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

[SNJchickens]

Oh, I've heard that one - chickens are vegetarians.
Anyone who believes that should go to my friend's farm. There she had a snake stealing eggs. She killed the offending raider with a hatchet, hacked it up and gave it to her flock!!
A friend with backyard chickens and teenage children says her teens like to feed the hens "chicken fingers" and the hens LOVE them.
My girls would walk through fire for cheese and my bottom-of-the-pecking-order hen will swoop in and challenge all comers for a nice grub or bug.

Labels. Schmabels. And STILL not one plastic egg has been laid here.

 

[vehve]

I did not mean to say that there would be anything wrong with the eggs, but simply that organic (in many places) is a standard, and to call your eggs accordingly, you must comply with that standard. My own eggs are not organic, but I feel that they are better than the organic eggs I can get at the store. I did not mean to offend you in any way, just pointing out the difference. If someone markets their homegrown eggs as organic when selling them, while they actually aren't, some idiot might find it grounds to sue, or to make the chicken keepers life harder in some other way.

I hope I cleared up any misconception you had about my statement. Now back to our scheduled programming.

 

[Irishhenman]

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 know that restricting access to everything is impossible, but unless your chickens feed is organic (no gmos etc) then the eggs aren't organic.

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......

In Ireland to be free range certified, you can have a maximum of 1000 birds per hectare (200 per acre or 217 square feet per bird) which must be "mostly vegetation" and 6 birds per meter square in the house (1.8 square feet per bird) as well as 10 cm of feeder space each, one large circular drinker per 100 birds and 4 meters square of pop hole per 100 meter square of floor space

 

[SNJchickens]

No offense taken! This lively exchange of information is EXCELLENT! Everyone seems to be able to contribute with a bit of humor included in each posting.

I've explained to my girls that eating stray bits of plastic that have blown into the yard from the neighbors is NOT a good idea, but, well, they are bird brains after all.

They are all very proud of their eggs and several of them have quite a routine of announcing "I'm going to lay an egg, I'M GOING TO LAY AN EGG NOW" before repairing to the nest box. Following the egg laying we are treated to a loud song and dance at the fence nearest the house, "I laid an egg. Come see!!!!! NOW!!" This won't stop until I go out, get the egg and tell the HIQ (hen in question) how wonderful she is.

 

[enola]

In order for some one to LEGALLY sell eggs LABELED as organic the seller must be certified by USDA.

I am not saying anyone here who raises their chickens organically, is not, I am simply stating what it takes to SELL eggs that are labeled organic.

I really wish I had access to organic feed for my hens.

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

No offense taken! This lively exchange of information is EXCELLENT! Everyone seems to be able to contribute with a bit of humor included in each posting.

I've explained to my girls that eating stray bits of plastic that have blown into the yard from the neighbors is NOT a good idea, but, well, they are bird brains after all.

They are all very proud of their eggs and several of them have quite a routine of announcing "I'm going to lay an egg, I'M GOING TO LAY AND EGG NOW" before repairing to the nest box. Following the egg laying we are treated to a loud song and dance at the fence nearest the house, "I laid an egg. Come see!!!!! NOW!!" This won't stop until I go out, get the egg and tell the HIQ (hen in question) how wonderful she is.

I had to stop giving my girls treats on paper plates because one hen decided the plate tasted better than the food! I really wanna see the yolks from my hens' eggs today because they ate a lot of greens yesterday.

People always seem surprised when I tell of how my hens will do funny things. Some are even surprised that I can tell whose egg it is!

 

[7 Biddies]

That's funny, I love using my chicken's eggs for baking because of that! Lol!

It's just a preference, I guess.

Between the eggs and the whole wheat white flour (King Arthur organic) I use, you should see the color of my blueberry muffins! They're just as light and yummy as usual, though. No difference in taste.

 

[7 Biddies]

No offense taken! This lively exchange of information is EXCELLENT! Everyone seems to be able to contribute with a bit of humor included in each posting.

I've explained to my girls that eating stray bits of plastic that have blown into the yard from the neighbors is NOT a good idea, but, well, they are bird brains after all.

They are all very proud of their eggs and several of them have quite a routine of announcing "I'm going to lay an egg, I'M GOING TO LAY AND EGG NOW" before repairing to the nest box. Following the egg laying we are treated to a loud song and dance at the fence nearest the house, "I laid an egg. Come see!!!!! NOW!!" This won't stop until I go out, get the egg and tell the HIQ (hen in question) how wonderful she is.

Oh. Love the HIQ acronym. I'm gonna have to borrow that one.

 

[SNJchickens]

Borrow away!! HIQ always knows which one she is, too.

Each of my hens lays a different egg, either in color or shape. Thankfully, I have only 5 hens or I'd need to start building a chart of who lays which shape/color!!

Being backyard hens they simply know how to entertain us and especially how to push the "treats' or "let us out to free range" buttons. My backyard is SOOOO free of weeds because (due to a large local hawk population) I must stay outdoors with the hens. Sitting around is not my forte thus the yard is trimmed, pruned, weeded, harvested and in perfect shape. The front yard, not so much.

Giving credit where credit is due, my compost heaps get a regular turning by the busy scratching feet of 5 hens!! All I have to do it rake it all up when the girls move on.

Gosh, I hope Chicken Whisperer didn't get paper eggs after the plate eating incident! Can you imagine??

 

[7 Biddies]

In order for some one to LEGALLY sell eggs LABELED as organic the seller must be certified by USDA.

I am not saying anyone here who raises their chickens organically, is not, I am simply stating what it takes to SELL eggs that are labeled organic.

I really wish I had access to organic feed for my hens.

I had a difficult time finding a source until I found out about a co-op that goes in together monthly to buy feed from Countryside. The organizer sends out an email, asking for orders and provides a projected delivery date. When the order is on its way, they email a statement. The feed is delivered (there's a minimum amount that has to be ordered to get them to send a truck ... most likely a pallet) to a grocery store parking lot in Franklin NC, which is in the western NC mountains, and near the GA state line. It's about an hour from me, so one guy halfway between picks up my feed with his own, and I drive 30 minutes to his house to get my order. He pays for both of us at the delivery site, and I repay him for my feed when I pick it up. Its worked like a charm, so far. At one time, there were a couple more people here in GA, so we would take turns picking it up in NC. But, I'm currently the only one in GA.

Check around on some local chicken boards, like your local poultry meetup group, and see if you can work something out. Even if you have to get 2-3 months worth at a time because of distance to a source, it would be worth it. Oh. I bet you could contact organic feed companies that supply to your area and see who carries the feed, too. I think I found such a site at Countryside one time. I use them because they're out of VA, so in my general region. But, let your fingers do some walking on the keyboard, and you'll most likely find something.

Good luck!