We all know that eggs are a tasty, super nutritious food and producing your own little ovoid parcels of goodness by keeping poultry in the backyard, can be a fun activity for the family and a food security buffer.
However, industry group Australian Eggs is reminding backyard egg farmers to make sure their chook set-up is not a biosecurity risk.
Advertisement
"Anecdotally, there has been an increase in the number of people keeping backyard hens and egg farmers understand the attraction to producing nutritious and delicious eggs," Australian Eggs' Managing Director, Rowan McMonnies said.
"People need to realise that once you're a suburban 'egg farmer' there are important biosecurity risks to protect against.
"Diseases spread quickly and widely and potential transfer from backyard to commercial flocks can put food security for the broader community at risk.
"It's understandable that people think backyard farming is clean and natural but these set-ups can pose significant problems because of how accessible they are to wild animals.
"Australian Eggs spends a lot of time communicating these dangers to egg farmers but there is clearly a role in getting information out to backyard owners as well."
Australian Eggs has issued a list of 10 things backyard poultry owners should practice to reduce biosecurity risks:
- Always wash hands after handling chickens or eggs.
- Keep chickens away from ponds and rivers as water birds are known carriers of avian influenza.
- Ensure that wild birds cannot access the chickens' feed or water. Diseases can be easily transmitted to poultry by contamination of feed or water.
- Keep other animals like domestic geese or turkeys, and even cats and dogs, well away as they can bring disease to chickens.
- Use safe water sources such as town water, good quality bore water or sanitised surface water for chickens to drink.
- Provide a secure rodent-proof enclosure for poultry as rats and mice are known carriers of disease.
- Any kitchen scraps fed to chickens must be meat and animal free. When spoiled, these may carry dangerous bacteria.
- Check hens regularly for anything unusual such as coughing, diarrhoea or swollen eyes.
- If a chicken is showing signs of sickness, isolate the sick animal from others and seek veterinary advice in a timely manner.
- Call Animal Health Australia's 24-hour emergency animal disease watch hotline on 1800-675-888 if there are unusual symptoms or signs of serious disease.
Because eggs are such good food, here is a delicious recipe courtesy of Australian Eggs. You'll find many more sweet, savoury, snack and celebratory ideas on its website here. So get cracking.
Mexican Sweet Potato Family Hash Brown
Ingredients
8 eggs
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
1 tbsp taco seasoning mix
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 cups (approx. 500g) grated and firmly packed sweet potato
2 cups (200g) shredded tasty cheese
2 green onions, finely sliced
Advertisement
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C (fan-forced).
- Whisk 4 eggs, milk, seasoning and garlic in a large bowl. Add sweet potato, 1 1/2 cups cheese, green onions and coriander. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper.
- Heat the oil in a large ovenproof frying pan (20cm base/26cm top) over a medium heat, swirling to coat base and sides of pan. Add sweet potato mixture. Flatten top and cook for about 5 minutes or until base is golden.
- Form four indents in mixture with the back of a spoon. Scatter with remaining cheese. Crack an egg into each hole. Cook in oven for 15 minutes, or until hash brown is firm to touch and eggs whites are set.
- Serve with guacamole and hot sauce. Garnish with extra coriander leaves.
Notes
- Use a non-stick pan for easy serving.
- Top with guacamole and coriander just before serving.
- Can be served warm or cold. Great for a picnic or lunchbox.
- For added spice, add 1 finely chopped green chilli with the onions
READ MORE: Recipe: CWA Victoria's never-fail sponge
READ MORE: Recipe: Asparagus & Red Potato Salad
Eileen Wood
I'm a senior news journalist at The Senior newspaper, the leading publication bringing targeted news on issues affecting older Australians. We cover NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, SA and WA. If you have a story idea I would love to hear it. You can email me: eileen.wood@thesenior.com.au or phone The Senior 02-4355-5000, mob. 0490 373 465
I'm a senior news journalist at The Senior newspaper, the leading publication bringing targeted news on issues affecting older Australians. We cover NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, SA and WA. If you have a story idea I would love to hear it. You can email me: eileen.wood@thesenior.com.au or phone The Senior 02-4355-5000, mob. 0490 373 465
