chickens

[Spitfire]

Funny, talking of chickens, last time I visited the in-laws I went for an evening walk and there's one of the locals that owns some land a load of free-wandering chickens that assume whoever approaches the area is the local guy about to throw rice everywhere and feed them, hence they all, about 50 or so, start milling behind me on my walk, following me with intent. Looked over my shoulder, and to be honest, was a bit disturbing, felt like it was almost time to start running, maybe the start of a Steven King book or something. They stopped following me at the end of the guys land borders.

[PeteC]

Keep throwing rice SF and head for Rayong. I'll take a dozen off you. Turn right, then left for HH as Komfy and Takiap will probably take the rest. Pete

[komfortablynumb]

I didn't realise chicken was part of the porno pages.
Stoopid me.
However thanks for the replies that related to farming a few chicks.
Home grown eggs.
Nothing better.
I am fortunate.
I still live in Norfolk UK.
I can source my eggs & meat.
Indeed i am confused why a relativley poor country like Thailand isn't eating good food.
How is it possible to export chickens to England cheaper than home grown.
This is insanity
So.
Any of you guys that are interested or indeed already producing there own eggs and are interested in your animal husbandry.
Please PM me.
Thanks for all the input. guys.

[Khundon1975]

komfortablynumb

"How is it possible to export chickens to England cheaper than home grown".

Cheaper wages, feed and much lower overheads.

[poosmate]

I would suggest checking that the law allows chicken farming at home. Since the bird flu I was under the impression that free range bird keeping had been banned. I know this is not adhered to, but as a farang you will probabaly need to be sure.

[Takiap]

Q. Why do you only get brown eggs in Thailand?
A. Although there is no difference in terms of nutrition, brown eggs are more popular in almost all countries, including Thailand.

Q. Where do the supermarket eggs in Thailand come from?
A. From egg farms around the country, The hens used for production are the same as in most other countries. They are especially bred for egg laying purposes and are usually dispatched of once the reach approximately 12 months of age when their productivity starts to decline. During the first lay, a single hen can lay as many as 300 eggs in a year, while in the second lay, that can drop to about 250 eggs per year.

Q. Where do KFC and the supermarkets get their chickens from
A. Broiler farms. Broiler chicks are what you eat when eating commercially produced chicken. They are generally slaughtered at about 6 or 7 weeks. At this point they will weight approximately 1.6 kilograms, a weight considered to be ideal for market demand. If allowed to grow for a few more weeks, you would have chickens weighing more than 2 kilograms. However, if left much longer than that, they become crippled as their bones simply cannot support their weight.

Q. Why are those Isaan chickens so tough?
A. Very rarely will it be due to age. Instead, it because they are essentially game birds that receive very little, if any, proper chicken feed. This is why, when Thais eat them, they are usually only ever used in for making soup. If the person making the soup knows what they're doing, the meat is not tough at all, although it's not as tender as store bought meat. A with other types of meat, game meat is tough unless prepared correctly.

Insight: You also get "native Thai chickens". These are large birds comparative to other large breeds elsewhere in the world. The interesting thing is, there's a Thai company farming these extensively. Their one plant processes 1000 chickens per hour, and they hatch out 100,000 birds per weeks. At present, the meat from these chickens costs approximately three times as much as regular broiler chickens, and according to market research, demand is growing all the time, particularly between Thai consumers. Unlike broiler chickens who are fed special feed, these native Thai chickens are raised on a special diet containing several different herbs, and etc. You can read all about it here: http://www.worldpoultry.net/news/native ... -2534.html

Insight: The scrawny chickens you see running around are known as "decoy" chickens. The idea is that if you have plenty of these running about, predators will go for them rather than attacking your good birds.

Q. Are store bought eggs cheaper than fresh backyard eggs?
A. Yes certainly, especially when you consider you also get all those traces of hormones, vaccines, de-worming medications and etc thrown in as part of the deal. Also, you should actually be paying more for store bought eggs, because they've been allowed to age. After all, the older a whiskey is, the more you pay for it. The next time you boil an egg, crack the shell all around and peel it. I bet that shell peels of really easy. Well, that's something which only happens if an egg is at least ten days old. Try and peel an egg on the day it's laid, and you'll notice a big difference.

Conclusion, I'll stick to our home grown eggs. At least I know the hens don't get pumped full of hormones, they don't get vaccinated, and they're not force fed 101 different medications. Unfortunately I don't yet have enough hen to produce all the eggs we need, so for the time being, we'll still have to buy in a few.

What I found amazing the other night, was that we had a brilliant meal, and apart from some salt and pepper, everything came from the garden. A chicken was given the chop, galangal, chillis, ginger, and a variety of herbs were harvested, and a few hours later we had soup worth killing for. How I wish I could always live like that. Maybe it's just me, considering I grew up as a city kid.

Conclusion: We will be getting a few more hens, and even a few ducks, so if anyone knows where I can get nice size birds from, without having to travel too far, please let me know. Ducks aren't a problem because you just buy some eggs at the market and then put them under a broody hen. All the duck eggs you buy here are fertile and they usually hatch without any problems.

Now, you'll have to excuse me because I need to go outside to collect my breakfast

[PeteC]

My understanding in these parts is that the road side BBQ guy young stands use the scrawny black soi chickens which I guess you could call an 'Issan chicken' as well. It smells great when you drive by and not too tough the times I've had it. Pete

[PET]

TAKIAP - I think 10.26 is rather late for a 'farmer' to think about breakfast

[mars]

Q. Why do you only get brown eggs in Thailand?

Not quite true

And as were on the subject can anyone tell me where they get the pink eggs from

pink Chickens???????????

[komfortablynumb]

I would have thought that would have been bleeding obvious.
Ladyboy chickens.
However assuming they aren't boiled in onion leaves, like we did when i was a kid at Easter.
Havent got a clue.

[margaretcarnes]

Tsk tsk - everyone knows you get pink eggs from Tesco!

[PeteC]

They're preserved eggs from what I understand. They're soaked in something for a long time and the yolk turns dark and the white part an orange color. I don't know if the pink shell is from the preservation process or they color them that way to distinguish from a regular egg. Pete

[Takiap]

Pet.............10:26 is a bit late but I have to wait until one of them lay.......lol

The white and pink eggs in the photo are salted eggs. The white are salted duck eggs and the pink ones are salted chicken eggs. The Thais usual eat them with a very bland type of rice soup - not the usual rice soup which many eat in the mornings.

The eggs are simply placed raw into a strong brine (salt and water) solution and left in a warm area for a few days. Because the shell are porous, the salt manages to penetrate the eggs.The salt then absorbs all the moisture out of the yolk and you're left with a so-called cooked egg, although the white doesn't seem to cook, hence the reason why you still need to either cook them, or crack one into a bowl of very hot rice soup/noodles.

So, the next time you have nothing to do, take a jar full of water, mix in as much salt as possible, add in a few eggs, close the jar, and then leave it standing in the kitchen for a few days - there, you now have salted eggs

I don't fancy them myself because they really are "super salty". You also get what they call a "100 year old" egg where the entire contents are black. Only seen pictures of them though, and from what I've read, they seem to be more of a Chinese thing. I also can't remember how they're prepared.

[Takiap]

If your curiosity is getting the better of you......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg

[Khundon1975]

Damn, all this eggy talk has made me want a pickled egg.