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wheatpuppy posted:My mom used to tell me that double-yolk eggs only occur if they're fertilized. But she also told me ponies were baby horses, so... grain of salt. Nope. I get some from one of my hens once in a while and we don't have any roosters. I'm always amazed at all the false preconceptions about chickens that are out there. I constantly have to explain how we can still get eggs from our hens even though we don't have a rooster.
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Mar 30, 2012 15:01
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 16:07 |
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Everything is edible, it just depends on how squeamish you are  From my understanding, fertilized eggs don't start to get all bloody and veiny and gross until they've been incubating for a few days. If you collect every day, then it shouldn't be a problem.
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Mar 31, 2012 03:34
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I feel like an idiot because I don't know this poo poo, I'm sorry for the derp question there. So, if you had a fertilized egg you wouldn't be able to tell it was fertilized when you cracked it to eat it? I'm completely okay with eating babies but am weirded out by the thought of visible embryoness looking breakfast were I to start doing this for myself. Do home-raised eggs actually have less cholesterol? I heard this somewhere and I'm curious about the fact to it. It doesn't seem to me the nutritional components of an egg would alter that much just from a change in environment.
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Mar 31, 2012 05:23
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Fertilized just means that sperm and egg have united and will (eventually) grow into a zygote and then embryo. When it first happens, it's literally a single cell and impossible to see without a microscope. With chicken eggs they don't start developing until they've been heated to a particular temperature. You may have noticed in this thread that chickens can be a little  when it comes to where they lay their eggs - the reason is that a flock will be laying eggs pretty frequently, but only a few of the hens will be "broody" or in an egg-rearing mood. These hens will gather eggs together and sit on them properly, going into a sort of trance where they mostly neglect food water and elimination. So, evolution has made it so that eggs can last indefinitely until a broody hen comes along, then they start cooking. They're even given an anti-bacterial coating called "bloom" that means they stay fresh for a while as long as they aren't washed - they can even be left out at room temperature, though obviously they'll keep longer in the fridge.So, if you gather eggs every day you don't have much to worry about. Even if they are sat on for a few days you won't be able to see anything, though sometimes an egg yolk will have a little blood spot on it, though this might be from the hen's health and nothing to do with the embryo. As for cholesterol, I have no idea but I'd imagine if anything it might have more. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because "cholesterol" is a class of compounds that are the basis for most creatures' hormone system. It's a base upon which other hormones can attach and signal in the body. It's a bad sign when a person's blood cholesterol is high, because that means their body is doing all kinds of signaling (which implies inflammation of tissues). The actual chemical cholesterol isn't dangerous in the least.
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Mar 31, 2012 05:34
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Jenner posted:I feel like an idiot because I don't know this poo poo, I'm sorry for the derp question there. I don't know about cholesterol, but you can tell if an egg is fertilized because you can see a tiny mass of cells on the yolk. they look like a lighter color spot. I hope this is not image leeching, I'm linking a picture I found to tell the difference. http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/_images/Fertile_vs_Infertile_egg.png
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Mar 31, 2012 06:33
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Just wanted to say that I've been enjoying the various photos people have been posting of their chicks and grown chickens.  For those following Chickam: Twitter Update! 12_String@chickam2008 posted:
So...with luck, we should all be watching the little eggs hatching next Saturday! 
Inveigle fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Mar 31, 2012 |
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Mar 31, 2012 16:15
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Chido posted:I don't know about cholesterol, but you can tell if an egg is fertilized because you can see a tiny mass of cells on the yolk. they look like a lighter color spot. I hope this is not image leeching, I'm linking a picture I found to tell the difference. Oh awesome, you couldn't even tell unless you were really looking for it! ON WITH THE BABY EATING!  I want to one day get enough land to actually do this now because Chido's chickens look so sweet and cute  (I bet they're utter monsters!) Thank you all for answering my questions.
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Mar 31, 2012 19:33
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Inveigle posted:Just wanted to say that I've been enjoying the various photos people have been posting of their chicks and grown chickens. So how many of what is still left? Also, can't wait for a chance to have a Queen Elizabeak hatch!
