themartianchick Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 During the summer, most of my chickens died as a result of a raccoon attack. I've been trying to find a few hens to replace them but I haven't had any luck so far. As a result we are extremely low on eggs. We went to the grocery store to buy some and I just couldn't bring myself to buy them. I knew that the yolks would be pale and the eggs would be tasteless. Over the weekend we went to the farmers market to buy some. There is a vendor there that we used to buy from before our chicken girls started laying a couple of years ago. The market was getting ready to close, and business was brisk. I asked if she had any more eggs and she sold me a dozen for $3.50. To some people that might seem like a lot for farm fresh eggs, but it is pretty average around here. I decided to make an omelet this morning and when I cracked the eggs into a bowl, I found that these were the palest eggs that I had ever seen! They were extremely fresh and the yolks sort of stood up in the egg whites (watery egg whites are a sign that they are old!) Once I whipped them, they looked ridiculous! I poured them into the pan and watched the eggs cook. By the time I was finished, the omelet looked like one of those egg-white omelets that my health conscious daughter is always making. I tried eating it, but it resembled some odd sort of sponge or something....tasteless sponge. I'm sure that these eggs would be fine for baking, but there is no way that I can eat them as eggs. I truly feel misled. I could have gotten eggs that were similar for $1.29 a carton. I could have gotten Egglands best for the same price with a coupon and they would have tasted better... I should have known that something was off when I opened the carton and all of the eggs were the exact same shade of pinkish brown...She once told me that she kept a mixed flock and I remember getting colorful Ameracauna eggs from time to time in her cartons. I will never buy from her again. $3.50 for ordinary store bought eggs? Really?!? I hauled the carton back out of the fridge and realized that in tiny print it says that the eggs were packaged for her farm, but there is another farm name on the egg carton itself. In other words, she is now selling factory farmed eggs for $3.50 and she probably gets them for $1 a carton. Luckily, there is another seller that we've used in the past. I hope that he still sells eggs because there is no way that I can eat these ones for breakfast. I do have some of my girls eggs frozen in the freezer. That was my hedge against the moult when my girls lay not a single egg! Last fall, they stopped laying in September and didn't go back until after Thanksgiving! If it weren't for a few quail eggs, I wouldn't have had anything to bake with for the holiday. Link to comment
Annarchy Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 (((TMC))) I miss the Hen that hung out in my yard. Her eggs were such a wonderful treat. Here she is on my BBQ....a friend of ours did the "inspirational poster" Link to comment
Christy Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Martian, that's just wrong. Shame on the seller of such eggs. Annarchy, that text under the poor hen is ... just wrong Link to comment
themartianchick Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 I love that Annarchy! That should be used as a status on a Facebook page, or something! Link to comment
Jeepers Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 I love that poster!!! I could see it hanging on my kitchen wall. Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 MartianC....I SO relate to trying to live with store-bought eggs right now. EEeeeeuuuuuu! Our last four ladies went into moult and tho one continued to lay faithfully, we were running low. Then we changed from warm fall weather to subzero overnite and that took out my last laying duck. Now I'm waiting....ladies? SOMEbiddie is withholding! The store eggs are just....weird! As you say, no color and watery. For the "farmer's mkt" person to sell factory eggs..... I'm speechless! I'd be so tempted to ..... return them to her. Lobbed as yucky little blops into her stand. No...I wouldn't really do that. I just amuse myself with such visions. But I really might make a LOUD COMPLAINT when the farmer's mkt was very full of people! I do "noisy" well when I'm riled. And deception RILES me like few other things. (((MC))) I'm with you on this one! You have tried increasing the hours of light for the remaining ladies? So sorry to hear about the danged raccoon. They can be awful! :frying pan: Hope you put a permanent end to that bandit's career! MtRider [....waiting out moult in the Rockies too] Link to comment
Amishway Homesteaders Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Once you have had a 'fresh' hen egg you will NEVER want to go back to 'store bought' eggs! Link to comment
