Out Around the Barn

Kennedy with Mr. Purdy                               

Kennedy is getting acquainted with one of the new kittens born this past fall.  The mother being a long-haired calico and his siblings being both white short-hairs, Mr. Purdy is a dark calico long-hair kitten.  From the first day we found him, he has had such a wonderful personality that has made it easy for Kennedy to be able to get

close.  She falls in love with every animal on the farm, especially the newborns.  She is quite the little farmer and with every visit, must go to the barn.  Her favorite chore is feeding the chickens and she does it well.  I give her a bucket of feed, Pen Pals Egg Maker Complete, and she will throw little handfuls on the coup ground and then fill the feeders.  With the kittens she does three scoops of feed, 1 per bowl for all 18 on the farm.  They get their fav cat food as well, Proud Paws Cat Food.

I own chickens, White Leghorns, Buff Orringtons and Bathams.  I enjoy my girls and 4 roosters and gather enough eggs daily to provide family and friends with farm fresh eggs.  With all the outbreaks of salmonella over the past year, I thought I would post this article I found the other day.  It does provide some important insight.

Nutrition News: Safe Eggs

Last summer, more than 1,600 cases of the Salmonella enteritidis infection from eggs were reported in at least 10 states — the largest outbreak of this type of food poisoning ever recorded in the United States. And more than a half billion eggs were recalled. The source of the outbreak was traced to two industrial farms in Iowa, where the barns were infested with rodents, flies and maggots as well as filled with tons of manure, all of which can harbor or spread salmonella. Salmonella was detected in the feed given to young hens, in the water used to wash the eggs and elsewhere.

Are eggs safe? Should they be avoided?

The risk of salmonella in eggs is small in the U.S. — by some estimates, only one or two out of 20,000 eggs harbor the bacteria — and should lessen even more as new Food and Drug Administration rules take hold for egg farms. (The FDA already had new safety rules in place for large egg producers in early July, but it was too late to prevent the summer outbreak.)

However, the best advice is to treat every egg as if it were infected. One bad egg can cause illness with symptoms of fever, cramps, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Pregnant women, infants, young children, the elderly and people with compromised immunity or a chronic debilitating condition are more likely to become sick and develop serious and even life-threatening complications.

Here are a few tips for egg safety:

– Don’t buy eggs that are cracked or dirty, past their “sell-by” or expiration dates, or unrefrigerated.

– Promptly refrigerate eggs at home in their carton; don’t put them in the door. The refrigerator should be 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) or below.

– Cook eggs thoroughly. Don’t eat eggs with runny or undercooked yolks. Cook casseroles and other dishes with eggs to 160 degrees Fahrenheit (72 degrees Celsius). Don’t eat — or let kids eat — raw cookie dough or cake batter if they contain eggs.

– Don’t keep cooked eggs or egg dishes at room temperature longer than two hours.

– Discard raw eggs after three to five weeks, hard-boiled eggs after one week and cooked egg dishes after three or four days.

– Wash your hands well after handling raw eggs. Also, clean all surfaces in the kitchen that come in contact with raw eggs.

– Be wary of foods that may contain raw eggs, such as Caesar salad dressing, hollandaise sauce, homemade mayonnaise and fresh eggnog. Some restaurants use pasteurized eggs, which makes them safe, but ask to be sure.

You can also buy pasteurized whole eggs or pasteurized egg products to use in recipes that call for raw or undercooked eggs. They cost more, but they are safe because the heating process kills salmonella and other microorganisms, both inside and outside the egg. — UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, January 2011