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Apr 1, 2012 00:28
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Jenner posted:Oh awesome, you couldn't even tell unless you were really looking for it! ON WITH THE BABY EATING! Monsters? Perhaps, but who can be afraid of these creatures? I was cleaning the coop the other day and figuring out if I should leave a purple dog crate inside to start tteaching my stray hens that coop = home, when Dust, Megatron, and Godzilla decided that they had to lay their egg right that moment and in the same cat litter tray/cheap nest I put in there for a little bit while I was moving things around there's no  big enough to shot how derpy my chickens are
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Apr 1, 2012 02:54
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Chido posted:there's no LOLLLL! Hen hive mind! 
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Apr 1, 2012 04:06
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Jenner posted:Do home-raised eggs actually have less cholesterol? I heard this somewhere and I'm curious about the fact to it. It doesn't seem to me the nutritional components of an egg would alter that much just from a change in environment. It isn't the environment that makes a difference, its the diet. Most back yard chickens are running around, getting fresh air and sunshine, chasing bugs, and most importantly, eating grass and weeds. If you don't free range, tossing weeds and grass clippings into the run is just fine. Mother Earth News has some good articles on the virtues of pasture raised eggs. http://www.motherearthnews.com/eggs.aspx Mother Earth News also has a interesting article on the results of an experiment that was done to test the various ways of storing eggs. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1977-11-01/Fresh-Eggs.aspx?page=4 The whole thing is worth reading, but the upshot is that if you keep unwashed eggs in a air tight container in the fridge, they'll be good to eat for at least six months.
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Apr 1, 2012 06:05
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My chicks are a month old now! Here are pics of them at 3 weeks and 4 weeks. Easter Egger 1:   Easter Egger 2:   Easter Egger 3:   Easter Egger 4 (AKA Spaz Chicken):   Easter Egger 5 (AKA Chloebelle):   Wyandotte 1:   Wyandotte 2:   Wyandotte 3 (AKA Short Tail). Does this one look male to anyone?:    Wyandotte 4:   Wyandotte 5:   Chicks in a box at 3 weeks:  Same box at 4 weeks:  Rusty watching the chicks on their second time outside last week:  And this one is just funny:  This is the last update with all 10 chicks. I sold 4 of them (EE 4, SLWs 1, 5, and I think 2) today. Two more will go to a friend, but probably not until they are at least 8 weeks. We are keeping EEs 1 and 5 and at least one of the remaining 2 Wyandottes.
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Apr 2, 2012 02:47
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Short Tail looks pretty rooish to me. Its hard to be sure at this age, but the redness of the comb, the pointy feathers on the neck and the shortness of the tail feathers all make me think that he's a cockerel.
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Apr 2, 2012 08:35
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Vaga42Bond posted:So how many of what is still left? I liked the name so much I stole it ....the white chick sitting down in the photo is Queen Elizabeak II 
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Apr 2, 2012 16:13
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^^^ LOL at Queen Elizabeak II. She looks incredibly regal! It seems that Velvet Sparrrow pranked The Kid yesterday with some ceramic chicks in one of the incubators. Photo is from VS's Livejournal.  Someone asked how many eggs were left? I see that there's one egg in the incubator shot that is numbered 65. And there are 22 eggs in this photo. VS said that 21 eggs were duds. So, there are 44 eggs left (more or less), which comes out to 22 eggs per incubator. Looking forward to Chickam this weekend.
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Apr 2, 2012 18:52
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Apr 2, 2012 18:54
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What do you guys do with all the chicken poop?
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Apr 2, 2012 19:31
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Maximusi posted:What do you guys do with all the chicken poop? I’m probably not the best person to answer this because I don’t have chickens yet, but I’m actually looking forward to the poop. I have a vegetable garden and chicken poop is amazing fertilizer. My understanding is it is considered “hot” in that the nutrients are very concentrated and it could burn the plants if applied straight, but the poop/litter mix added to yard waste should make amazing compost.
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Apr 2, 2012 19:41
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WrathofKhan posted:Short Tail looks pretty rooish to me. Its hard to be sure at this age, but the redness of the comb, the pointy feathers on the neck and the shortness of the tail feathers all make me think that he's a cockerel. I'm not too worried, since I'm pretty sure I can talk my friend into taking Short Tail if it does turn out to be a roo (she lives outside the city and far from any neighbors and doesn't have a roo yet). At what age will I likely be able to tell for sure though?
