Backyard Barnyard

Backyard Barnyard

By Tanner Clark

Eggs are all the rage, with the recent Salmonella outbreak over half a billion eggs nationwide had been condemned as possibly being contaminated with Salmonella. With this outbreak over a thousand people have become sick with numbers expected to rise. This outbreak has been the largest egg recall in United States history (MSNBC Associated Press. 2010).

With this outbreak many Urban City Citizens have decided to start raising their own chickens; with the idea of producing farm fresh health eggs for their own consumption. This is a great idea, allowing urban citizens to become more active in agriculture and learning more about food production. This is very important in today’s era where many people that live in town have not had an agriculture background in two or three maybe even four generations. This allows people to become more involved with agriculture and food production, so they are better able to understand large production agriculture (DVM. Dr. Jason Salchow).

When people have decided to start raising their own eggs there are a little more to it than just buying a chicken and getting an egg. There are a few things that you might want to keep in mind when picking out a chicken for your backyard barnyard. There are different breeds of chickens for different purposes, such as meat birds and layers. Meat birds have been bred over the years for meat consumption and not to lay eggs, whereas layers have been bred to lay eggs. When picking chickens you would want to buy a chicken that lays eggs but also has enough meat that you can eat them, if so desired. Some chickens that would be great for both would be chickens like the Buff Orpingtons and the Silver Laced Wyandottes.

Now, you have your chickens, you have your coop, now you’re almost ready for production in your backyard barnyard. For your chickens to be able to reach full potential they will need to reach all their nutritional needs. This can be reached by feeding a formulated feed made for laying chickens, you might also talk to you local feed store or veterinarian. Now that your chicken is producing eggs, these eggs are not guaranteed to be “bacteria free”. Salmonella may still be in your eggs, this can happen when the egg comes in contact with fecal matter that could have come from the chicken. Salmonella can also infect your eggs by chickens that appear to be in great health that have infected ovaries. If this happens the eggs can become contaminated before the eggs have formed a shell, according to FSIS.

So what is the best way to insure that your eggs are healthy to eat? Wash your hands and eggs with soap and water before cooking. After you have done this it is best to cook your egg well done where it is at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Doing this will greatly decrease your chance of getting food poisoning (The State Journal).



References:

Citynet. "Keeping Your Food Free of Salmonella - State Journal - STATEJOURNAL.com." West Virginia Business News Journal
The State Journal - STATEJOURNAL.com. 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 14 Sept. 2010. http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=86035.

Dr. Jason Salchow. Personal interview. 13 Sept. 2010.

Life Science. "How Does Salmonella Get Inside Eggs? - Yahoo! News." The Top News Headlines on Current Events from Yahoo! News - Yahoo! News. 18 Aug. 2010. Web. 14 Sept. 2010. http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100818/sc_livescience/howdoessalmonellagetinsideeggs.

"Recall Expands to More than Half a Billion Eggs - Health - Food Safety - Msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- Msnbc.com. 20 Aug. 2010. Web. 14 Sept. 2010. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38741401/ns/health-food_safety>.