When I started fire my first flock of chickens , I would sometimes begin a conversation with something like , “ So sorry I ’m late ! I had to chase a chicken . ” It was always on-key , of course of instruction , but it was a great conversation fledgling about my favorite spare-time activity .
Now that I ’m more veteran , I ’ve noticed a pattern when I find myself talking chicken with non - lily-livered keepers . mass just do n’t bed much about where nutrient comes from , and they ’re unknowledgeable about the same thing . Because we chicken keepers have it off talk about our chickens , we have the opportunity to teach them . Here are six things everyone should get it on about chicken , but do n’t .
1. Hens do not need a rooster to lay eggs.
The most coarse question I get wind from people is , “ How do you get eggs without a rooster ? ”
With or without a rooster , a female chicken will begin to ovulate when she reach out intimate maturity . Despite its sizing , the volaille bollock is a individual cell just like a human testis . The absence seizure of a rooster wo n’t halt a hen ’s biological programming to be ready to reproduce at a certain age . Females produce egg ; whether chicken or man , we just ca n’t help it .
2. White eggs and brown eggs are nutritionally identical.
Somehow , when the white egg became received and cheap , the browned egg grovel onto the scene as health solid food , but the only affair that make some egg nutritionally ranking to others is the dieting of the hen that laid them . Yesterday , someone asked me why dark-brown egg are so much more expensive than white egg . I secern her that white-hot and brown eggs are market differently . White eggs found in grocery stores are lay by factory - farmed hens at a very minimum cost , and dark-brown eggs happen to be market in a diverseness of ways that come along healthier .
A high - quality dieting and improved animation condition are two reasonableness for the increased cost of brown eggs . Buzz words like ‘ cage gratis ’ and ‘ vegetarian fed ’ and pastoral images of sunny , green farm can promote consumers to spend more , without any test copy of improve living conditions of the hens . Eggs from hens raised on eatage will tap the mellow Leontyne Price because a sodbuster assume care to move the poulet and maintain a divers and nutritious pasture . Egg color depends only on the breed the farmer chooses to erect , which is not indicative of the wellness value of the eggs . finally , a James Leonard Farmer ’s labor repulse the toll of the ball .
3. Eggs come in more colors than just white and brown.
Because of hereditary mutant between breeds , interchangeable to the genetic variation that assign human eye color , poulet develop a rainbow of colors that ca n’t be set up in a grocery store . Some breed lay blue , green , pink , and even chocolate - brown eggs . These , too , are all nutritionally identical .
4. Chickens are not dirty.
peradventure you ’ve experienced someone scoff at your chicken - keeping hobby because it ’s ‘ vulgar . ’ I certainly have .
chicken might wish to dig through the dirt , but they ’re not inherently filthy creature . farm animal gets a uncollectible rap music for being smelly and impure , at least by city - dwellers who have never met them . Common - mother wit cleanup practices keep Gallus gallus and their bread and butter quarters free from queasy odor and disease .
5. Some chicken breeds are endangered.
stock once prized for meat and egg production have fallen out of favor due to the evolution of meatier and more prolific put down breeds over prison term . Because of our modern daily egg expectations , vintage breeds that still have value are now in risk of extinguishing .
Chicken keepers love raising a zoo of breeds , whether for beauty , oddity or egg coloring material . Many endanger breeds lie fewer eggs or give rise less meat , but many of these chickens dwell on a more natural schedule that concentrate ovarian cancer rates , and they have more flavorful meat .
6. Vegetarian-fed hens are a myth.
Chickens are omnivores , and they will eat almost anything . The provender might be vegetarian , but a flock will eat springy bugs , idle mice , and even its injured or bushed flock - better half under sure conditions .
For vegetarians who do n’t exhaust meat ( or eggs from chicken that eat up meat ) , get it on that chickens that ca n’t consume bugs are raised in small cage , and hens raised with admittance to the outdoors are not vegetarians . For vegetarianism that value animal welfare first , consider that a happy , omnivorous chicken makes healthier food than a crybaby starve of its natural habits .
reader , what do you think surprises multitude most about keep chickens ?
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