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Apr 2, 2012 19:58
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... help me, I saw more street fowl on my way home yesterday, and I wanna take them home with me  I bet Roo would love to have some of these big girls.
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Apr 3, 2012 03:22
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Chido posted:... help me, I saw more street fowl on my way home yesterday, and I wanna take them home with me Are those chickens? They almost look like peacocks. I think that Roo would like ANY girl that he can get to and sit on!
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Apr 3, 2012 03:28
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Inveigle posted:Are those chickens? They almost look like peacocks. they are peacocks, peafowl I think is the term. My city is next to the city of Arcadia here in California, and there is a big peacock community that roams free in the streets near the Arboretum. Apparently whoever founded the city loved peacocks, and these birds have been free roaming for 80 years or so. I don't know if these peacocks come from that group, but they are protected I think. I never see anybody try to catch them, and they've been roaming free in the streets near home for years.
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Apr 3, 2012 03:32
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Chido posted:they are peacocks, peafowl I think is the term. My city is next to the city of Arcadia here in California, and there is a big peacock community that roams free in the streets near the Arboretum. Apparently whoever founded the city loved peacocks, and these birds have been free roaming for 80 years or so. I don't know if these peacocks come from that group, but they are protected I think. I never see anybody try to catch them, and they've been roaming free in the streets near home for years. They're protected, as far as I'm aware. I live near the area and have family in Arcadia so I always see the peacocks when I'm visiting for holidays. Peafowl are just a bunch of loudmouth jerks
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Apr 3, 2012 04:07
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Teeter posted:Peafowl are just a bunch of loudmouth jerks But they look such fabulous jerks 
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Apr 3, 2012 04:37
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Welp.. Our neighbors called the landlord and complained that the chickens were out roaming free. Even after explaining to her that they weren't leaving the yard, she insisted that they have to stay in the coop. I don't disagree that 60ish square feet is plenty of room for them to sleep in, but I just don't see the benefit of even having them if they can't go out and forage. I already gave the chicks away to a wonderful old woman who brought us some eggs for the trouble of raising them up and having to just give them away. I've had a few responses for the hen, but the guy who I initially arranged with flaked on me tonight. Anyway, what a bummer. I've wasted a couple hundred bucks on this venture, not to mention all my time. The phone call came a few hours after I spent most of my Saturday putting up a wall to keep them in the back. I can't wait to buy my own house, I'm going to be the worst neighbor I can be within the confines of the law. Enjoy your chickens, yall.
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Apr 3, 2012 04:49
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did you tell your landlord that you are working on building something to keep them confined to the yard? I'm sorry you had to give them away  . Also that neighbor is probably a sad grumpy woman who is jealous of your chickens, and if she can't have chickens she won't let you, either
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Apr 3, 2012 04:55
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This is the kind of thing that makes me glad our landlord is a friend of ours and also one of the most laid-back human beings on the planet. Also, he knows the lady behind us is a nutter and doesn't mind telling her off if need be. That sucks about your chicks marauderthirty. People who complain about poo poo that isn't even causing them any issues suck.
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Apr 3, 2012 05:33
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Yay chickens! I currently have 7 in our yard - 2 "Ameraucanas" (aka Easter Eggers, since they came from a hatchery), a Welsummer, a Belgian d'Uccle, a Barnevelder, a Speckled Sussex and a Polish. We're slightly over the city limit of 4, but we give the neighbours "hush eggs" to keep them quiet. Everyone who sees them loves them, and I'm a little surprised not more gardeners have at least a pair, if only for the work they do. I'm the crazy chicken lady on the block now We have them in an Eglu, which we keep inside a much larger run, and they get some free time in the yard in the afternoons, but this will quickly change since I need them to clean the garden before I gets to planting, so I'm going to pen them in there for a few hours a day to get rid of my weeds and dig the whole thing up. Re: eating fertilized eggs - you might have eaten them without realizing it. On the Backyard Chickens website, several people have reported hatching eggs from Trader Joes. Might be worth an experiment...
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Apr 3, 2012 05:35
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Cerdiwen: It should be obvious around two or three months, but some birds you really can't tell until they either start crowing or start laying eggs.
