h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There are two urban farms within walking distance of work, and last week I visited one of them with the intention of buying some eggs. They have both chickens and ducks on the farm, and for ages I've been hearing people like Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall espousing the wonders of fresh eggs, and to be sure, these are quite different to the ones I buy at either the supermarket or the co-op. Unbelievably yellow yolks that stand up in the frying pan like a... use your imagination , and firm whites with no watery part to them which would probably poach really well.

But seven bucks for a dozen eggs?

That's almost twice the price of the good quality, free-range, organically-fed eggs I can get elsewhere. It's not like they have storage or transport costs. The chickens are right there, squeezing them out They're bloody good eggs for sure. But not for that price will I buy them again.

That's... Ouch. I get $4 a dozen for mine. Then again, I don't feed organic nor nonGMO (yes, two different things, though they can overlap) although my girls get to roam the yard a couple hours most days (more when it's lighter later) and when they don't, weeds and table scraps get tossed into the run to supplement their feed. NonGMO feed is crazy expensive, because corn and soy are major ingredients in chicken feed, and sourcing nonGMO for either is problematic. If a feed isn't using soy for protein, because of the GMO issue (or any other) then animal protein in some form is probably being used, which is actually better for the chickens, but makes for more expensive feed, as well. Even "just" organic feed is a bit rich for the paper clan pocketbook right now... If the urban farms are smallish, then the egg farms that supply the co-op probably have economy of scale on their side, helping with the prices there. Still, $7 per dozen sounds kinda high to me, too, no matter what the local farms are feeding. Then again, if most of their market will bear the price...

Please reconsider your stance on GMOs. Much of the controversy is based on pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. There are some ethical and sustainability issues to consider with some companies.

"Everyone has heard of Monsanto, and this company is frequently cited as a reason to oppose GMOs. While Monsanto’s business practices may be ethically questionable, Monsanto are not the only company involved in GMO research. Many non-profit organizations and academic institutions are involved in this field. The technology is necessary and disagreeing with Monsanto and having anti-corporation values should not muddy your views on GMOs. If you have a problem with Monsanto, have a problem with Monsanto. Don't extend that to every application of GMOs."

At least read this article and the links it provides before dismissing all GMOs.

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/myths-and-controversies-gmos-0

I'm not dismissing GMOs--if anything, I'm dismissing nonGMO feeds for being ridiculously expensive, while throwing a bone to the fact that I know one reason why they are. I'm perfectly happy with my conventional feed, which is milled only a couple hundred miles away If I could find a corn-free feed that's not crazily expensive, I'd buy it, but not because of food ethics. My , like most, likes to eat what the chickens leave behind (mobile treat dispensers! And no, I'm not referring to eggs...) and the undigested corn makes her itch like mad, since she has a corn allergy. Then again, when egg season truly hits, an egg a day for her helps with the skin problem from the other chicken product.

I eate a lot of eggs and, generally I jut buy the best ones I can, given lmitations of trasnsport, where I am, and, ATM, how far I feel capible of actually walking on a given day

Next door to me, does some perfectly decent free range/organic? ones, bit under £3 for a half dozen box.

Better are from teh butchers, about the same price, maybe a bit less; the ones off the market, which are in the main from their own farms etc, come in a little cheaper I think; circa £2.50 half dozen box (doesn't seem to be any pricier for duck off the market, than it is really for their hen ones...) no idea how that adds up to your US prices, I can't do that kinda math! (notice, there, I use the US Math term, instead of the more correct, of course, maths, - I can do compromise, and then, effortlessly, and pointlessly, at long length, indicate how I have done so; thus entirely making even more pointless, the pointless jesture it was to start with I'm in an odd mood... hmm. I'm always in an odd mood...)

I'll tell you one other thing about these eggs - the farm people are most definitely are feeding the chickens with Araldite F50359?thread=8302998

ahh, those the ones with the unbreakable shells? (from memory, and not clicking through on the link < )

Not so much unbreakable, as irretrievably stuck to the egg so that half the white comes away as you peel the shell off

I live in (very) rural Lincolnshire and have never paid more than £1.50 for half a dozen. Free range and sometimes organic. Sometimes laid that morning!
I live very near the largest duck farm in the world and it is difficult to get ducks' eggs apart from occasional appearances at our weekly market. Said farm was started by a seed merchant who was advised to use his excess grain one year to fatten ducks, but I don't remember much corn going into chicken feed in the 1950s - seemed to involve a lot of potato peelings boiled.

I can't remember now if I mentioned that this farm has duck eggs too, but the one I haven't been to yet doesn't. The former Mrs Gosho reckons they make far better custard than a hen's egg

The folks at my local once made a batch of Yorkshire puds with an emu egg. They still have the shell on a shelf behind the bar. They were good, but not so amazingly so to go out of one's way to procure emu eggs.

Blimey. I wonder how you scale up the quantities of flour and milk from a normal recipe Weight?

Well, they normally work with restaurant batches so they probably had to scale down.

How many dozen chicken eggs to a single emu egg?




Apparently about a dozen. That's handy.

That's ONE dozen, obviously.

Presumably Google has a dedicated calculator for that

Well, not quite. I first tried using WolframAlpha but it choked on finding the volume of an emu egg. It kept returning values in "short tons per year" regarding emu egg consumption or production, I assume.

It did give me the volume of chicken eggs. (1.2 fluid ounces or 34mL).

But Google found my answer in one on Wikipedia.

There's an ostrich farm near us which, apart from the restaurant where you can order ostrich meat dishes (and kangaroo, but they don't have their own roos).

The farm shop sells things made of the egg shells (mainly lampshades) http://www.mhoufarm.de/farmladen-produkte.html
Sorry link only available in German. Picture of the lamps right at the bottom. Also, of course, feather dusters and some stuff made from ostrich leather. Not for the sentimental or the vegetarian. A friend of mine couldn't bring herself to order an ostrich steak with the animals looking in the window at her.

2legs is a great fan of duck eggs. I wonder what their capacity is?

I know what my duck-egg capicity is and I@m not telling. to be honest... my level of nutrient intake at the moment (I'm blaning the steroids), is starting to disgust even myself

ordinary hen, med/large is circa 70 to 100 G.... duck egg, must be... up to half again that, per egg?: there is a big variety on size;

Back in the summer; I got one particular large box of duck eggs;

I was lazy, weather was nice, so decided I'd just semi-hard boil the lot, for making sandwichs etc, for teh week!;

the box, 6 eggs, weighed,, (from memory, and sorry for switching to imperial); over 1 LB!

I'll try remember have a look at the duck eggs in the fridge later, if I can... weigh or... somehow work out voluem....

HAH!

I found a duck egg converter. http://convert-to.com/726/duck-eggs-nutrition-details-units-converter.html

Duck eggs are roughly twice as large as chicken eggs.

2½oz / 68mL

Those lamps are very stylish I wasn't expecting them to be whole eggs though - maybe half an egg, like a Tiffany shade. Which makes me think they must be blown to empty them, like you blow an egg to display it... except, how would you blow one that big? You couldn't do it with human

Esther way, I want one!