The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Dans on March 02, 2016, 09:58:21 pm
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Hi all,
We've started getting our eggs in and we're loving them. So much more yellow than the store bought. My only question is are they ok for my 8 month old? I know that the shop bought ones have the lion stamp and should be vaccinated for salmonella etc but as my eggs haven't been are they ok for the more 'vulnerable'? Can/should I vaccinate? It's paining us to keep buying eggs for her to eat but she's only been on solids for 2 months so I'm just not sure. Anyone else been in this position?
Dans
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I've never had salmonella from my home-grown eggs. As long as they are clean, from healthy hens and you do not wash them (I'm sure you know, but they are coated in a protective layer which can be washed off leaving the shell porous and more likely to absorb something nasty) , I personally feel they are lower risk than shop-bought. I believe the advice is to hard-boil or thoroughly cook eggs for vunerable people just in case anyway.
Home-grown eggs are just wonderful! :thumbsup:
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Cook them, they should be fine, shouldn't they? Don't make her fresh mayonnaise, p'rhaps :-J
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salmonella does not exist in home raised chickens it is a side effect of factory farming I'm afraid. I have done some research on this last year and salmonella % is absolutely miniscule now. More likely to get food poisoning from cooked meats from the deli or takeaway (packed sarnies being the worst)
There are no risks from a well healthy flock where eggs are collected clean and eaten fresh.
My children had runny eggs from weaning and I have no issues.
Sad that we have been force fed this risk when pre-factory farming there werent the health scares.
I would rather my children eat organic fresh eggs than any stamped shop bought eggs. I really see no issues at all.
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8 months already Dans :o I'm sure she was only born a couple of months ago :D
She'll love your eggs - mine were fed scrambled eggs from very early on, also egg custard with stewed fruit :yum:
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Thanks guys, can you tell she's my first? :innocent:
Will get her onto our eggs as soon as the last shop bought are done. She loves eggs, fried, scrambled, omlette or eggy bread (french toast).
And yep FW 8 months already, She's starting to crawl and stand.
This was her about a month ago when we were making veg beds in the polytunnel.
Dans
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http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-baby.aspx (http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-baby.aspx)
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/solid-foods-weaning.aspx (http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/solid-foods-weaning.aspx)
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/eggs-nutrition.aspx (http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/eggs-nutrition.aspx)
http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/consultations/2016/microbiological-risk-from-shell-eggs-and-their-products (http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/consultations/2016/microbiological-risk-from-shell-eggs-and-their-products)
So hard-boiled is ok from 6 months. The I ssue with less cooked than that is the potential for bacterial infection, particularly salmonella, although risks of this seem to have fallen. It is hard to know what the risks are of salmonella in any particular individual flock but it can be introduced by several vectors - including rodents - and spread is influenced by many factors - not just size of housing - so the risk would not seem to be isolated to large scale producers.
Magnus
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I fed my hens eggs to my son as one of his first weaning foods. To start with, just the yolk. I didn't look up the stats before hand but struggle to believe they are very much more dangerous than shop bought foods, plus, by a 1yr he was sucking the cat, dogs fur, picking up and sampling things like stones, grass and rabbit poo, etc.