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Apr 3, 2012 06:15
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Besides the fact that you have an adorable big fluffy chicken and gain the potential of fertilized eggs and adorable baby chicks is there a point to having a rooster?
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Apr 3, 2012 07:49
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Jenner posted:Besides the fact that you have an adorable big fluffy chicken and gain the potential of fertilized eggs and adorable baby chicks is there a point to having a rooster? Actually there are. Roostroyer breaks hen fights and puts them in their place, which is awesome and really funny to watch because he jumps in the middle of the fight and chases both hens away, pecking them and "scolding" them. Since I let everybody roam free most of the day in the backyard, he sounds the alarm if he sees any hawks flying around. He also call his "girls" when I'm giving him treats so everybody gathers for the food, and he even runs to check on his hens if they cluck in distress.
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Apr 3, 2012 08:09
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Ceridwen posted:This is the kind of thing that makes me glad our landlord is a friend of ours and also one of the most laid-back human beings on the planet. Also, he knows the lady behind us is a nutter and doesn't mind telling her off if need be. My landlord is actually a friend of mine as well, believe it or not. Not a good friend, but she's one of my best friend's fiance's mother. I know that's a lot of association, but I have rented this same exact house with her before with no issues so I'm having a hard time understanding why she doesn't trust me all of a sudden. She was talking as if I were going to destroy her house like the people who skipped out on her before I first moved in, which was pretty appalling considering I have paid her on time for a total of 28 months now and have yet to destroy any property. Oh well, our decision on whether or not to stay when the lease is up just got a lot easier. What's strange is that this is a woman that is currently in pursuit of some kind of veterinary degree. While I don't disagree that they will probably be just fine locked up in the coop all the time, it just doesn't seem right to me when there is a fenced yard that they have yet to even attempt to leave. It's only chain link fence, maybe 3 or 4 feet high, but the hen hasn't left even when we have left the gate open. Of course we anticipated that the younger ones would probably eventually give it a shot, but we don't let them out when we aren't home anyway and we were prepared to clip wings as necessary. Oh well. At least we won't be stepping in random chicken poo poo anymore.
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Apr 4, 2012 00:54
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Twitter posted:Velvet Sparrow Oh drat. Hope the eggs will be okay. 
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Apr 4, 2012 09:17
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I have a question about mypetchicken.com. I’m somewhere between ready to pull the trigger on this and still daydreaming and living vicariously through all of you. I noticed that the availability of different breeds varies widely, but generally nothing to very little is available from now until about the second week of June, at which point practically all breeds are available. Does this mean that I would need to place an order 3 months in advance, or do they have very little availability in the spring? It might not be the cheapest way to get a flock, but I am strangely fixated on having lots of different egg colors.
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Apr 4, 2012 14:18
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Zeta Buttforce posted:I have a question about mypetchicken.com. I’m somewhere between ready to pull the trigger on this and still daydreaming and living vicariously through all of you. I noticed that the availability of different breeds varies widely, but generally nothing to very little is available from now until about the second week of June, at which point practically all breeds are available. Does this mean that I would need to place an order 3 months in advance, or do they have very little availability in the spring? I think part of the reason they are sold out for some breeds is because of Easter, but that's just my guess. Now, if you put your order now for June, you have plenty of time to get a coop and run ready for your chickens .
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Apr 4, 2012 18:14
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I’m trying to get my roommate/tenant out of the house. He is a borderline hoarder and never pays me on time for anything, and he has a lot of boxes in my shed. The chickens can’t come in until I get him out.  It looks like May 31st will be his last day there.
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Apr 4, 2012 19:45
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You know, if your tenant ends up buried alive under all those boxes... chickens eat pretty much everything 
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Apr 5, 2012 00:56
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Chicks are pipping on Chickcam! http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3476644
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Apr 5, 2012 03:18
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. >>> unless it's chickens. luloo123 posted:Chicks are pipping on Chickcam! They want out!
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Apr 5, 2012 09:54
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Make sure that the eggs your hens are sitting on are actually hers, lest you end up with something even more adorable: Hilda the hen hatches clutch of ducklings after sitting on wrong nest
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Apr 5, 2012 16:36
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