed grains are harder to ferment because of the hulls. I'd like to understand the fermentation better, but so far, I'm just keeping them fed. I was worried about how to get enough protein. I'm trying to feed organic and soy free (as soon as that grower is gone). Particularly, I want non-GMO corn, but I'm still trying to get my head around ordering 50#. My oats and wheat are from the feed store. I was able to find some soy-free organic mash, but the chickens don't really like it, and I don't like fermenting it much better than the soy-containing grower. (I will say the smell is better. The grower smells like miso that something bad happened to. The soy-free has kelp and I think that ocean/salty smell comes out.)

So, after all this introduction, I want to know whether you agree with the often-quoted advice that scratch grains are like candy. I'd like to feed fermented grains on the ground 2x/day (some combination of oats, wheat, corn, rye, barley) and dry mash in a hanging feeder all the time and let them figure out what to eat. People feed grit and oyster shell free choice. Certainly their choice of grass or bugs or other stuff in the yard is all free choice. Do you recommend that I try to "make" them eat mash, primarily by restricting their grains, or can I just watch their appearance and see how they do? Eggs are hard-shelled, eyes are bright, feathers look shiny and good, chickens seem energetic and "happy." Maybe some of the answer is seasonal as well, since it will freeze here and the bugs will disappear. My grains are only ~12% protein; my layer mash is 16%; I do give some table scraps. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Folly's place]

I can't get excited one way or another about washing eggs; just don't actually immerse them in a dish of water. If someone wants to rinse and wipe, then refrigerate, that's just fine, it works for me. Mary

 

[MOChickenShoes]

Where's Al? he must have a comment on this woman

this made me laugh out loud, thank you for that! ::back to my dark corner to continue to lurk in the shadows::

 

[bobbi-j]

So far y'all have not helped. Telling her it will be fine will not cut it. She says that She will not put something in the refrigerator that has bacteria all over the outside of it. She understands the bloom and its protection of the inside of the egg but is concerned about what is on the outside of the bloom.

I agree with Bee. Keep them on the counter, don't wash them, and enjoy! If she chooses not to eat them, that's her problem. No sense in arguing with her about it. Maybe in a month or so she'll notice that the eggs haven't killed you and start eating them herself. Or, you could have "his and hers" eggs. Let her wash hers, let the bacteria in, and put them in the fridge. You can keep yours nice and healthy and on the counter.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
You made a good choice, Bruce!

So far y'all have not helped. Telling her it will be fine will not cut it. She says that She will not put something in the refrigerator that has bacteria all over the outside of it. She understands the bloom and its protection of the inside of the egg but is concerned about what is on the outside of the bloom.

Oswego, you might want to take note of Bruceh's post, quoted above. Just saying.

Sarah

 

[Kansas Prairie]

I agree with Bee. Keep them on the counter, don't wash them, and enjoy! If she chooses not to eat them, that's her problem. No sense in arguing with her about it. Maybe in a month or so she'll notice that the eggs haven't killed you and start eating them herself. Or, you could have "his and hers" eggs. Let her wash hers, let the bacteria in, and put them in the fridge. You can keep yours nice and healthy and on the counter.