Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
This makes it almost impossible for a person to sell eggs from their backyard flocks.
Over the past 20 years, media hype regarding a few known cases of salmonella poison-
ing has created a fear of illness caused by that bacterium as well as other diseases that
can come from eggs.
Many people aren't aware of where food comes from and how it is produced. This
has resulted in people not understanding the proper way to care for food products such
as eggs and lacking the common sense needed to know it's important to simply throw
out cracked eggs rather than eat them.
Consumer concern has resulted in the creation of the new laws governing the sale and
handling of eggs. Unfortunately, regulations meant to protect people from foodborne ill-
ness don't necessarily make for a safer product; rather, these laws deter more people
from attempting to raise their own food as our ancestors have done for centuries.
Although the smaller farms that raised five hundred to two thousand laying hens are
long gone, we are starting to see a rise in the incidence of smaller scale backyarders
with fifty to two hundred hens. This rise, often resulting in small farmers selling eggs
at the market or from their doorsteps, has steadily increased over the past 10 years. The
awakening of America to the importance of knowing how food is produced and where it
comes from has helped put chickens back into more small farmers' hands — and just in
time! On these farms, the focus is not only on cheaply produced quantities of eggs, but
also on a quality of life for the birds.
With the constant food recalls, the increasing number of
GMOs
(genetically modi-
fied organisms) used in feeds, and the uncertain quality of imported items, now is an ex-
cellent time to jump on the bandwagon and get a few laying hens to supply you and your
family with some high-quality fresh eggs. You do not have to use factory-farm meth-
ods when raising hens. You don't have to recall graphic pictures of debeaked, dubbed,
combed, slim white birds all shoved into a small cage each time you eat eggs. Egg-lay-
ing chickens for the backyard person and small family farmer can provide colorful eggs
and add “personality” and beauty to the backyard as well as functionality.
RAISERS, RAISE YOUR VOICES!
Those who wish to raise meat and eggs and bring a quality product to market and
consumers to our farm stands must be educators and advocates for our way of life and
make sure our voices are heard. Education is the key. Explain to others why small-
time raising is really the best way to do things. The more people you influence, the
more chances we all have of avoiding crippling legislation's being introduced and
enforced.
