patrick.net

Patrick says

They totally love termites though. I had a rotten log and spent a fun hour with our top chicken years ago, where I would split off part of the log with an ax, and she would run up and devour all the newly exposed termites. We got along.

BTW, here's our top chicken, Domino, long since gone but fondly remembered:

Patrick says

Chickens actually love grass and will eat every scrap of it in a yard. I know because we had chickens.

It's probably not enough for them to be healthy, but they definitely eat it.

they eat bugs on the grass, random shit in the grass that they spot, never seen one eat grass. i think if they end up chewing grass its accidental, no chicken feed is grass.

I just want real tomatoes.
I can't find them so I guess I have to grow some.

Squash, okra, peppers, watermelon, a few other things. Damned grasshoppers ate bean plants. Electric fence around so that armadillos would not dig up the garden.



Edit: this is on our farm.

FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden says

never seen one eat grass

I've seen them entirely wipe out a small lawn, eating every single blade of grass. But true, I don't think anyone deliberately feeds chickens on grass.

One rooster we had ate an entire paper napkin because it had some pizza grease on it. I thought he would die, but he was fine. I guess their gizzards are pretty tough.

Bd6r says

Damned grasshoppers ate bean plants.

Yesterday I had grasshoppers hanging out on my hung and coiled up garden hose. When I started to uncoil so I could water a bush they wouldn't even jump off / away.

It was as if they were thinking: Take me to dinner!

https://nypost.com/2023/01/19/egg-smuggling-up-108-at-us-mexico-border-as-prices-soar/

Egg smuggling up 108% at the US-Mexico border as prices skyrocket...

South of the border, eggs sell for as as little as $3 for a 30-piece container

Why are eggs so much cheaper from Mexico? Just lower labor costs?

I finally heard something that makes sense with this egg bullshit. It seems governments are yet again doing their job by imposing unreasonable cleaning and equipment costs on egg suppliers. This drives down production, and drives up prices. Wouldn't be surprised if they're mandating slaughtering of healthy fowl as well.

Patrick says

Damnit, consumption of eggs doesn't even increase cholesterol. It's one of the healthiest proteins you can eat. I hate these assholes constantly trying to make us sick and kill us. Endless streams of misinformation and lies.

There actually is no such thing as bad cholesterol. There's poor diets, which lead to inflammation, which the body clearly tells you be producing more cholesterol to contain the damage.

NuttBoxer says

There actually is no such thing as bad cholesterol. There's poor diets, which lead to inflammation, which the body clearly tells you be producing more cholesterol to contain the damage.

It's also necessary for Vitamin D synthesis, so we need cholesterol. A lot of it could also point to a Vitamin D deficiency, as compensation. Low cholesterol has been associated with early death.

NuttBoxer says

I finally heard something that makes sense with this egg bullshit. It seems governments are yet again doing their job by imposing unreasonable cleaning and equipment costs on egg suppliers. This drives down production, and drives up prices. Wouldn't be surprised if they're mandating slaughtering of healthy fowl as well.

Yeah, I've also read that we are the only country that "forces" suppliers to remove special membrane from outside the egg, hence why everywhere else eggs don't need to be stored in fridges... except here

BobHa says

NuttBoxer says

I finally heard something that makes sense with this egg bullshit. It seems governments are yet again doing their job by imposing unreasonable cleaning and equipment costs on egg suppliers. This drives down production, and drives up prices. Wouldn't be surprised if they're mandating slaughtering of healthy fowl as well.

Yeah, I've also read that we are the only country that "forces" suppliers to remove special membrane from outside the egg, hence why everywhere else eggs don't need to be stored in fridges... except here

Farm fresh. Move to the country and buy them from a neighbor. Or get your own chickens. Move from urban areas.

Sodium is the biggest enemy. You need it, but when I see people dumping it on prepared food at a restaurant, I'm just like dude, it's already on it. So there's already a teaspoon or tablespoon in a ton of recipes and then it gets served and you dump even more on. No restaurant would survive without adding salt to mostly freshly prepared meals.

Eggs or otherwise, people simply eat too much. Not talking calorie counting either. Going on an 11 day trip and bringing food with me. I'll get bananas when I'm at each location. Granola bars for lunch that I'm bringing. And then probably a hearty dinner. Bringing a few shitty snacks like pringles and honey buns when the munchies kick in as this is a guy trip. I'll be under 2k caloric intake though and active. I don't count, but just making the point I'm not going to be consuming much.

2-3 rounds of golf. Day of snowboarding and then snowmobiling. I get sore now nearing 40 shortly and I refuse to take pain killers. I need some break days, plus there are travel days. I like traveling and have no fear of flying, but it does suck.

We live far enough out, and I know people in our area sell eggs, need to make the switch.

We only salt our food while cooking, never once done. Most outside food is already plenty salty for us. I know it's fiction, but in Robinson Crusoe the native guy tries salt and can't stand it because his taste buds have never been exposed. And I think it's valid point that if you lower your salt intake, your taste buds will adjust. But it is important to keep your potassium and sodium levels in balance. Too little or too much of either is bad for you.

NuttBoxer says

We live far enough out, and I know people in our area sell eggs, need to make the switch.

We only salt our food while cooking, never once done. Most outside food is already plenty salty for us. I know it's fiction, but in Robinson Crusoe the native guy tries salt and can't stand it because his taste buds have never been exposed. And I think it's valid point that if you lower your salt intake, your taste buds will adjust. But it is important to keep your potassium and sodium levels in balance. Too little or too much of either is bad for you.

