Egg #2
- Thread starter gcvmom
- Start date
Marguerite
Active Member
I grew up on a small farm, technically a hobby farm I guess, because my Dad worked five days a week (ironically, for a huge chicken processing plant, I think Australia's first). But we grew enough food (meat and vegetables) to come close to being self-sufficient. We had chooks, goats, sheep, the occasional pig, a small orchard and a lot of very busy vegetable beds. And towards the end of our time there (we later moved to a larger farm further out of the city) we also had heifers which we mostly raised then sold, in-calf. We kept the prettiest Jersey as our new house-cow at the larger farm. All the chooks were battery hens as I was growing up; husband & I have kept ours free-range.
When I was a kid I used to watch my Dad kill chooks and process them for the freezer. I helped a bit (plucking, not drawing) and also preparing the giblets to help Mum make stock. She would cook the feet and get me to help peel the skin off, then they would go back into the pot with the giblets to make stock. There's a lot of natural gelatine in the feet; also in wing-tips.
My mother taught me how to make a tiny amount of food go a long way, and to also never waste anything. I've been on holidays with the family and made what the kids called scraps soup. easy child 2/difficult child 2 calls it "stone soup" after the folk story and has made it herself (yes, with the stone!). Scrap soup - we had cooked roast chicken the night before (bought form the shop) but instead of throwing out the bones and carcass (including the wing tips which few people will bother to eat) I made a small pot of chicken stock. To add extra flavour I also used the ends and skin of an onion I'd cut up for some salad, and also some carrot peels. I hunted around for the rubbishy stuff that was going to be thrown away anyhow such as wilted celery, wrinkled & floppy. It's amazing what you can use.
The result was really tasty, and once we'd finished it what was left in the pot (bones & scraps) really DID have to be thrown out, there was no flavour left in any of it.
It was a very useful lesson for the kids.
Strong suggestion if you want to teach the kids a number of lessons all rolled in together - tell them the story of "stone soup" and then as you tell the story, MAKE the soup. As you tell the story, get them to rummage in the cupboards, the fridge and the garden for anything you can use.
I guess it also fits in with the concept of "freegan" which I've heard about recently. I don't think I'm a true "freegan" although some aspects of it are similar to the way I was raised; but if you think about it, your acquisition of Herbert fits in well with a number of philanthropic, ecologically friendly ways of living.
As for being reluctant to "eat Bambi" - I used to feel that way too, until the day I saw the damage the local deer had done to my lavender bushes. These critturs are feral here, their hard hooves cut the delicate ground plants and muddy the waterholes for our native animals. They damage the native plants and are ruining the entire ecosystem. And they forage in our rubbish bins - as a herd, they gang up and knock over the bins, they're worse than roaming packs of dogs!
But I'm OK about eating kangaroo - when you know their life-cycle and how rapidly they can bring a population up to plague proportion, it's easier to feel OK with it. I love cuddling a tame roo, but I also know the damage they can do to a farm. They can and do survive well in the open country away from farms, so they're not in danger of extinction (or even in any serious reduction in numbers at all! At least the main three large species). husband was just wondering what would happen if we got a mob of Red Kangaroos and released them in Nevada...
The roo meat we buy comes from Grey Kangaroos (they are really cute, too). The two bigger ones, the Red and the Euro (aka wallaroo) live further out back. The greys are the ones which really invade farms and are the ones we saw happily occupying pasture paddocks beside the main highway south of Sydney when we drove south over Easter.
The endangered ones (some of the smaller roos, or certain wallaby species) may have been eaten by early settlers but not in my memory. They are not the ones that cause problems, they have been protected as long as I've known about them. The wallabies we have near us are very plentiful throughout their range but do avoid human contact. They're all protected, but the three large Macropod species do have to get culled to prevent plagues of them. At least this way, the meat doesn't get wasted.
Anyone want the recipe for kangaroo tail soup? (it's the same as for oxtail soup). Mind you, I've never cooked it. You'd have to be a legal roo hunter AND have the time and inclination. But if they ever get released in Nevada, you might find the recipe useful...
Marg
When I was a kid I used to watch my Dad kill chooks and process them for the freezer. I helped a bit (plucking, not drawing) and also preparing the giblets to help Mum make stock. She would cook the feet and get me to help peel the skin off, then they would go back into the pot with the giblets to make stock. There's a lot of natural gelatine in the feet; also in wing-tips.
