All Things Eggs
If you have chickens around your homestead, you have a great source of healthy food to be enjoyed by you and your family. If we had any idea of how our food is treated before it comes into our home, we would be quick to make plans to provide a healthy alternative for our families.
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My hope is to encourage you to use the resources you have at hand and help those who have questions about the safety of using your chickens' eggs. I will address some of those questions and concerns and help you to sort through the hype and find the truth. Let's dive in.
Question #1 - Where do store bought eggs come from?
There has been rumblings about how dirty chickens are. They are full of disease and you can't eat them or the eggs that they lay. Instead, you need to buy your chicken and your eggs from the store. These are clean, sanitary, and FDA approved. Those eggs are healthy, but our barnyard animals are not.
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The eggs that are sold at the store came from farmed eggs - factory farmed eggs. These are huge farms with 20,000-30,000 hens or more. These hens are kept in cramped, dirty, unhealthy conditions. They never see the sun, have poor ventilation, and breath in lung burning ammonia from their own filth. These unhealthy birds are then fed a cheap, government approved, government subsidized feed. If the government has improved it, it must be well balanced and healthy, right? Some of the ingredients are rendered meat byproducts from dead, dying, diseased, or disabled animals, dried animal waste (that would be manure), meat contaminated with rodent, roach, and/or bird droppings, antibiotics, by products of drug manufacturing, and ground plastic. For a full list you can go to this link for the full chart. https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.9760 Wow! It is amazing that someone thinks it is okay to feed that garbage to these animals, and then in turn, feed it to us.
There are battery cages used in the United States (you can easily Google these to see what they are), and they have been outlawed in Europe, but they estimate that 95% of your store bought eggs come from hens kept in this way. They say that the chickens living in these cages would be the equivalent to you spending your life in a wire cage the size of your bathtub with three other people. Can you imagine?
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When people find out that this is what is happening they decide that they are going to opt for better healthier eggs. We have seen them in the stores. They are a little more expensive, but its okay.
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Question #2 - These eggs are healthier, right?
Cage Free Eggs - by USDA definition the hens cannot be caged and need to have the ability to move vertically and horizontally. There is no space, sunlight, or outdoor requirements for the hens, and they can be fed the same contaminated feed. This keeps the hens enclosed in dirty pens and exposed to the ammonia fumes of their feces and disease. Click this link to see "Cage Free" chickens.
Range Free Eggs - by USDA definition the hens cannot be caged and need to have access to the outdoors for six hours a day with a minimum of 2 square feet of outdoor space per bird. Even though the hens have access to the outdoors they don't have to go outdoors. You have to question whether they can even reach the door. And don't forget about that yummy food! Having access to the outdoors and actually being outdoors are two entirely different things. Click on the link below for some eye opening reading and pictures.
https://www.openpasturemeats.com/blog/2018/7/16/free-range-chicken
Organic Eggs - by USDA definition hens need to be uncaged and have access to the outdoors, but we have see how much that means. However, they need to be fed an organic diet free of animal by-products, pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics.
Farm Fresh Eggs - have no USDA definition. Farm fresh is meaningless. Since they are factory farms, they can be called farmed eggs, and they need to be sold quickly after collected making them fresh. They only way that farm fresh means anything is if you are buying them directly from a farm that you know or a small store that knows the farms that they are farming from.
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All Natural Eggs is also a meaningless phrase. The only thing this means is that you are buying eggs and nothing has been added to them.
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Pasture Raised Eggs - These hens need to have the ability to roam green grassy pastures every day. Each hen needs to have at least 35 -108 square feet of pasture per hen depending on the requirements of the company who certifies it. These would certainly be the healthiest choice if you can find them, and they would carry a hefty price tag. They are offered feed in their shelters, so what are they being offered? How healthy are the pastures? Do they use fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)?
Is there a different between these eggs? Here is a picture showing the difference in the yolks of eggs that were pasture raised (left), factory farm caged (middle), range free organic (right). It is amazing what sunshine and proper nutrition can do. Our yolks look like the right as we are coming out of winter. They will look more like the left as they get out and eat more bugs and greens.
Question #3 - How do I raise healthy chickens?
Healthy, happy unstressed chickens will give you healthy, nutritious eggs. Here is what you need to do.
