Cluck Cluck

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Barewolf

Well ive mostly been a vegetarian most of my life. Theres a special word for it. I'm not a vegetarian as i do like sausages, bacon etc. But i wont eat steak, lamb, pork etc.

I rarely eat chicken, but I do love my Chicken madras from our local asda, they dont do a vegetarian one.

Would that word be carnivore

In my grans case it was a throw back from the war when everybody was encouraged to grow fruit and veg and keep a few chickens ,i would like to see it make a comeback ,but nowadys house gardens are so small as to make it impractical ,the only houses you could do it in would be the houses built pre 50's

[MadGamer]

Quite a few of my mum and dads work colleagues keep chickens and it seems to be pretty popular

[Barewolf]

its probably popular because of the price of eggs nowadays, not to mention the eggs are organic free range.

chickens eat just about anything, you could feed them on food scraps and still get eggs, you dont have to buy them pellets. I do because it gives them their full balanced diet.

i suppose if you cooked a lot of vegetable stew, soups, pasta, you could easily feed them on scraps.

So £15 Per chicken = £60
Food Scraps = £0

4 Eggs per day roughly, they soon pay for themselves.

[mrmistoffelees]

Am I the only one suprised that Mr. LM hasnt posted a picture of his cock yet ?

ahem,cough.....oh my, that's fowl.....

[MadGamer]

Originally Posted by Barewolf

its probably popular because of the price of eggs nowadays, not to mention the eggs are organic free range.

chickens eat just about anything, you could feed them on food scraps and still get eggs, you dont have to buy them pellets. I do because it gives them their full balanced diet.

i suppose if you cooked a lot of vegetable stew, soups, pasta, you could easily feed them on scraps.

So £15 Per chicken = £60
Food Scraps = £0

4 Eggs per day roughly, they soon pay for themselves.

Yep they sure do, I also feed mine on Layers Pellets

[Caff]

Originally Posted by Barewolf

its probably popular because of the price of eggs nowadays, not to mention the eggs are organic free range.

chickens eat just about anything, you could feed them on food scraps and still get eggs, you dont have to buy them pellets. I do because it gives them their full balanced diet.

i suppose if you cooked a lot of vegetable stew, soups, pasta, you could easily feed them on scraps.

So £15 Per chicken = £60
Food Scraps = £0

4 Eggs per day roughly, they soon pay for themselves.

I've been such a keen, potential-keeper-of-hens and will batter the brick wall I keep battering myself against again in the hope of wrecking a prized lawn
I'm so glad you are having so much reward from your chuckies.

[TheNorm]

Originally Posted by joglynne

Told you so. Get yourself some packaging and give a few away as gifts to visitors.

My brother keeps chickens, and here is a useful tip from him. Collect the used eggshells, crush them and add to the chicken feed. You will be recycling calcium, which birds regard as a precious metal.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by TheNorm

My brother keeps chickens, and here is a useful tip from him. Collect the used eggshells, crush them and add to the chicken feed. You will be recycling calcium, which birds regard as a precious metal.

Hmmmmm, Why does the idea of a poultry version of Ramsdens appeal ?

[Mr_love_monkey]

Originally Posted by Barewolf

I'm not a vegetarian as i do like sausages, bacon etc. But i wont eat steak, lamb, pork etc.

ermm... you do know bacon is pork right?

[spiderplant]

Think you've got too many eggs? We've got 11 hens at the moment - Mrs p keeps "rescuing" them. Four ex-batteries, three ex-free range, a Light Sussex, a Barnevelder, a Rhode Island Red and a Crested Cream Legbar. Completely egged out.

Originally Posted by Halcyon

You need some rabbits too.

We tried them, but their eggs are a bit small and chewy.

Have you ever had the surroundings tested for salmonella? If you intend to give eggs away in this day and age of lawsuits I dunno if I would give stuff like that away

[Caff]

Originally Posted by Zing

Have you ever had the surroundings tested for salmonella? If you intend to give eggs away in this day and age of lawsuits I dunno if I would give stuff like that away

Good point, Zing, I'm sure but do you mean the ground or their food/water supply? Or the eggs themselves?
Seems a shame to give away fresh eggs with a health warning.

well because its only 4 birds they could be tested. I have no idea about how you go about it but salmonella may exist in the birds themselves and therefore passed on into the eggs. Now this is not an issue if the eggs are cooked properly but if they are not it could create issues. I know battery farms have to be 100% clear to operate.

[Barewolf]

I beleive personally that if you have fresh water everyday, fresh food, and the chickens are happy, that there will be no salmonella.

40 years ago (Before I was born), my parents used to eat farm eggs, and home made cheese, butter etc, and they never heard of salmonella, let alone got it.

Ive never had salmonella either. I think its all down to treating the chickens sensibly. The media tend to blow these kind of stories out of context and scare the public. thats the reality of it

I wouldnt have them tested unless i noticed something wrong with the eggs on a regular basis.

@Spiderplant - Small chewwy eggs do not sound normal, it sounds to me like they havent yet adapted to their new lifestyle and envioronment.

I wouldnt eat those eggs for at least 12-16 weeks after, until they have settled down.

I cant really say for certain as ive never had rescued chickens. But it just seems like common sense


I'll have to give my eggs away........in 7 days ive ended up with over 22 eggs. And weve eaten a load of eggs this week.

The good thing is that my dog "Gracie", loves scrambled egg, however we cant just feed her that.

My neighbour buys eggs but she buys the asda smart price eggs which are battery hen eggs. I could give her some eggs, at least then she wont buy them and that will help all round.