My mother taught me how to make a tiny amount of food go a long way, and to also never waste anything. I've been on holidays with the family and made what the kids called scraps soup. easy child 2/difficult child 2 calls it "stone soup" after the folk story and has made it herself (yes, with the stone!). Scrap soup - we had cooked roast chicken the night before (bought form the shop) but instead of throwing out the bones and carcass (including the wing tips which few people will bother to eat) I made a small pot of chicken stock. To add extra flavour I also used the ends and skin of an onion I'd cut up for some salad, and also some carrot peels. I hunted around for the rubbishy stuff that was going to be thrown away anyhow such as wilted celery, wrinkled & floppy. It's amazing what you can use.
The result was really tasty, and once we'd finished it what was left in the pot (bones & scraps) really DID have to be thrown out, there was no flavour left in any of it.
It was a very useful lesson for the kids.
Strong suggestion if you want to teach the kids a number of lessons all rolled in together - tell them the story of "stone soup" and then as you tell the story, MAKE the soup. As you tell the story, get them to rummage in the cupboards, the fridge and the garden for anything you can use.
I guess it also fits in with the concept of "freegan" which I've heard about recently. I don't think I'm a true "freegan" although some aspects of it are similar to the way I was raised; but if you think about it, your acquisition of Herbert fits in well with a number of philanthropic, ecologically friendly ways of living.
As for being reluctant to "eat Bambi" - I used to feel that way too, until the day I saw the damage the local deer had done to my lavender bushes. These critturs are feral here, their hard hooves cut the delicate ground plants and muddy the waterholes for our native animals. They damage the native plants and are ruining the entire ecosystem. And they forage in our rubbish bins - as a herd, they gang up and knock over the bins, they're worse than roaming packs of dogs!
But I'm OK about eating kangaroo - when you know their life-cycle and how rapidly they can bring a population up to plague proportion, it's easier to feel OK with it. I love cuddling a tame roo, but I also know the damage they can do to a farm. They can and do survive well in the open country away from farms, so they're not in danger of extinction (or even in any serious reduction in numbers at all! At least the main three large species). husband was just wondering what would happen if we got a mob of Red Kangaroos and released them in Nevada...
The roo meat we buy comes from Grey Kangaroos (they are really cute, too). The two bigger ones, the Red and the Euro (aka wallaroo) live further out back. The greys are the ones which really invade farms and are the ones we saw happily occupying pasture paddocks beside the main highway south of Sydney when we drove south over Easter.
The endangered ones (some of the smaller roos, or certain wallaby species) may have been eaten by early settlers but not in my memory. They are not the ones that cause problems, they have been protected as long as I've known about them. The wallabies we have near us are very plentiful throughout their range but do avoid human contact. They're all protected, but the three large Macropod species do have to get culled to prevent plagues of them. At least this way, the meat doesn't get wasted.
Anyone want the recipe for kangaroo tail soup? (it's the same as for oxtail soup). Mind you, I've never cooked it. You'd have to be a legal roo hunter AND have the time and inclination. But if they ever get released in Nevada, you might find the recipe useful...
Marg
Marcie Mac
Just Plain Ole Tired
After reading Marge's very informative post on the subject of raising chickens and dealing with eggs, I have come to the conclusion that I will forgo any idea of getting a bird for fresh eggs, and will stick to enjoying chicken that comes in a little yellow plastic tray, frozen, and cut up already, at the grocery store..
Marcie
Marcie
Marguerite
Active Member
I'm with the henhouse brigade, people. There are many good environmental reasons to keep chickens. You don't have to raise babies to do so. We no longer have a rooster, because we found trying to stop them from annoying the neighbours was too difficult. Also, WE were not getting any sleep.
However, to keep chickens the New Age way, first build a deep litter henhouse (plans available on request) then buy some hens from a place that sells eggs from battery chickens. These chooks get killed after they're about 18 months old. They've generally been debeaked, they can be missing feathers. A battery farmer needs to keep production up as high as possible, and after about 18 months the egg-laying rate drops off, plus they are more likely (when more than a year old) to stop laying over winter. Unproductive. So out go the old, to make way for a new generation.
