What have you noticed about your eggs?

Kelly McLaughlin
Kelly McLaughlin Posts: 7 ✭✭
I cant even eat store bought eggs ewww..even the ones labeled free range and pastured..my husband knows the moment they are cracked, the color is to light, the smell is off (cooked and raw) even my dog (who is fed an organic free range human grade raw meat diet ) wont even eat the store bought eggs! Cooked farm fresh eggs are also fluffier IMHO

for a family of 5 adults and 2 dogs we go through AT LEAST a dozen eggs a day if not more especially if I bake..it makes no sense to spend almost $7 a dozen (which would be small farm, pastured, soy and corn free, organic/non gmo) in the grocery store anyhow!

Comments

  • alindsay22
    alindsay22 Posts: 129 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    My favorite thing about our eggs is that I can identify which chicken has laid it and am able to say a special thank you to them.  We have 7 chickens and each one has a slightly different egg so I can watch for health in each one individually.  Knowing that our girls are happy and oh so loved is what makes these eggs so different to me.  I agree, can't eat a tortured store-bought egg anymore.  Aside from that, it's the same as growing a carrot vs. buying a plastic bag full.  Not even in the same ballpark.
  • Kathy
    Kathy Posts: 7 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    I notice larger and MUCH DARKER yolks. I have come across a lot of research that they are nutritionally far superior as well.  Also,thicker shells.  Plus it's fun collecting colored eggs all year.
  • EarlKelly
    EarlKelly Posts: 230 ✭✭✭

    Agreed. Home grown is much better. You do notice the color is different and they taste much better. Doubt I could ever go back to store bought. Besides like knowing what my chickens eat.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin
    edited December 2019

    @Kelly McLaughlin Those are old eggs.

    My thoughts on this discussion...and I am really into/passionate about heritage breed chickens... 😍 Crazy chicken lady, you know...

    Color isn't a consistent sign of nutrition. It is just color, contrary to popular belief. Even huge producers know that and if willing to do so, have ways of coloring yolks by changing what is in the feed. This doesn't mean they are improving nutrition, just adding a darker yolk to appear more nutritious. That said, true free range will generally be more nutritious because of the food variety available. These other producers are just trying to mimic, since people have preconceived ideas (like brown shelled eggs are more nutritious than white...not true either), and they take advantage of that.

    My chickens egg yolks can vary in size & color depending on breed (I currently breed 4 breeds, little to huge, with a few variations in a couple breeds), size of egg, & the food that they decided to consume that day. It can vary. Shell strength can too.

    I use & reuse new cartons only for our eggs. The cartons with the bought eggs always stink like bad eggs and I don't care to use cartons that have had bad eggs in them.

    Thicker shells depends on the diet. Commercial layers are usually leghorns or similar small bodied birds. Commercial owners want efficiency, so have figured out how little they can put into their birds and still have a marketable product. Low calcium makes for thin shells, but they aren't hatching any, so it isn't as relevant to them. Thin shells can easily allow for contamination, however, and this combined with age of eggs & excessive handling, is why it is recommended to always thoroughly cook bought eggs. I am sure that the bleaching of the eggs won't be good for contents either.

    I have been told that wheat germ also helps strengthen shells (a tidbit for those who own chickens).

    I have quite a few chickens, so I don't always know who lays what. I have read that if the hen lays speckled eggs, that you can tell by pattern who laid it. It will be consistent because of the way it moves through the "paint booth."

    If you want eggs that have a tight shell matrix that keeps out more bacteria, Copper Marans (I have 3 types of this breed) have this trait. If you want very safe eggs, the tough shell & membrane of quail eggs makes the contents the safest around and *if* I remember correctly, can be eaten by those with egg allergies. Don't quote me on that one though.

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin

    @Laurie interesting tip about the wheat germ -- thanks! :)

    So here's something most people don't seem to have dealt with: We had one chicken (a Buckeye, so game bird heritage and laid brown eggs) that lacked a certain enzyme and the yolks of her eggs smelled like fish. It was the most bizarre thing, and it took us a while to pinpoint which hen was laying those eggs. (We keep fairly large flocks, too, like @Laurie .) Until we figured it out, we weren't comfortable giving our eggs away to friends, and we honestly got to the point where my husband didn't even want to eat our own eggs because one stinky egg would literally stink up the entire batch of scrambled eggs or what have you. (I would have to crack each egg individually and break and smell the yolk before adding it to the pan.) Apparently, this stinky-fish smell only happens in brown eggs, and about 5% of brown egg layers lack this enzyme. Anyway, as I was doing research into why this was happening, it seemed that most chicken owners hadn't ever dealt with (or heard of) this.

    So that's what I was noticing about my eggs! :D

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @Merin Porter Ew! I have never heard of that before either! Strange. I will have to keep that in mind, since my only non brown egg layers are silkier & guineas! I wonder if this applies to dark laying marans, as their color is considered red instead of brown.

    Did you cull her? Would that have been inherited at all?