Too little is bad, but as long as you're eating normal food - it has plenty minerals in it(especially anything animal-related like meat or eggs). Going no added salt can be rough though, first months at least - our pallets are so used to it after all.
I remember when I went for a 7-day camping trip(not going for such a long ones anymore, mostly 'cause carrying all the gear for 7 days is such a chore. 2-3 days you can get away with 35-litre backpack - I'm using USWE from nearby outdoors store https://gritroutdoors.com/ , much much easier compared to old days. And not as much time anyways!) and forgot to pack up salt - first 3 days everything tasted so bland... And then I kinda got used to it :D

BobHa says

Going no added salt can be rough though, first months at least - our pallets are so used to it after all.

That is what ketchup is for.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/tractor-supply-chicken-feed-reportedly-causing-egglaying-stop-board-ties-wef-jeffrey-epstein/

Online claims have emerged, corroborated by others, that the popular “Producer’s Pride” chicken feed sold by the Tractor Supply chain has been recently altered and that its new formulation is causing chickens to stop laying eggs. Some suggest a deliberate reduction in the amount of protein in the feed may be causing the reduction in egg production.

We got a lonnnng way to go before young chicks say that. It won't be until the point they actually have to work and not have pretend jobs in an office, to the point milking cows and raising chickens is better. Talking 19th Century textile mill level at least.

Patrick says

That "1945 - Americans grew 45% of their food in their backyard garden" quip cannot be right. Maybe that should be "1945 - people who had back yard gardens used those gardens to grow 45% of their food.

In 1945, there were large swaths of America that didn't have access to fresh fruits and vegetables for months at a time.

My gramma probably grew more than that. People who lived through the Depression became kind of obsessed with food. She canned, and did a full garden.

You should remember farming was a majority activity in this country, that has slowly been eroded by banks. The world you live in now did not exist in 1945.

NuttBoxer says

You should remember farming was a majority activity in this country, that has slowly been eroded by banks. The world you live in now did not exist in 1945.

I think the giant shift from 90% of the population being farmers to less than 10% was mostly due to mechanization, allowing a small number of people to produce a lot of food. My mother's "hobby" was farming — she wasted her entire life and the lives of all the kids until we fled the homestead. This was in central New Jersey, so at least it was possible to grow a variety of things in the summer without incurring 3x the cost just in water.
This is unlike here in the desert known as Silicon Valley.

I had a girlfriend who had some romantic nonsense idea about going back to farming. She wanted to buy a local "farm" and be self sufficient. I countered that we could buy non-perishable food and stockpile for way cheaper. There really needs to be some sort of month-long "camp" where people with such notions can go and work 16 hour days in the hot sun to see how much "fun" it is.

SunnyvaleCA says

I think the giant shift from 90% of the population being farmers to less than 10% was mostly due to mechanization

Yes and no. It wasn't just the development of the tractor, but the need to finance it that broke the small community. Before the tractor the money a farmer made stayed in the community. But with the need to finance it flowed out to the banks and cities. But more importantly what was the result? Jobs moving out of the country, and people following. Food becoming mass produced, and poisonous. People becoming dependent on government over family and community.

If you engage in real farming, it will take some time, like any startup, but it doesn't have to be that hard if you use holistic practices to work with your ecosystem, not against it. And there is a LOT of money to be made supplying people with local, organic produce.

HeadSet says

That is what ketchup is for.

Yeah...salt in your diet only counts if you actually put in on from a salt shaker.

Patrick says

We have a planter box with some tomatoes, arugula,

great idea....life would be a bitch without my arugula.

komputodo says

Yeah...salt in your diet only counts if you actually put in on from a salt shaker.

We only salt when we cook, never after. If you taste while you're cooking, shouldn't have to salt after.

NuttBoxer says

SunnyvaleCA says

I think the giant shift from 90% of the population being farmers to less than 10% was mostly due to mechanization

Yes and no. It wasn't just the development of the tractor, but the need to finance it that broke the small community. Before the tractor the money a farmer made stayed in the community. But with the need to finance it flowed out to the banks and cities. But more importantly what was the result? Jobs moving out of the country, and people following. Food becoming mass produced, and poisonous. People becoming dependent on government over family and community.

If you engage in real farming, it will take some time, like any startup, but it doesn't have to be that hard if you use holistic practices to work with your ecosystem, not against it. And there is a LOT of money to be made supplying people with local, organic produce.

I buy large amounts (I have a teenage boy - 'nuff said) of grass-fed beef from a regional farmer in my state. He is not a traditional farmer; rather, he and his wife worked in NYC and finally understood what a toxic environment it was and still is. They bought a completely rundown farm, and are slowly building their business in CNY. It's really hard work - they look rail thin but have wiry muscles. They do the holistic methods, relying on the animals to replenish the soil after they have fed on it. I don't know how long they can keep it up, but I appreciate and support them as much as my family can.

NuttBoxer says

We only salt when we cook, never after. If you taste while you're cooking, shouldn't have to salt after.

and if you have family members that prefer more salt than the other members or less salt, what happens then?

NuttBoxer says

We only salt when we cook, never after. If you taste while you're cooking, shouldn't have to salt after.

You should know me by now...The joke was how people claim that they dont eat salt because they don't actually put in on their food from a salt shaker. Even though the food is already loaded with salt from the cook or from the factory.

Bd6r says

Squash, okra, peppers, watermelon, a few other things. Damned grasshoppers ate bean plants. Electric fence around so that armadillos would not dig up the garden.



Edit: this is on our farm.

Very nice farm!!

Yep, killed an armadillo on Florida survival training back in the day. Once I got the shell off, it's like skinning any other critter. We didn't know back then that they could carry leprosy. So if you get a 'dillo kill on that fence, wear gloves while skinning! I'd boil 'em with some creole rice, just to get every bit of any bacteria dead.