Food to collect ( EGGS)

[Luci_ferson]

in the uk it is illegal to collect the eggs of wild birds.

so please don't follow any of this until after TSHTF.

eggs are a great source of proteins and vitamins.
but that's not just chicken eggs, all eggs are great for amino acids etc.
youl probably find there is more nutrients in your average blackbirds egg than in a modern shop bought mass produced chicken egg.

however wild birds eggs are not as easy to come by as a shop bought egg. and even after tshtf certain rules must be followed or youl soon run out of eggs. (permanently)

so how do you collect wild eggs.

the answer is carefully.

any egg can be turned into an omelette with a few bits of wild garlic and onion.
but only eggs that contain no embryo is of much use to most of us since most of us probably couldn't bring ourselves to eat an egg with a little chick in .
and if we collect too many eggs then the birds species would die and therefore our egg supply is also gone.

the easiest way to see if there is an embryo is to shine light through the egg , if there is put it back its no use to you so you may as well let the bird hatch it.
the golden rule is never remove too many eggs from the same nest.
always leave atleast 3 , most birds cannot count past 3 (not all)
Taking too many eggs will cause the bird to desert the nest, and not only have you lost another source but the eggs you left behind wont hatch either.

The best way to gather eggs is to learn about the birds themselves.
all birds have a preferred nesting spot.
all birds have a preferred breeding time.

the key is to watch the birds and collect an egg or two from each nest soon after it has been laid.
its still a fertile egg. but the embryo hasn't formed.

the fact is you can even make an omelette from a blue tits eggs if you have enough.
Just don't take them all from same nest . and catch them soon after they are laid. but to be sure shine a light through any eggs you do find, atleast it will let you know if its of no use to you so the bird can keep it.
a broken egg is exactly that,
Broken,
no use to you or the bird.

if your not going to eat it don't take it.


stating the obvious - birds come from eggs, less eggs = less birds. it don't take a genious to work out the outcome.

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as for how you know the birds are ready to lay eggs.

all birds have a male and a female, and they all have their own courting dance.
learn the dances and the eggs are never more than a day or two away.

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oh and never eat an egg that floats

[bigpaul]

or you could keep a few chickens yourself...you dont need that many. post shtf i'd like to have a few chickens and some rabbits, neither take up much room.

[Luci_ferson]

theres a lot that cant keep chickens for one reason or another,
chickens are not the quitest or the cleanest of animals.
I plan on keeping chickens myself personally.
but those who cant may as well still have a source of eggs.
and its always good to know of another source of protein, just incase your initial plan gos wrong.
foxes / raiders etc.

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rabbits are great , pretty quiet. and don't eat much.
sadly they don't have much in the way of nutrition.

[bigpaul]

(7 April 2013, 09:14)Luci_ferson Wrote: theres a lot that cant keep chickens for one reason or another,
chickens are not the quitest or the cleanest of animals.
I plan on keeping chickens myself personally.
but those who cant may as well still have a source of eggs.
and its always good to know of another source of protein, just incase your initial plan gos wrong.
foxes / raiders etc.

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rabbits are great , pretty quiet. and don't eat much.
sadly they don't have much in the way of nutrition.

you dont eat rabbits to the exclusion of any other meat, i'll be adding it to a "game stew", you dont need lots of room for chickens-you could keep them in a back yard, yes there not quiet but their only really noisy if you have a cockerel and you dont need one just for eggs.

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if you had only 4 chickens they would give you nearly 2 dozen eggs if they were all laying...just how many eggs do you need? we use half a dozen per week between the 2 of us.

[Luci_ferson]

not everyone has anywhere to put chickens.
a lot of people live in towns and plan on leaving to go to a bug out.
they wont have any chickens.

as for the rabbit. yup its an excellent adition to game stew and game pie.
it can make your bad hunting day into a good hunting day.
it might not have many nutrients but it fills the hole.

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the skins make excellent nappies for little ones too.
nice and soft /
you only need two rabbits for a nice pair of fluffy foot warmers lol

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ive been told that although you don't need a cockerel if you only want eggs. you will get more eggs if the chickens can hear one close by.
also your chickens will age and youl have to eat them
sadly you do need a cockerel to make more chickens.

[bigpaul]

yes, in a shtf situation you will need a cockerel if you want to breed more chickens. dont agree you need lots of space to keep chickens, depends on how many your keeping of course but half a dozen chickens dont need a lot of room, people kept them in back yards in back to backs in the towns and cities during WW2.

[Prepper1]

we had 6 chooks very much crap to get rid of BUT good for fertilizer it also smells a lOT and your enclosure ends up smelling like a farm.

This also atracts flies... along with constant cleaning duty...

Too many eggs to use everyday for a family of 4 adults unless you want eggs every meal, we were getting on average 6 eggs a day.

Although in a shtf situation with not much extra food around, i'm sure eggs every meal is better than nothing.

Chooks are also VERY noisy when laying, they want everyone within a mile to know they've laid eggs.... poor opsec...

If you have no cockerel, one of the ladies takes on the role usually and protects the others and makes just as much noise as a cockeral.

They like getting up early also...read crack of dawn and they make so much noise that you have to let them roam and they do roam if your not careful.

But my girls put themselves to bed at night so all I had t do was shut their door.

You have to make sure they get enough calcium or they lay paper thin shelled eggs which are no use.

After buying a calcium supplement to get them started we crushed the used egg shells back into their feed giving them the calcium from the shells.

[Luci_ferson]

if you don't have chickens now, you wont suddenly have them after tshtf.
they don't just turn up in your BOL
by they need space I mean space to keep them from prying eyes.
A lot of people don't have that at their BOL or their BIL.
the purpose of wild eggs isn't for those who have got the space chickens ( a yard ) , or can keep them hidden.
its for those who don't have that option.
in towns it is illegal to keep a chicken on your balcony. or in the garden of your townhouse.
some people simply cannot keep chickens at the moment.
after tshtf obviously youd fit one anywhere you could. but that's if you can find one.
I expect a lot will have been stolen early on.

I cant keep chickens where I live. (which is why I got allotment)
but I could lose the allotment, anything could go wrong.
I could lose all my chickens.
id still like to be able to have access to a few eggs.
eggs are one of the best sources of amino acids.

I love my omelettes.

[bigpaul]

check out duck eggs-i love duck eggs- and goose eggs, also bantams, guinea fowl,coots, moorhens, pheasants, even seagull eggs

[Luci_ferson]

my misses is addicted to duck eggs.
I introduced her to them about 3 years ago.

pheasant and qual eggs are great for pickling.
never tried the gull egg yet, but no doubt I will if shtf before I get my chooks.
were over run with seagul round here, so its pretty inevitable.