1) Free range as much as possible. They need exercise, sunshine, and good food.
2) They are flock animals so make sure they have a flock. They can get lonely. Three or four birds should be a minimum.
3) Give them quality food and not just scratch (see Feeding, Supplementing, and Foraging).
4) Make sure your chickens always have fresh water.
5) Make sure they have proper shelter (see Housing, Protection, and Isolation).
6) Place to take good dust baths to repel insects and pests (see Health Concerns).
7) Have chickens that are appropriate for your climate.
8) Keep your flock entertained (see Dealing with Boredom).
9) Keep pests out of your chickens' coop.
10) Check your chickens every week and look for any signs of distress.
11) Understand the needs of your chicken.
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Question #4 - Can I test my eggs before eating them?
If you are going to eat your eggs, you need to begin collecting your eggs daily.
1) If you have old eggs laying around, clean them out and get rid of them.
2) Make a place with nesting boxes to encourage the eggs to be laid in the same place every day (see Housing, Protection, and Isolation) to see ideas.
3) Collect eggs at the end of every day. They can freeze and break if left overnight on cold nights, and they can get too warm and begin to incubate if allowed to stay in the house for several days.
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Now that you are beginning to collect your eggs to use for your family, what happens when you find an egg somewhere and you don't know whether it is safe to eat? Or an egg has been sitting around for awhile, can you still eat it? There are a couple of ways to test eggs.
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Floating Test
Fill a cup or a bowl with 4 inches of cold water. Gently place the egg in the water. If the egg sinks to the bottom and lays on its side, it is very fresh. If the egg sinks to the bottom but stands up slightly with the small end of the egg on the bottom, the egg is about 1 week old. If it stands straight up with the small end still touching the bottom, the egg is about 2-3 weeks old. If the egg floats, it is old and should be discarded. Here is a link that will go into more explanation. By the way, you can use the 1-3 week old eggs for making soft or hard boiled eggs or meringue for a recipe. They will whip up better and peel better if hard boiled.
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https://www.nelliesfreerange.com/blog/how-to-tell-if-eggs-are-good-or-bad
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Smell Test
Crack the egg into a bowl by itself. If there is any smell it is bacterial buildup, and the egg should be discarded. A good egg has no smell.
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Inspection
Crack any egg in question into a bowl by itself, and then check the egg shell.
If there are any brown or black spots on the shell, it is probably mold and should be thrown away. If there are brown flecks or red spots in the egg white or on the yolk, these are meat and blood spots. They are fine and will not hurt the egg. If you don't like the look of it, you can always remove it (them) and then use the egg. These are not usually in store bought eggs because they have candled them and taken out any eggs that have those spots. They will sell them to restaurants or other places that don't mind the spots.
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Check the egg white consistency. The older the egg, the runnier the egg white will get.
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Question #5 - What if my eggs are dirty?
Sometime eggs will be very clean when you collect them. If they aren't dirty, then you probably want to leave them be. If they are just a little dirty, you can jut brush it off. If it is really dirty, you can decide to wash it or feed it to your dogs (or cats).
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Store bought eggs are washed with harsh chemicals to make them look pretty because the US public buys with their eyes.
If you choose to wash your eggs, rinse them under warm running water. It will draw out dirt and bacteria from the shell. Cold water will push the dirt and bacteria into the egg. You don't need to wash them with chemicals.
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You don't need to wash your eggs. An egg is a living organism with the potential for life. The shell breathes allowing gases, bacteria, and chemicals to pass through the egg. When they are laid, there is a protective coating on the egg. When you wash them or get them wet, you remove the coating. Once the coating is removed, they have to be refrigerated (which is why store bought eggs are refrigerated). If you leave them unwashed, you can let them sit at room temperature for weeks. We have had eggs that have sat on the counter for several months. They have still been good to eat and we have given those eggs to broody hens to incubate and hatch. After a couple of months those chicks are still viable.
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According to guidelines and standards, they say that eggs should be eaten in 45 days. If in doubt, you can always test them.
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Question #6 - Are there guidelines for the sizes of eggs?
There may be two reasons why you may want to know if your eggs are small, medium, or large. First, you may have a recipe that is finiky, and it calls for 3 large eggs, how do I determine how much egg that actually is?
