Why are People So Paranoid?

[Kusanar]

My dogs are on raw too! Not just chicken. I just made their daily meals yesterday for the next 4 weeks and I got chicken, pork, beef (they had a 99cent/pound sale on beef hearts!), turkey, and tilapia. That's the cool thing about buying in bulk. I get the meat super cheap. I got the chicken - 40 lbs for 49 cents a lb! They rarely get eggs because our chickens can't produce enough of them for my family, let alone the dogs. But the dogs get the crushed egg shells.

Where do you get your bulk meat? Mine get a little beef every now and then, but mostly they get chicken leg quarters at 76 cents a pound... If I could get other meat for a similar price I could vary their diet a little more. I am feeding 5 cats and a dog raw, so feeding them steaks could get expensive!

 

[sannabelle]

Have you tried asking your local butcher for scraps or freezer burned, etc.? When I fed raw that's where tons of my meat came from

 

[Kusanar]

Have you tried asking your local butcher for scraps or freezer burned, etc.? When I fed raw that's where tons of my meat came from

I don't believe we HAVE a local butcher... Walmart, Food Lion, and Kroger... I think Kroger technically has a butcher, but I don't think they are allowed to do discounted meats.

 

[andreanar]

I used to get scraps from hunters. They also will give away last years meat to make room for this years meat. I asked all my hunter friends also to save hearts, livers and whatnot for me during their cleaning of their game.

 

[centralcaligirl]

Backyard chickens are also statistically healthier than chickens that are commercialy raised in cages for their eggs. In fact, most battery caged, commercially raised chickens live about 2-4 years on average whereas typical backyard chickens live about 6 years.
The nutrient density in chicken eggs also diminishes over time as the egg ages and oxidizes.
According to fsis.usda.gov, eggs found in the store must be sold within 30 days of the egg being packed in the carton... which means, your eggs could be 1-2 months old by the time they are consumed. When you raise your own chickens, you get to eat eggs that are less than 24 hours old.
Chickens that have exposure to the outdoors also have a higher nutrient density in their eggs than indoor and confined chickens' eggs... Most chicken eggs that are sold in the store are from caged or indoor chickens. However, most backyard raised chickens are cage free and free range (which means they have outdoor access and have room to spread their wings).
I personally notice a considerable difference in taste between my girls' eggs vs store bought eggs. Not surprising considering the facts here.

I agree, the quality of my backyard chicken eggs is far superior to any eggs I ever bought at a store. It just makes sense - the healthier the chicken, the better the egg. One of my kids doesn't even eat eggs in restaurants anymore because she says she only likes the eggs from our hens.

 

[anatess]

Where do you get your bulk meat? Mine get a little beef every now and then, but mostly they get chicken leg quarters at 76 cents a pound... If I could get other meat for a similar price I could vary their diet a little more. I am feeding 5 cats and a dog raw, so feeding them steaks could get expensive!

I found this mom-and-pop grocery store out there on the dont-go-there-at-night part of town. I found out about them because my friends from work are big on "authentic soul food" and it's a popular store for that. They even sell stuff like frog legs and gator tail.

Anyway, I talked to the owner about discounts and he says if I buy in bulk, he'll give me the stuff at just a few dollars above invoice. By bulk he means - he doesn't have to unpack it from the wholesale package. So, beef hearts are delivered to his store in 60lb boxes. He gets the box for $50, I get it for $60 including tax. He unpacks the box and packages it into those styrofoam containers to sell in the store for $1.69/lb.

 

[anatess]

I agree, the quality of my backyard chicken eggs is far superior to any eggs I ever bought at a store. It just makes sense - the healthier the chicken, the better the egg. One of my kids doesn't even eat eggs in restaurants anymore because she says she only likes the eggs from our hens.

It tastes different! The store eggs tastes very bland. My eggs has more taste to it. I noticed this with meats too. I grew up in the Philippines and meats taste different there. The tastes are much stronger and the meat denser. First thing I noticed with the meats in America is... now I understand why they say everything tastes like chicken!

 

[Elyrian1]

They're paranoid because of articles like this one from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellapoultry/index.html
And this one:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/06/06/backyard-chickens-are-getting-people-sick-again.html

And a whole bunch more. It makes the rounds at least once a year on the major news networks, otherwise known as drama queens... Wait, did I say that out loud?

It's perfectly reasonable to expect to find bacteria and viruses everywhere around you. By that mentality we should be washing our hands until they're raw! Now we could be reactionary, or preventative, but it all comes down to a healthy dose of common sense.

Perhaps people are so paranoid through ignorance combined with the general lack of common sense we see so blatantly on display every single day? Just a thought.

I will say I'm glad to see the CDC does not make any recommendation to wash eggs.

I know only one person that ever had Salmonella, and yeah it was awful. But that my mom, she got it because she's got a very bad habit of walking around with her mouth open and she was cleaning out the wild bird bath (frequented by squirrels and all kinds of wild life), and I'm sure you can put two and two together. Splash! Oops... couple of days later came down with it. She still walks around with her mouth open all the dang time

 

[BantyChooks]

They're paranoid because of articles like this one from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellapoultry/index.html
And this one:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/06/06/backyard-chickens-are-getting-people-sick-again.html

And a whole bunch more. It makes the rounds at least once a year on the major news networks, otherwise known as drama queens... Wait, did I say that out loud?

It's perfectly reasonable to expect to find bacteria and viruses everywhere around you. By that mentality we should be washing our hands until they're raw! Now we could be reactionary, or preventative, but it all comes down to a healthy dose of common sense.

Perhaps people are so paranoid through ignorance combined with the general lack of common sense we see so blatantly on display every single day? Just a thought.

I will say I'm glad to see the CDC does not make any recommendation to wash eggs.

I know only one person that ever had Salmonella, and yeah it was awful. But that my mom, she got it because she's got a very bad habit of walking around with her mouth open and she was cleaning out the wild bird bath (frequented by squirrels and all kinds of wild life), and I'm sure you can put two and two together. Splash! Oops... couple of days later came down with it. She still walks around with her mouth open all the dang time

Nasal issues? Just a guess.

 

[Elyrian1]

Not even, lol. Just a bad habit. Although thanks for trying to offer a reasonable explanation!