The Lowly Egg

Everybody's worried about eggs these days. If we eat an egg, will we get terribly sick or not, we wonder. I checked out my eggs in my refrigerator and they seem to be OK. But, how do I know for sure? So I won't use eggs for awhile and then I should be OK.

My mother raised chickens once long ago. My father built a chicken coop on our little lot on the outskirts of town where people could do pretty much as they pleased. One neighbor had a cow. One neighbor had a couple of goats. Some neighbors had vicious dogs. If a dog was too vicious, somehow it would get very, very sick and die. That was because people would put some poison out for stray dogs to eat. Sometimes the gentle dogs would end up dead, too.

My brother used to stand up on top of the chicken coop with his bow and arrow and wait for a rat to come along who hoped to get some of the chicken feed for his dinner. My brother was a sharp-shooter, you betcha!

Today, rats are still getting into these crowded coops where they raise chickens. They may be the culprits who are giving the hens the salmonella microbe that manages to invade the egg. I did some research on this subject. The cages where the poor hens are held prisoner are filthy with more than rat poop. I think there are going to be some changes made very soon if people do some protesting. Or quit buying eggs.

My mother took good care of her chickens, even to giving some of them names. I remember one called "Crooked Neck" especially, she really had a very crooked neck, thus her name. My mother sold the eggs to a few neighbors, who complained about the high price. My father hated to bring out the old axe in preparation for our Sunday dinner. I only watched one time after a beheading, when the sacrificial fowl ran around without her head attached. But she tasted good.