On 4/06/2011 1:03 AM, Landon wrote:
> On Fri, 3 Jun 2011 13:24:24 +0000 (UTC), Nad R
> > wrote:
>
>> Janet > wrote:
>>> Are there variances in the fresh eggs you get? Can there be an egg
>>> with a runnier white than another egg even though both are freshly
>>> laid? (assuming both are from the same breed chicken) Could you tell
>>> me more about what you observe? Thanks
>>> Janet US
>>
>> Yes they are variances. Chickens that are molting, older hens, not enough
>> bugs can effect the eggs. If a chicken shows any kind of illness gets
>> culled and buried. every three years I send them all to butcher. Before I
>> do that I get get more chicks and keep them separate from the older hens.
>> If a hen is not producing a really nice egg I tend to have chicken for
>> dinner.
>
> Nad R, your comment reminded me of something from my childhood. We
> raised a couple hundred chicks at a time to fill the freezer once a
> year. My Dad put up two bug zappers over the water trough they drank
> from, and a light on the water itself. On a summer night, the zappers
> would do their thing almost continuously, and each bug zapped would
> fall into the water trough below it where it would land on top of the
> brightly illuminated water.
>
> It was like Pavlov's dogs, the chickens would hear the zap and all run
> like hell for the water trough. The first there would snap up the bug.
>
> At the time, I was about 5 or 6 years old, and I'm now 58, so it's an
> old memory. I thought it was a lot of fun watching those chickens race
> for the bugs.
>
> My Dad told me later that it supplemented their diet with the protein
> from the bugs and helped produce better eggs from the layers and
> better meat from the ones destined for the freezer.
>
So when the bugs get into our food, we shouldn't complain because it'll
make us grow up big and strong. We might even lay better eggs too! ;-)

Krypsis