That's what my father used to do - he would note the egg production of each hen and as it dropped, he would replace them with a younger model. Each autumn we would fill the freezer with the older birds and a fresh lot of pullets would arrive from the hatchery.
We have friends who do this, too - they buy battery hens at point of 'retirement' and turn them loose into their backyards. The hens start laying with enthusiasm, almost in gratitude for the chance at a decent life.
And the deep litter - it should work like a giant compost heap. You throw all your scraps to the chooks (including all lawn clippings) and in return harvest not only the best eggs with yolks of rich orange, but also marvellous compost for your vegetables and herbs. Done right, it also doesn't smell. I dig the compost out from under the heap and put plants right into it (no burn). You can only do this with compost; neat chook manure WILL burn plants, but you can use it to make a very dilute manure tea as a plant tonic.
There is something about wanting to eat a fried egg for lunch, and going out to the henhouse to see if one has been laid yet. Frying or poaching a day-old egg is a real experience, because you really understand just how useful it is to have them fresh. A really fresh egg holds together well, the yolk is centred in the white (which is very thick, not runny at all) and - well, there's nothing like it.
Our chooks get let out most afternoons, we change their water and check their pellet supply. Just on sunset they put themselves back into the chookhouse. I've put in some old branches (windfalls) as natural perches for them, they range along the branches in their favourite positions and snuggle down together. Any broodies crawl under the feed hopper (you got high hopes, girls - not a chance!).
If the chookhouse floor gets wet, then it can get smelly. We try to keep it dry, but if it's smelly we sprinkle garden lime. Every so often we go through and aerate it with a garden fork. Nothing else to it, really.
Hope this helps change some minds.
Marg
However, to keep chickens the New Age way, first build a deep litter henhouse (plans available on request) then buy some hens from a place that sells eggs from battery chickens. These chooks get killed after they're about 18 months old. They've generally been debeaked, they can be missing feathers. A battery farmer needs to keep production up as high as possible, and after about 18 months the egg-laying rate drops off, plus they are more likely (when more than a year old) to stop laying over winter. Unproductive. So out go the old, to make way for a new generation.
That's what my father used to do - he would note the egg production of each hen and as it dropped, he would replace them with a younger model. Each autumn we would fill the freezer with the older birds and a fresh lot of pullets would arrive from the hatchery.
We have friends who do this, too - they buy battery hens at point of 'retirement' and turn them loose into their backyards. The hens start laying with enthusiasm, almost in gratitude for the chance at a decent life.
And the deep litter - it should work like a giant compost heap. You throw all your scraps to the chooks (including all lawn clippings) and in return harvest not only the best eggs with yolks of rich orange, but also marvellous compost for your vegetables and herbs. Done right, it also doesn't smell. I dig the compost out from under the heap and put plants right into it (no burn). You can only do this with compost; neat chook manure WILL burn plants, but you can use it to make a very dilute manure tea as a plant tonic.
There is something about wanting to eat a fried egg for lunch, and going out to the henhouse to see if one has been laid yet. Frying or poaching a day-old egg is a real experience, because you really understand just how useful it is to have them fresh. A really fresh egg holds together well, the yolk is centred in the white (which is very thick, not runny at all) and - well, there's nothing like it.
Our chooks get let out most afternoons, we change their water and check their pellet supply. Just on sunset they put themselves back into the chookhouse. I've put in some old branches (windfalls) as natural perches for them, they range along the branches in their favourite positions and snuggle down together. Any broodies crawl under the feed hopper (you got high hopes, girls - not a chance!).
If the chookhouse floor gets wet, then it can get smelly. We try to keep it dry, but if it's smelly we sprinkle garden lime. Every so often we go through and aerate it with a garden fork. Nothing else to it, really.
Hope this helps change some minds.
Marg
gcvmom
Here we go again!
Well folks, I think Herbert is RETARDED, or just simply not cut out for brooding. No egg today and she has NO interest in the three in her box. None. In fact, she perches on the edge of the box to sleep, rather than in it. What a kook. I told my mom that if she's not sitting on the eggs by Monday to just toss them. We'll worry about harvesting when we get back from the trip. Oh well... it was a fun idea while it lasted!
Marguerite
Active Member
You can always make fake eggs for her maybe next spring, see how she goes. But remember, a lot of commercial chooks have broodiness bred out of them.
