Fear of fresh eggs?

[dogdollar]

There's something very interesting going on with one of my nieces.
I have a small flock (four barred rock hens, five production red hens, and a barred rock rooster) and they started laying in August, and continue to lay through the cold weather and despite the fact that quite a few of them are molting. My chickens are healthy, happy, and live in a clean environment. They eat top shelf food and are allowed to free range a couple of hours every day.

Here's the deal - I have plenty of eggs - more than enough to provide mine and all of my sisters' families with all of the fresh eggs they need. Thing is, one of my nieces, who has eaten store bought eggs all of her life, is now kind of "grossed out" by seeing REAL eggs that come from REAL chickens she can see with her own eyes. It's almost as though as long as the chicken-egg idea was abstract, she could live with it, but actually seeing it unfold in front of her eyes is more than she can handle. I guess it's like someone who can drink milk all day out of a carton, but would balk at the idea of drinking some straight from the teat.

What do you guys think...ever heard of this before?

Thanks,
DD

 

[Imp]

I was a little gagged out by the fresh eggs for a week or two, when I first got chickens. Then I got over it.

Imp- minor head case

 

[tinychicky]

no, but that is strange

 

[yomama]

I have to say that for some reason, I was a little grossed out at first too. I was raised on store bought eggs. I don't (never have) eaten eggs by themselves, but do in things like recipes. I have just never been a fan. However my husband and kids do. Before I got my chickens, I would collect the eggs of my neighbors' chickens when they were out of town. I guess it was always because their chickens didn't live in the cleanest of conditions. I was always leary of using them. If I didn't collect the eggs immediately, they would get poo all over them. I wouldn't use any egg that I didn't collect myself and know to be very fresh. Now that I have my own chickens, I don't have a problem with it. But I know that my hens live in a very clean environment and are wormed when needed. My neighbors had never even heard of worming their chickens. (I'm always worried of that .001% chance that a parasite can get into the egg.) I guess when you don't grow up raising your own food, it can be a weird concept to accept at first. Not sure why. It might be because it puts a face, or idea, along with the food.

 

[arabianequine]

When it is time to eat the eggs and chicken it grosses me out at times still....so does alot of meat. It does not gross me out where they come from or that I have them laying them in my yard or anything like that.

 

[Orchid]

My 26 year old sister told me that if I raise chickens for meat, she'll never eat chicken at my house again. She eats store-bought chicken a couple of times a week, at least.

She apparently thinks it's weird to eat someone you "know". Um, hello. They're chickens.

You got me.

 

[RoeDylanda]

We got eggs from a local farm back in Rhode Island and one time we got one that had a big embryo in it. Like 2 inches long, a fully recognizable baby chicken fell out into the pancake batter. My stomach turned at the thought of eggs for a year or so... but now we're just not going to keep a rooster.

 

[yomama]

Quote:

At least you didn't gather that egg yourself. I was watching my neighbors chickens while they were gone. The mom was out of the country for about two weeks, before the rest of the family left. She was the regular egg "collector". The daughter was supposed to be collecting the eggs while mom was gone. Needless to say, she had been too busy to do that. They have over 40 chickens! These hens lay eggs everywhere in their poo infested coops. As I stated above, if I don't know how long that egg had been there, I chuck it. Every once in a while, the neighbors will want their hens to hatch out an egg, so they always mark a big "x" on it so I know not to take those. I wasn't going to keep any eggs I found on the first day, since I didn't know how long they had been sitting there, (this was summertime too) On the first day, I collected 36 eggs! I took the eggs and threw them in my composter. A few days later, I went to mix stuff up in the composter, and broke some of the shells. One had a chick that was probable 3/4 of the way done developing and a few others were bloody, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 done. I felt HORRIBLE! I know it wasn't my fault, since they should have been keeping tabs on what the hens were doing. Nor did I take any eggs that I knew were being sat on. But still.

 

[onecent]

I have a sister in law who WILL NOT eat an egg unless it is store bought! when i had my chickens, everyone wanted eggs, ..except her, she would not even eat a cake i baked! i used to tell her if you saw where your store bought eggs were coming from, you would gladly want mine! ... now that i don't have my girls anymore, shes back in my kitchen!

 

[PineappleMama]

Me, DH, and the kids didn't have any problem. FIL was thrilled, and eventually got MIL onboard.
Sis finally gave them a go and loves them, but it took time. Mom is still holding out.
She'll look at the chickens but has shown NO interest in eating eggs from them... still thinks I'm quite mad.
SIL, her hubby, and their kids (at least the eldest) think I'm insane.
Of course this is the same SIL that's been removing "the chicken" from every egg she's ever cracked for years...
She wasn't thrilled to learn she'd been pulling the chalazae and eating "the chicken".

Though, when me and the kids watched that Jamie Oliver tape about chicken nuggets son can't stand ordering one now... even though they say it's Euro not American... I myself know I've bitten into bone in one before, guess he does too. Plus they switched the little bit of chicken used to dry white meat. Ick.

Then we all watched Food, Inc. Haven't been able to enjoy McD's etc since. Tried once, about a month after watching and neither kiddo ate more than half their food.
Not once has either mentioned wanting to go for a burger, not now that they know the details.

That rule does NOT apply to food cooked at home... chicken and beef cooked here (and bought with some smarts) they gobble as always.
So it's not the meat itself, but the process they find disgusting... take out that process and they're fine with it.

With this little one it's possibly the shock of learning what that food is AND where it comes from... Guess What?
Hopefully she'll get past it, pointing out that she's been eating them her whole life with no harm done to her or the pretty birds might help??