Amishway Homesteaders Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 So LOVE that poster and the meaning as well! Yes, posters need to be made from this. Link to comment
themartianchick Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 You have tried increasing the hours of light for the remaining ladies? So sorry to hear about the danged raccoon. They can be awful! Hope you put a permanent end to that bandit's career! MtRider [....waiting out moult in the Rockies too] The main problem is that I only have ONE hen left! I feel so sorry for her because she is so lonely. I actually sing songs to her in a bawk-bawk-bawk style of singing because I think that she misses hearing the voices of others that kinda sound like her. (I swear that I am not neurotic!) If I could find 2 or 3 more hens, then she wouldn't have to be so lonely. I have been checking Craigslist regularly to see if anyone had any hens for sale. I don't even care about bio-security at this point. After the attack, she stopped laying and then went into a moult. She can't even groom herself properly because she can't reach her own head to pick at the quills of the new feathers that have grown there! I do have quail that are still laying but that is dwindling. Many of my quail are old and I only hatched out a few new ones this year to keep the flock going. If I have any more Texas A&M's left next spring, I will definitely hatch more quail to address the egg situation. The only other thing that I will probably have to do is order up some auto-sexing/sexlink chicken variety chicks in the spring and raising them up. Link to comment
Jeepers Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 I would definately complain about the eggs. For (1) to let her know that you know and (2) to make her think twice about doing it to someone else. Maybe if she thinks you caught on to her, then someone else might too, and she will stop. Sorry that happened to you. Link to comment
Christy Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 I feel so sorry for her because she is so lonely. I actually sing songs to her in a bawk-bawk-bawk style of singing because I think that she misses hearing the voices of others that kinda sound like her. (I swear that I am not neurotic!) Oh sweet mercy, where is that video cam when you need one? Proof woman, proof we want. Tape it for the world to see Link to comment
ScrubbieLady Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Around here, we talk to the vendor if we have a problem but have also learned that it only takes telling one customer, one vendor or the market manager and everyone figures out who the problem is (even if we don't give a name) and it stops or they just don't sell anything. Link to comment
themartianchick Posted November 8, 2011 Author Share Posted November 8, 2011 I feel so sorry for her because she is so lonely. I actually sing songs to her in a bawk-bawk-bawk style of singing because I think that she misses hearing the voices of others that kinda sound like her. (I swear that I am not neurotic!) Oh sweet mercy, where is that video cam when you need one? Proof woman, proof we want. Tape it for the world to see I'm not gonna provide you with evidence, Christy. I'd be commited to a loony bin , for sure! Just imagine the tune Old MacDonald and substitute it with bawks... Bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk ...bawka baawwk. (Old MacDonald had a farm) Bawka, bawka, bawka, bawka... baawwk! (ee-eye-ee-eye-oh!) It gets a bit dicey when I get to the parts where I have to interject all of the other animal sounds around the bawka bawk sounds. I tend to get a bit confused and I swear the stray barn cats start to laugh at me! Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Oh Sheeeeeesh, Martian! You nearly killed me. I'd just taken a big bite of veggie soup when I read about a grown woman out BRAWKing to her poor chicken. It was a near thing...let me tell you! But sad that you only have a flock of ONE...poor thing. Never mind the cat laughing [or us ] if it keeps her calmer. She really is in distress then from the traumatic event and ....well, a sole survivor. Hope you can find ANY other chicken to put with her soon. MtRider [....years ago, my poor last goose decided to be Grpa to the new, young ducks. I'm grateful cuz he actually taught the little ninnies to come in nicely at dark. Best batch of ducks I've had! ] Link to comment
Christy Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 :laughkick: Good thing to put your tea down before reading here. Now Martian hun, you know some of us are coming over one of these days and film you right? Stealth video at the ready, lure chicken standby, go go go go! Worst part, just caught myself BAWKing at the tune of Old McD. It's contagious! Link to comment