UNless the eggs have been sitting in the sun, they could well be useable. Maybe not poached or fried, but certainly would be worth cracking into a cup to see if they're OK before putting them in a cake, or scrambled eggs.
We also do the float test (on eggs we don't want to put under a broody hen). If the egg floats high, then chances are it's no good. Fresh new-laid eggs sink almost to the bottom, and shop-bought eggs will float but only a little of the egg peeps above the surface of the water. So unless the egg floats with about half or more out of the water, it's worth cracking to check. They have to be really far gone to smell appalling. So if it doesn't float too high, if when cracked open it doesn't really stink, if it looks OK and isn't a weird colour like curdled milk - then it's perfectly OK to use.
We date eggs when they are laid. If I don't know when it was laid (say, if I find a nest which has about two dozen eggs in it, hidden under a bush then I tend to go by feel. Old eggs float because they lose water through the porous shell, and therefore also lose weight. So weighing them, often by feel in your hand, can give you a clue as to whether they're really old, or moderately fresh. If they've been out in the rain they often have leaf stains on the shell (and can still be perfectly OK).
If I'm not going to put them under a broody, I do the float test on found eggs and then date them, but with a question mark to let me know they were found on that date, so their age is unknown.
A nest with 2 dozen eggs can be all from one hen (in which case, chances are some of the oldest will be not so good) or from a number of hens all with the same idea.
I've kept eggs for well over a month or more, and still been able to use them, no worries. And I'm fussy about how my food looks and tastes.
Part of growing up post-Depression and having to never waste anything. We even dry the egg shells and feed them back to the chooks! Or use them in the garden, as the half-shell, to ward off Cabbage White butterflies.
Marg
UNless the eggs have been sitting in the sun, they could well be useable. Maybe not poached or fried, but certainly would be worth cracking into a cup to see if they're OK before putting them in a cake, or scrambled eggs.
We also do the float test (on eggs we don't want to put under a broody hen). If the egg floats high, then chances are it's no good. Fresh new-laid eggs sink almost to the bottom, and shop-bought eggs will float but only a little of the egg peeps above the surface of the water. So unless the egg floats with about half or more out of the water, it's worth cracking to check. They have to be really far gone to smell appalling. So if it doesn't float too high, if when cracked open it doesn't really stink, if it looks OK and isn't a weird colour like curdled milk - then it's perfectly OK to use.
We date eggs when they are laid. If I don't know when it was laid (say, if I find a nest which has about two dozen eggs in it, hidden under a bush then I tend to go by feel. Old eggs float because they lose water through the porous shell, and therefore also lose weight. So weighing them, often by feel in your hand, can give you a clue as to whether they're really old, or moderately fresh. If they've been out in the rain they often have leaf stains on the shell (and can still be perfectly OK).
If I'm not going to put them under a broody, I do the float test on found eggs and then date them, but with a question mark to let me know they were found on that date, so their age is unknown.
A nest with 2 dozen eggs can be all from one hen (in which case, chances are some of the oldest will be not so good) or from a number of hens all with the same idea.
I've kept eggs for well over a month or more, and still been able to use them, no worries. And I'm fussy about how my food looks and tastes.
Part of growing up post-Depression and having to never waste anything. We even dry the egg shells and feed them back to the chooks! Or use them in the garden, as the half-shell, to ward off Cabbage White butterflies.
Marg
gcvmom
Here we go again!
Okay Marg, I'm convinced... I'll have my mum put them in the fridge Monday. We'll test them out when we come back... or she can give them a try 
They've been in the shade in the coop -- and it doesn't get very hot in there since it's got 3 foot square skylight opening for the kids' fire pole (remember, we converted our playhouse).
I never heard of using the shells to ward off the cabbage whites... How does that work?
I recycle all our kitchen scraps (except meat/bones) including egg shells into the compost bins (we've got 3 plus a worm bin). How finely do you grind the dried shells to feed your birds?
They've been in the shade in the coop -- and it doesn't get very hot in there since it's got 3 foot square skylight opening for the kids' fire pole (remember, we converted our playhouse).I never heard of using the shells to ward off the cabbage whites... How does that work?
I recycle all our kitchen scraps (except meat/bones) including egg shells into the compost bins (we've got 3 plus a worm bin). How finely do you grind the dried shells to feed your birds?
