Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat

[vehve]

You can't cure stupid.

My latest - A neighbor brought her grandchild to see my hens. He met the girls and was able to pet several of my hens. I lifted my broody hen and the boy was delighted to see two freshly laid brown eggs. I urged him to pick them up, one in each of his small hands. His eyes were as large as saucers when I pointed out which of the hens had laid the eggs.

Then grandma piped up, "I only eat organic eggs."

(Ah, another mindless person hooked on advertising!)

I pointed out that the eggs in her grandson's hands had, within the past 10 minutes, popped out of my hens' butts. How much fresher and organic could she possibly get??

Noooo, she wouldn't eat the eggs but she'd let the grandson take them home. I hope he did get to eat them.

I don't know what the definition for organic in the States is, but technically unless you feed them only organically grown veggies, meat and feed, your's aren't organic. There might be some other requirements as well. Personally, when buying eggs, I only buy organic because those are laid by chickens living in the most humane conditions out of what the options are. I'd prefer a "happy chicken" standard, I don't really care how the feed is grown as long as the chicken has a decent quality of life. Our own eggs aren't organic, but they sure as heck are from happier chickens than something roaming around in a large warehouse. Or at least I like to think so.

 

[LadyDanu9]

I wonder if your neighbor is related to the woman I had at my farmers market stand one year.

She swore to whomever that eating green beans straight from the plant was deadly.

I can see her point if you use bug spray & eat the beans anywhere from 1 minute to 24 hours after spraying. At the least I can see not feeling very well from the spray that soon after spraying.

 

[Irishhenman]

I don't know what the definition for organic in the States is, but technically unless you feed them only organically grown veggies, meat and feed, your's aren't organic. There might be some other requirements as well. Personally, when buying eggs, I only buy organic because those are laid by chickens living in the most humane conditions out of what the options are. I'd prefer a "happy chicken" standard, I don't really care how the feed is grown as long as the chicken has a decent quality of life. Our own eggs aren't organic, but they sure as heck are from happier chickens than something roaming around in a large warehouse. Or at least I like to think so.

Organic doesn't necessarily mean that the hens were kept in the best conditions, it just means the feed they were fed was organic. They could still be kept in battery cages and be fed organic feed, then their eggs are classed as organic. On the rare occasion that we do buy eggs, we make sure to get free range eggs, that classification guarantees that the hens were cage free.

 

[ronott1]

I wonder if your neighbor is related to the woman I had at my farmers market stand one year.

She swore to whomever that eating green beans straight from the plant was deadly.

I can see her point if you use bug spray & eat the beans anywhere from 1 minute to 24 hours after spraying. At the least I can see not feeling very well from the spray that soon after spraying.

She may have been confusing Green beans with Kidney Beans. There is a toxin in them that will give you an upset stomach if they are not cooked. Other Beans will do that too, but Kidney Beans have the most toxin.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2385/

 

[Fluffnpuff]

You can't cure stupid.


My latest - A neighbor brought her grandchild to see my hens. He met the girls and was able to pet several of my hens. I lifted my broody hen and the boy was delighted to see two freshly laid brown eggs. I urged him to pick them up, one in each of his small hands. His eyes were as large as saucers when I pointed out which of the hens had laid the eggs.


Then grandma piped up, "I only eat organic eggs."


(Ah, another mindless person hooked on advertising!)


I pointed out that the eggs in her grandson's hands had, within the past 10 minutes, popped out of my hens' butts. How much fresher and organic could she possibly get??


Noooo, she wouldn't eat the eggs but she'd let the grandson take them home. I hope he did get to eat them.

That's pretty insulting in my book. It would be different if she was a vegan or someone who just plain didn't like eggs period but that's similar to saying your eggs aren't good enough for me. I try to buy organic when it's on sell or a buck or two more than conventional but unless you are rich or have a world class farm it's impossible to eat it all the time.

 

[vehve]

Organic doesn't necessarily mean that the hens were kept in the best conditions, it just means the feed they were fed was organic. They could still be kept in battery cages and be fed organic feed, then their eggs are classed as organic. On the rare occasion that we do buy eggs, we make sure to get free range eggs, that classification guarantees that the hens were cage free.

That depends on where you live. Here, organic eggs come from chickens that are basically barn ranged (6 per square meter max), fed organic feed, have natural light and access to an outside run (min 2 square meters per chicken) from June to October. Also some other requirements, but normal barn raised hens can be raised with 9 chickens per square meter, artificial light and no outside access, so it's at least a bit better. These are of course only Finnish requirements for organic eggs, but I would assume other countries might have similar requirements.

 

[enola]

Free range does not mean that the hens live an idyllic life. To be considered free range the FDA simply states that the hens must have access to the outdoors, after they start laying. I have been to two different free range farms, both farms had less than 1/4 acre available for 2,000+ hens. The ground was bare dirt. I hope I have not upset you......

 

[SNJchickens]

This should probably be taken off the humor forum.

I don't need a government flunky who has probably never met a chicken telling me that my eggs can't be organic because the girls don't eat exclusively the items on the official list. Anything that comes out of my hens' butts is organic, certified or not!

As to government standards - there is entirely too much government interference in my life. Federal standards be hanged! I've seen my hens while free ranging, beak down a stray bit of plastic before I could get the offending "food" away from the hen. So, my eggs aren't organic?

Of course, there should be standards for commercial enterprises! I don't have an argument with that.

Still and all my backyard hens lay organic eggs. Not one plastic one yet!

 

[enola]

Ok....... I forgot what thread we are on here.......

Sorry for derailing everything.

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

This should probably be taken off the humor forum.

I don't need a government flunky who has probably never met a chicken telling me that my eggs can't be organic because the girls don't eat exclusively the items on the official list. Anything that comes out of my hens' butts is organic, certified or not!

As to government standards - there is entirely too much government interference in my life. Federal standards be hanged! I've seen my hens while free ranging, beak down a stray bit of plastic before I could get the offending "food" away from the hen. So, my eggs aren't organic?

Of course, there should be standards for commercial enterprises! I don't have an argument with that.

Still and all my backyard hens lay organic eggs. Not one plastic one yet!

I agree, somehow we have to go through a lot of loops to even be able to put a label on eggs saying "Organic", but commercial egg factories (most of them) put hens in awful conditions. The organic requirements for the U.S. go so far as to control artificial light to have the eggs labeled "Organic". And if you break any small part of any rule, there's an expensive fee and possibly you may not be able to label your eggs "Organic" anymore. I'm about 99.99% sure my hens lay organic eggs. I have a relative who can only eat organic eggs otherwise her stomach will get upset, and she can eat our eggs as much as she wants.

And here's one of the dumbest things people will say/believe about chickens: they're vegetarians. My girls had a hearty breakfast of worms this morning, in addition to any flies they can get their beaks on. And I've got a 3 1/2 year old hen who's laying just as good now as she did when she was 1 year. All have nice red combs and wattles, and are active. Sure must be the healthiest pack of meat-eating vegetarians I've ever seen...