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Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

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Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#91

Post by dubfan »

lyagusha wrote: post #44
debacle wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are logical reasons for being against GMOs. Many of them have nothing to do with the fact that the product is GMO: * GMOs tend to promote monoculture and pesticide use. * Studies have shown that the same developments that make GMOs more insect resistant can also make them more difficult to digest. * When it comes to animals, GMOs tend to have much poorer quality of life and tend to be completely incapable of su…

Your first two points are good for GMOs, but the other two are the result of breeding efforts rather than lab work. There are no GMO cows and chickens in high commercial production, and FWIW no GMO tomatoes either. Then again, GMOs and conventional breeding taken to a commercial extreme get tangled so often it's hard to separate them in these sorts of arguments.

The first GM crop to be licensed for human consumption in the US was the Flavr Savr tomato, which contained a trait that improved their shelf life and appearance. It was a commercial flop and taken off the shelves after a few years on the market.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#92

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

Loughla wrote: post #87
jmhobbs wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good pasture and good nutrition helps for the firmness. If you want a rich, golden yolk, feed them marigold petals. It doesn't take much to really darken the yolk, and our birds seem to like them.

We get a deep, rich golden color from simply giving them cracked corn. That holds all winter as well, as we supplement heavily with cracked corn to help them stay warm.

Yes. I feed mine extra scratch in winter (cracked corn, wheat and something else I forget) to keep their body temperature up in the cold and it does keep the yolks looking good.

Also chicken scraps make a difference.

I picked up a dozen at the feed store last time I was there and except for the fact that the shells were brown or green, the eggs themselves were just like supermarket eggs in appearance and taste. Typical for being raised on the cheapest feed out there.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#93

Post by dubfan »

Cyther606 wrote: post #53
heydenberk wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you support banning GMOs? I don't mean to be snarky, but I don't know of any good scientific case for doing so. In my estimation, GMOs are one of the most promising technologies for increasing quality of life around the world.

For those of you undecided on the GMO question: If you do nothing else this month, I implore you to watch The World According to Monsanto [1]. A mind bogglingly awesome documentary featuring a copious amount of boots on the ground and expert testimonial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6_DbVdVo-k

I place "The World According To Monsanto" in the same league as "Zeitgeist" and "Loose Change". Great if you want affirmation of your worldview, pretty underwhelming if you're interested in facts.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#94

Post by codingdave »

schmichael wrote: post #41

Backyard chicken farmer here! If you have a bit of yard space and time they make wonderful pets. About as difficult to care for as cats and what they lack in cuddles they make up for in hilarious/idiotic behavior. I doubt it saves me any money, but it's fun and provides lots of "organic pasture-raised" eggs and compost.

They are also a great way to reduce your waste. We send all of our kitchen scraps to the chickens, and they give us eggs in return. They also keep the area under our apple tress fairly clear for us, eating all the insects that otherwise would be in our trees, and keeping the mice away. And they get to munch on any fallen apples.

Works out well for the chickens and for us.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#96

Post by sdenton4 »

wtbob wrote: post #84
jmhobbs wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feeding marigold petals will darken a yolk pretty well, nothing artificial there. I've cut down on my calcium supplement usage by drying and crushing the eggshells and giving those to the birds.

> I've cut down on my calcium supplement usage by drying and crushing the eggshells and giving those to the birds. Seems like there's potential to get prion diseases there. Are chickens susceptible to prion diseases? Maybe compost the shells, then grow collards, kale and turnips in the soil and feed the less-appetising greens to the chickens?

Prions are in brains, not eggshells. Mad cow disease was caused by cows eating the crushed up brains of other cows, which is in itself a charming illustration of the ethics of our industrial food system.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#97

Post by pyre »

gd1 wrote: post #73
pyre wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> your typical urban-living organic food enthusiast has. I somehow doubt that you've actually talked to many vs. just holding some gross generalization of an idea about what "those people" think.

My wife is one, so I somehow doubt you have a clue.

I said "many" vs. "any" for a reason. Some people form judgemental ideas of an entire group/class of people based on limited experience with them. Limited may just mean "caricatures" of said group in popular media, or may mean "I know this person and his/her friends (i.e. small number of people) that think a certain way."

That said, I don't think continuing this thread further provides any value, and has the potential to just devolve into a flame war for various reasons.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#98

Post by sdenton4 »

dubfan wrote: post #90
debacle wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are logical reasons for being against GMOs. Many of them have nothing to do with the fact that the product is GMO: * GMOs tend to promote monoculture and pesticide use. * Studies have shown that the same developments that make GMOs more insect resistant can also make them more difficult to digest. * When it comes to animals, GMOs tend to have much poorer quality of life and tend to be completely incapable of su…

> * GMOs tend to promote monoculture and pesticide use. That's true for industrialized agriculture in general and not specific to GMOs. Growing GMOs doesn't promote monoculture or pesticide use any more than growing conventional crops do. In fact the same farmers that grow GMOs often grow conventional crops at the same time, or switch from year to year, with very little change in their practices. > * Studies have sho…

Funding for GMO seed development is a hard problem, so the only people really doing it are the monsantos of the world. Which pretty much guarantees that the product is going to be fubar. You can bet that industrial seed research, if it were subjected to any rigorous safety standards, would go much the same way as industrial drug design, with all of the falsified studies you care to count. As it is, it's easier to ban the practice than trust the big producers.

The Open Source Seed Initiative is doing some really cool work to change this, and sits at an interesting place in the GMO debate. But barring a huge amount of institutional and policy support, I'm sticking on the side of banning GMO's.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#99

Post by byoung2 »

archagon wrote: post #21

The description in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" of egg yolks from idyllically pasture-raised chickens is forever stuck in my memory. "Between stops, Art mentioned that Joel’s eggs usually gave him his foot in the door when trying to land a new account. We stopped in at one such prospect, a newly opened restaurant called the Filling Station. Art introduced himself and presented the chef with a brochure and a dozen eggs. T…

I've yet to find an egg like that, though I've heard you can get them if you raise backyard chickens.

I've seen very firm yolks in the Philippines, where the farm to store time is hours, not days or weeks like in the US. Eggs aren't refrigerated there like they are here, which I found hard to accept, but it turns out that if you wash the eggs on the farm (as is required in the US), you have to refrigerate them. In the Philippines the eggs aren't washed, so they keep a protective coating that keeps the egg fresh without refrigeration.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#100

Post by sneak »

delbel wrote: post #83
batbomb wrote: post #4

I get pasture raised eggs from a farm in Petaluma which has a CSA I use. They are very good, come in a wide variety of shell colors and the yolks are a deep yellowish orange, but I'm not necessarily sure they are necessarily worth the $8.50 a carton (technically, they are only grade A because of the variance). On the other hand, a dozen eggs from a decent producer will usually run $4/dozen. I'd recommend them for egg…

Wow that's expensive, I raise chickens for eggs that are 100% organic. My costs are about $.66 a dozen (90% of their feed is free range around my house). That CSA is literally printing money. Talk about perceived value!

That is not what literally means.
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