I've had my three city girls for about 4 years now. We started raising them solely because I'm a huge bird person- and I was in a really dark place at the time, and they were the perfect therapy. My babies have been adults for quite awhile now- and they've been laying steadily their whole lives. Miss Mary lays a pretty blue egg- Duchess lays a slightly green egg, and Biscuit lays a smaller, speckled brown egg. I've gotten 3 eggs pretty much every day for the past 4 years, however... I suffer from OCD. My particular experience with OCD involves many things- but unfortunately germs and disease is one of them. (I was ready for the pandemic, let me tell you...) The thing is- I used to eat their eggs, years ago- but at one point, I stopped out of anxiety. So now, I eat a store bought-egg every morning, and by doing so- I feel like my girls efforts are being wasted! Sure, they eat their own eggshells- (never ever the store-bought, of course!) but it feels like my girls are drawing pictures for mommy every day, and I hang up store bought pictures instead! I want to eat my girls eggs, but my brain just won't stop telling me- "Home-made egg is not safe to eat! Store-bought egg is safer!" Which, to my knowledge- is potentially untrue! The potential of getting salmonella from a store-bought egg is WAY higher than ever getting it from one of my girls, so I've heard! Correct me if I'm wrong- but they've been quarantined to my backyard their whole lives- treated like queens- so where or how would they possibly get it?
Bottom line...I want to eat the breakfast they make me- cook with them, bake with them- you name it! But what makes an egg unsafe to eat? What criteria should I be meeting in order to make sure that the eggs are safe? What can I do to test egg safety? My girls get dosed with ACV and DE on the regular- so wouldn't that be enough? (OCD brain says no!) How do you all store your girl's eggs, do you refrigerate them, or leave them out? Do you wash them, or leave them as is? Do you medicate your chickens, or does that make their eggs unsafe to eat? Is there anything that could be in my backyard that they could potentially eat that would make their eggs unsafe for humans?
Also, when answering- please respect my illness, as well! I can't control what my brain tells me- but the reassurance of the kind and extremely knowledgeable people here always makes my worries fade! (Heck, that's why I joined BYC in the first place!) Thank you in advance, and I can't wait to read your replies! (Also, feel free to post pictures of your girls eggs, or what you cook with them! I'd love to see all of the different types of eggs out there that you guys are eating!) Take care and be safe out there!!
Bottom line...I want to eat the breakfast they make me- cook with them, bake with them- you name it! But what makes an egg unsafe to eat? What criteria should I be meeting in order to make sure that the eggs are safe? What can I do to test egg safety? My girls get dosed with ACV and DE on the regular- so wouldn't that be enough? (OCD brain says no!) How do you all store your girl's eggs, do you refrigerate them, or leave them out? Do you wash them, or leave them as is? Do you medicate your chickens, or does that make their eggs unsafe to eat? Is there anything that could be in my backyard that they could potentially eat that would make their eggs unsafe for humans?
Also, when answering- please respect my illness, as well! I can't control what my brain tells me- but the reassurance of the kind and extremely knowledgeable people here always makes my worries fade! (Heck, that's why I joined BYC in the first place!) Thank you in advance, and I can't wait to read your replies! (Also, feel free to post pictures of your girls eggs, or what you cook with them! I'd love to see all of the different types of eggs out there that you guys are eating!) Take care and be safe out there!!
