Re: [fast5] Re: Day 5

Friday, October 26, 2012

Re: [fast5] Re: Day 5

>Hi All!

>If one does not have access to free range farm eggs, is it still better to eat commercial eggs rather than eating no eggs due to quality?

>.Thanks,
>Sharan

Yes! We don't have our own eggs sometimes because they don't lay as much in winter,

and we get eggs from the store. And keep in mind that most studies on eggs are

done using very low quality eggs!

Keeping chickens indoors as not as bad as it seems. We used to let us go truly free-range,

but predators came that could jump fences, and ate about half of them. So they are in

a big barn now. Before that they were in an old dog kennel. I saw some happy hens

once in the corner of a garage, in an area 4x8 feet, walled off with chicken wire.

The farmer had used wood pellets for litter, and it was very clean and neat. Those

where his private egg-layers.

My chickens are not unhappy about being in a house! They are very territorial, and like their one

area. In fact, they CAN fly out, in this case, but don't. They stay near the food. Also,

they are not prairie birds ... they are descended from jungle birds, and prefer to huddle

under trees or perch in branches, not to sit in an open area. Direct sunlight is too much

heat for them, most of the time (they do like "sunning" for a bit though, and need that).

So what matters for egg quality isn't that they eat "grass" ... unlike a goose, they don't

digest grass much. But they do like access to some sun, room to move around.

And insects or some other protein. And here is the problem with the current

"free range" eggs. They boast the birds are fed a "vegetarian" diet. People!

Chickens are not vegetarian! They love bugs. And meat, fish, fruit, etc.

"Free range" eggs get some insects, but a few chickens decimates the local

insect population very quickly. There isn't enough food in a grassy field to

actually feed a laying hen, so mostly they get commercial chicken pellets ...

vegetarian organic ones, if they are organic-egg chickens. Basically grains

and legumes, which is ok, but not their favorite diet.

So our egg quality went way UP when we "cooped up" our chickens. Thicker, oranger

egg yolks, thicker shells. The main difference? We started feeding them more

leftovers. Ours and from those who "donate" their kitchen scraps also.

The only eggs that are similar in the market are "Eggland's Best" ... they

feed their chickens fish meal, I believe. They are a little pricier, but really,

eggs are just very cheap compared to other foods anyway.

Also in our area, some of the stores sell local eggs from very small farms.

Those are often very good too.

The ideal, which of course not all people can do, is to have a "chicken

tractor" ... a little coop that can move around the yard, keep a couple of birds,

which is enough for one person's eggs generally. AND use up your kitchen

waste, kill bugs, fertilize. Hens are way easier to keep than say, a dog. In

much of the country, "suburban chickens" are becoming the norm,

and even Williams Sonoma is selling upscale chicken houses!.

On Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 7:56 AM, S <svirk1972@yahoo.ca> wrote:

--- In fast5@yahoogroups.com, "fionulavic" <murgyman@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all! I've been lurking for a while, reading all I can, and trying to get the courage up to leap in. Well, on Oct 19 I finally did. And this is *easy*!!! Breaking the continuous snacking habit is probably the hardest part (for me) but I've been trying to distract myself by organizing the house. I've been working on the basement for the past 2 days and the moment I found the furnace was a proud one! (I always kind of knew where it was - I just hadn't seen it for months...) Anyway, I digress.
>
> Thank you, Heather, for your advice to eat eggs to stave off hunger. I usually start my eating window (which is approx. 1-6pm - I hate to go to bed with a full stomach) with a big omlette and then have to remember to eat something else before my window closes. I've spent the past 10 years on and off of Atkins and while there's a lot of good things about that diet, I *never* forgot to eat...!
>
> I forgot to record my start weight (or measurements, for that matter) which I deeply regret but it's too late now. Perhaps I'll just carry on for a month or so and see how my clothes fit.
>
> I look forward to some lively discussions and hope we'll all post a bit more often now that winter's here.
>
> Thanks Bert, for making your book available to everyone.
>
> Mary in Northern BC
>

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