Eggsistential Blues
Oh, come on. Like you could resist an such a great egg pun.
I've been following, of course, the story about the egg recall in the US. I know a lot of family and friends are worried about the quality of our food here in China, with good reason. But in the US when there is a food recall, it seems to be so huge.
I am about four years late in getting this picture up on here. Usually for Americans when they first start shopping in a local Chinese grocery store they are shocked by OH MY GOODNESS WHY AREN'T THE EGGS IN A REFRIGERATOR!?!?!?!?
I've been following, of course, the story about the egg recall in the US. I know a lot of family and friends are worried about the quality of our food here in China, with good reason. But in the US when there is a food recall, it seems to be so huge.
I am about four years late in getting this picture up on here. Usually for Americans when they first start shopping in a local Chinese grocery store they are shocked by OH MY GOODNESS WHY AREN'T THE EGGS IN A REFRIGERATOR!?!?!?!?
Of course, after the initial freak-out, we get used to buying the eggs in the middle of the store, and then usually refrigerate them at home. One store, Jusco, in Shenzhen, interestingly, had displays like this, and then had some of the same brand and identical packaging in the refrigerator. There are time when I run out of the grocery eggs and need some in a hurry I can buy them right on the street off of someone's bicycle. I am pretty sure those had never been in an icebox either.
For those Americans that might be worried about their grocery store eggs, you might want to try what Jen is doing, raising her own chickens. It's always worked for Danielle.
Comments
Let's see, I had about 30 hens and two roosters. Two hens up and died in the past year. I got twelve new hens in the late spring. One of those has just begun to lay, little dark pullet eggs. Then I had a broody hen whose eggs didn't hatch, bought 12 chicks to give her, she adopted them, managed to raise 10 of them. Those are Aracuanas.(Well, Easter eggers, sold as Aracuanas, but if you look it up, they aren't. Body type is actually more like Americuanas. Pretty though. These are young pullets now, not laying.) Then I had two more hens go broody, their eggs didn't hatch either -I think because I left them in the coop and they would get mixed up and get back on the wrong eggs and they let the eggs cool too much before I put them back on the right ones. So I got them some chicks, gave some away, kept 13; one has six and one has 7. But it is getting too cool to put them out in a little run with a doghouse for shelter as I did in the summer. So they are in hutches inside the coop. One is adequate space for a while, the other is not. I put 1" wire all around the outside of my run in the hopes that the mothers will be able to keep them safe from the bigger chickens in the run. I opened the door to the hutch for a while today, but mother hen shows no sign of wanting to go out or of letting her chicks do so. We'll see. If these all live.. 2 roosters plus 28 hens plus 12 older pullets plus 10 younger pullets plus-
someone also gave me 4 pullets because he only wanted to keep 4 of the 8 he got in the small space he had and only for two people, so plus 4 pullets, plus 13 chicks one of whom is male, would wind up with 66 chickens plus 3 roosters.
No room for any more, even though the more I learn about chickens the more breeds I would like to have...
We get way more eggs than we need and just give them away to my husbands church. A few people there will give us a couple of dollars a dozen for them and we take it if they offer but we don't ask.