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The other reason is that if you are selling your eggs, your customers will want to know what they are buying and you want to be fair to them, making sure they get what they are paying for.
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This standardized method is called Egg Grading.
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weight per egg weight per dozen
Jumbo 2.5 oz 30 oz
Extra Large 2.25 oz 27 oz
Large 2 oz 24 oz
Medium 1.75 oz 21 oz
Small 1.5 oz 18 oz
Peewee 1.25 oz 15 oz
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Question #7 - Is there a way to look inside the egg?
There is a way to look inside an egg. The process is called candling. You can buy a very expensive machine (that will see those blood spots), you can make your own, or you can use a bright flashlight and your hand (which is what I do).
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There are a couple of reasons that you may want to look inside an egg. Most of it has to do with trying to incubate and hatch eggs; however, there are also reasons that pertain to selling or using your eggs. We will discuss those first.
There are people who will pay extra money if you have girls that are laying double yolked eggs. You can usually tell by the size of the egg if it is going to be double yolked, but candling will help you to be sure. If your egg shell has cracks in it, this will also show up with candling. If you find cracks, you want to use the cracks first or don't put them in an egg container with any kind of weight on it.
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When you are incubating eggs either in an incubator or under a broody hen, you want to make sure there are no cracks in the eggs. You also don't want to try to hatch a double yolked egg. Usually either one or both chicks will die.
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When you are incubating, you will want to check the eggs at 7 days and 14 days. You will want to make sure the eggs are developing as they should. If there are eggs that haven't developed that vein system at 7 days, you want to get rid of those eggs. They are not growing and there is a potential for them to rot and break and cause problems for all the eggs that it touches. You want to do the same thing at 14 days. It is recommended that you don't disturb the eggs for the first 6 days or the last 7 days.
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Below are a couple of good websites and some pictures.
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/candling-eggs.html
https://incubatorwarehouse.com/egg-candling
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/the-complete-beginners-guide-to-egg-candling/
Question #8 - Is one egg more nutritious than another?
Are brown eggs better for you than white eggs? This is a common question. There are different schools of thought about what makes an egg nutritious. Eggs have a yolk, the white (albumen), and the shell. The egg yolks are the nutrient dense portion of the egg. This is the food that feeds the chick as it grows. It is the energy bomb of the egg due to the healthy essential fatty acids it contains. In that fat rich environment there are fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Yolks also contain lecithin, lutein, zeaxanthin, calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, B vitamins, selenium, and potassium. These vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acid levels are not determined by the egg shell color but by the diet of the hen; hence, the healthier the hen, the dark the yolk.
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The whites of the egg (albumen) is a place where water, protein, and some water soluble minerals are stored. Again, the amount of protein and minerals is determined by the diet of the hen and not the color of the egg shell.
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The egg shell consists almost entirely of calcium carbonate crystals. Depending on the breed of chicken, their bodies may contain a certain pigment. If the breed carries no pigment, egg shells will be white. If they have protoporphyrin IX, it will give the shell a brown color. Depending on the amount of pigment the breed carries will determine the shade of brown - from very light to very dark. The pigment oocyanin will give the eggs a blue or green color. This pigment has no influence on what is going on inside the shell.
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The other thing you may notice when you crack an egg into a bowl is that long white stringy thing. Some people believe this is an umbilical cord. It is called the chalaza, and it attaches the egg yolk to the two ends of the egg shell.
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Another question is whether fertilized eggs are any more nutritious than infertile eggs. Again, there is no difference in the nutritional value.
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Question #9 - How many eggs will my hen lay?
That depends on the breed (see Best Chickens For . . .) and whether the hen goes broody at which time you will loose egg production for 9 weeks. If you are looking for egg production, you may want to stay away from the broody breeds of birds. Some breeds of hens will do better laying in the winter than others.
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Question #10 - Why aren't my hens laying eggs?
1. They may be broody.
2. They may be stressed by weather, cold, predator pressure, nutritional deficiency,
too many roosters, parasites.
3. Your hens may be going into molt.
4. The time of year. The short days of December and January causes hens to
reduce the amount of eggs they lay.
5. If they are approaching 3 years of age, their egg production will start reducing...