snapshotmiki Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I had to try it too Christy!!! LOL MC- Imitation is the greatest form of flattery (or something like that)!!!! Now I know what to do when I have a lonely goat or cow!!!! Mooooo! I will remember the Old MacDonalds tune though! Thank you Martian chick! It really is a good idea! Link to comment
themartianchick Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 The truth is that I used to baaawk songs at them all when they were young. It wasn't limited to just Old MacDonald, either. Some were pop, R&B, even a classical tune or two. In the beginning, they would actually stop eating to listen to me. It was like being a chicken whisperer or something. So... COMING SOON TO A STAGE NEAR YOU....IT'S THE MARTIAN CHICK WITH HER RENDITION OF WATER MUSIC SUNG IN CHICKENESE!!! Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I want tickets to THAT show!!!!!! OK....so is it safe for me to admit something I started when I had a half-dozen African Grey geese? Every time there was an INCIDENT with a fox, coyote, someone's dog ....after the all-clear, I'd go over and join their huddle. They'd be having all sorts of talk about The Incident. Never heard so much chatter as a bunch of upset geese!!!!! "OH! Did you see what happened to Sallie Mae????? That fox actually dragged her 10 feet before the gun went off!" "Yeah, you OK, Sal-girl?" "hey hey, didja see that scoundrel run tho?" "Ooooooo, there oughtta be a law against foxes!" "....yeah, and coyotes tooooooooo.." "yeah!" "you tell 'em" They'd go on and on. They really seemed to like me sitting there with them and they huddled around me. After a while, the huddle would disperse and.... they probably forgot the whole thing. Never thot of singing to them tho. I just listened! MtRider [....confessions of livestock keepers ] Link to comment
themartianchick Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 Oh my goodness... I can just see that huddle! While we're on the topic of animal behavior/language, have you ever noticed that when a dog has gotten upset at night they will continue to bark in exactly the same pattern? Our late shepherd saw someone cut through our fenced yard one night he began to bark menacingly , warning the guy to never come back again. Now that he was awake, he felt the need to tell the whole neighborhood about it for the next 30 minutes. It went something like this.. Woof!! woof-woof-roo-woof-woof Ruff-woof! Ruff woof-ruff-woof-ruff-woof... woof WHOOF! I pointed the pattern out to my husband as the dog continued to repeat the exact same pattern over and over. I even made up words that went along with his barking: "STOP!" "Get out of my yard." "Right now" "You dared to wake me up...you FOOL!" Rather than be mad at the fact that he wouldn't shut up, we spent the time giggling about how crazy it was that he kept repeating himself! Yep, I'm a regular Dr. Doolittle... I can communicate with my critters! Link to comment
Jeepers Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 My dog used to lap water in sets of three. We used to sit and count when she got a drink of water. Lap, lap, lap, swallow. Lap, lap, lap, swallow. Lap, lap, lap, swallow. When she barked it came out, ba-roof? She was a Beagle so she bayed too. Ah-rooooooo-roooo-roo. If she saw another animal she would ffffft, fffft, fffft. Spit would fly all over the window. I loved that dog. Link to comment
Amishway Homesteaders Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 OK I give up! This thread has gone way beyond ANYTHING I could even dream up! You win Ladies - hands down! Link to comment
Christy Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 3 dogs ago we had one that could purr like a cat. She learned by accident when she tried to mimic a sound I made. And cos she had success, she then purred for attention. She was rather vocal at any rate. Mrrr, mmrrrr mrraaaa? And the whole family would mrrr, mrrrrm mrraaa back at her. You haven´t lived till you´ve seen a huge Alsatian purr She ate grapes from the bunch. Presented to her while lying on the couch a la Roman style. Carefully picked grape for grape from the stem with her front teeth while her trusty servants offered her more. The one after her could peel his own bananas and did so cos he lurved them! Link to comment
Annarchy Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 OK I give up! This thread has gone way beyond ANYTHING I could even dream up! You win Ladies - hands down! Ferret Talk: Doook dook dook Link to comment
Mt_Rider Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 {gasp} Every.....giggle....every time I try to stop, I start laughing again. We start with BRAWK = Chicken..... ....moved on to goose, dog, various dogs, and even ferret. Poor Michael! This one really DID meander a bit off course, didn't it. Fun tho! MtRider Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.