The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Roxy on February 27, 2011, 10:50:18 pm
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Whilst looking in the green bins (no, I do not make a habit or rooting through the bins, but I do stock up on cardboard to put down on the floor of the outside cats caravan, to keep it cleanish in this muddy weather!) on a few occasions I have come across egg boxes (yes, rescue those too!)
What my point is - is that some of my neighbours are driving past my gate to the supermarket for these free range eggs, and paying £1.80 for 6 and another box said £2.82 for 12. Mine are £2 a dozen. Also, you would think they would ask if I wanted the egg box, or indeed leave it in my egg container by the gate. I do sell to quite a few of the neighbours though, and they bring their empty egg boxes.
One neighbour told me she had to buy supermarket free range eggs, as she had seen my hens eating worms, and she was worried they would get into the eggs .....so the supermarket free range hens do not scratch for worms etc. then??
Another lady said my eggs were very yellow and had a strong taste .....turned out she had only ever eaten the battery hen eggs with the pale yolks, and thats what she went back to having!!
Oh well, it takes all sorts!!
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Tell me about it! My brother refused my offer of a box of eggs, he only likes the ones with a stamp on so he knows how old they are!!! ::)
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very strange :-\ I know my MIL often turns down our eggs because she buys 'barn eggs' from the supermarket, I think she has this fantasy in her head that barn chickens have a wonderful life. if only she could go with her son to visit some in line with his work...
I remember my 8 year old crying in tesco when she saw a lady buying 18 battery eggs. the lady was a local farm worker (polish) so i don't think understood what milli was sobbing about but my daughter was saying "but mummy, if people keep buying them the hens have to keep laying them.."
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We have egg boxes coming out of our ears since we got hens, and we haven't even taken to selling any yet. In the few years we've had hens all our excess go to friends & family and as 'goodwill'.
The boxes come from older people who make to connection: they have hens, must need egg boxes.
It's sad that an awful lot of people don't know what real food tastes/looks like.
IMO a lot of them could do with eating some dirt too ;D
Never did me any harm, nor did the worms I ate as a youngster - I used to collect them in a little wicker basket and eat the ones that wiggled out....
I also recall my mum telling me that if I ever found half a caterpillar in my salad to "Just eat it, you've already eaten the other half"
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in the summer when i have surplus eggs i give them to my work mates. one woman said she was nervous of eating them because they hadn't been processed like supermarket ones. ???
soon changed her mind once persuaded to try one!
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You cannot get away from the fact that Joe Public, generally speaking, is an idiot. Especially where food is concerned.
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I know a couple of folk who think my eggs are too orange and strong tasting!
That's fine though, just leaves more for the rest of us! :D
Although my hubby was asked at work if we sell our eggs, he said yes, and was asked if they were 'allright'! Another coworker, who bought eggs from us all last year and has been patiently waiting for our girls to start laying again, piped up "of course they're allright, they're fabulous, but you're not getting any til I've got mine"
ANd we also have customers who prefer a bit of dirt on the egg, or a feather stuck on it! ;)
I think the saying is "It takes all sorts!" ;D
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One neighbour told me she had to buy supermarket free range eggs, as she had seen my hens eating worms, and she was worried they would get into the eggs .....so the supermarket free range hens do not scratch for worms etc. then??
Actually, they probably don't - although commercial free range operations have to give access to the outdoors, many arrange it so that the hens don't actually go out. Out means dirty feet, dirty feet means dirty eggs and they don't like them.
We sell eggs at the road end - one woman came recently to the house as there was none out and was very excited to actually see the hens. Maybe I should do tours!
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One of my customers...customers asked her if the eggs contained chemicals as the yolks were so yellow! ::)
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its weird when i open eggs i can tell which come from my exbatts cos 6months on they are still far paler yolked than my others...
they all live together and get fed the same but ex batt eggs are still pale...
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We sell eggs at the road end - one woman came recently to the house as there was none out and was very excited to actually see the hens. Maybe I should do tours!
Judging by another recent thread, you could do a far better job than some farm parks!
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I have a colleague who refused to take eggs from me because they didn't have the little lions on them....... so another colleague drew them on for her in red pen ;D
You know the usual descriptions on egg boxes, like "Eggs from caged hens living in carefully controlled conditions...."? We made up some labels for ours that say "Eggs laid by individually named hens, living free range in utterly mollycoddled conditions". Also, we've developed an informal policy of the first box always being free. It makes me feel like a pusher, but so far everybody has come back for more! ;D
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"Eggs laid by individually named hens, living free range in utterly mollycoddled conditions"
Love it ;D
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You cannot get away from the fact that Joe Public, generally speaking, is an idiot. Especially where food is concerned.
nail on the head. 90% of the general public are thick.
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You cannot get away from the fact that Joe Public, generally speaking, is an idiot. Especially where food is concerned.
nail on the head. 90% of the general public are thick.
Well, no-o-o. Just to be a pedant ::), half of the general public are of below average intelligence - which of course makes the other half brighter than average...... ;D
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IMO a lot of them could do with eating some dirt too ;D
Never did me any harm, nor did the worms I ate as a youngster - I used to collect them in a little wicker basket and eat the ones that wiggled out....
I also recall my mum telling me that if I ever found half a caterpillar in my salad to "Just eat it, you've already eaten the other half"
I love it Mo ;D ;D
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As I was until a year ago chicken less, I am going to play Devils advocate here :o ;D
A large proportion of JP are skint or on a budget - when I was a lowly student I went for the cheapest eggs, not the kindest :-\
Up until probably 7 years ago, I never really heard about or thought about chicken welfare. Living next to my MIL who is on the mailing list of every animal welfare charity in the world, I have learnt more about the horrors around the world than the majority of JP have dreamt of :-[ :'(
I don't think JP are necessarily idiots, just uneducated and never had to think about where food comes from. If supermarkets had to put a picture of a battery hen on the packaging more people would be put off.
Of course, since having my own chooks I am much more aware of both the chicken welfare and the egg taste, and after finding this forum I am also more aware of how supermarket prices are affecting the free range market :-[ Its all about exposure to the problem!
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Hi all the question i get asked alot is.....well an egg is just an egg isnt it. The thing is people are so use to buying and eaing the crap from the supermarket and scared to buy anything else.
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I had a women knock on the door for some eggs and I explained that I had none as it was winter and they were currently moulting. She looked at me in disgust and told me not to be silly or there would be no eggs in the supermarkets at this time of year, I explained the difference of free range chickens working with the seasons and farmed chickens having lighting and heating to force laying and she told me I was silly again so I took her to see the chickens who looked a bit worse for wear as they were in the middle of the moult and she turned and said that I wasn't looking after them properly and that is why there feathers were falling out and they weren't laying. I had to get a poultry book from my book collection to show her that this is the natural cycle of the chicken and it was actually healthy for them to have a rest from laying and a good old moult once a year so that they could look and feel there best for spring and the start of the breeding season. She then went to another neighbour who keeps chickens to ask him for eggs and when he said he had none as his chickens were off lay she turned to him and said that we all must be doing something wrong.
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Ellisr, I admire your patience with this crazy woman. :D
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Ellisr, I admire your patience with this crazy woman. :D
Me too, I'd have told her to phone the animal welfare officer and bring him round the next time she came! Can't believe there are such ignorant people around
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I don't need the animal welfare officer any more he has been 4 times in the last 2 weeks I even know how he takes his coffee.