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EGGcellent Free Range Eggs, Sedgefield (2025)

11/09/2024

Finally I'm up and running again after losing all my hens to a predator. The new ladies laying are Austrolorps, Hylines and Rhode Island Reds. And new ones are hopefully on their way as we are incubating eggs at the moment :-)

16/05/2024

24 GENERAL EGG KNOWLEDGE

1. Storing eggs upside-down makes them last longer. Turning your eggs upside down before stashing them in the fridge will make them last longer. Placing the pointy end down in the carton will prevent air pockets inside the shell from coming in contact with the yolk, which helps slow down the aging process.

2. It is generally not recommended to eat eggs from reptiles like snakes and lizards, or other non-bird animals, because their eggs are not a good source of nutrition for humans. They are often high in fat and low in protein compared to bird eggs. Some reptile eggs can carry harmful bacteria or parasites that can make you sick.

3. Washed eggs need to be refrigerated. When a hen lays an egg, with that egg pops out with a nearly invisible coating called a bloom. This bloom helps prevent air and bacteria from permeating the shell and prematurely aging the egg. That is why fresh eggs straight from the chicken are often placed in bowls or baskets on the kitchen counter. Grocery store eggs, on the other hand, have been washed, thus removing the bloom and requiring refrigeration to keep them fresh.

4. The colour of the egg yolk should be very bright yellow or deep orange. The difference in colour is based on what the chicken is eating. Chickens who only eat the grain feed given to them will lay eggs that are yellow. Chickens that are free-range and eat mostly bugs and vegetation will produce these orange yolks.

5. Chickens can still lay eggs even if there is no rooster (Male chicken). Many people think that you need a rooster for a hen to lay eggs. Most of the hens producing eggs today have never seen a rooster in their life.

6. In the stores, you can usually find small, medium, large, and jumbo or extra-large eggs. Some may speculate this has to do with breed, but in the commercial industry, it usually has more to do with a hen's age. The Older the Hen, the Bigger the Eggs. The older the hen, the more likely she is to produce these larger eggs.

7. Apart from using water to test the freshness of an egg, there are other ways to tell if an egg Is fresh:
If the shell seems unusually thick, then it is fresh.
If the yolk stands really tall after you have cracked the egg, it is fresh.
If the yolk has wrinkles or dissolves into a puddle when you crack it open, then it is an old egg.

8. A chicken will lay bigger and stronger eggs if you change the lighting in a way to make her think a day is 28 hours long.

9. Eggs are good for your eyes. They contain lutein which prevents cataracts and muscle degeneration.

10. Breed determines egg shell colour. Commercial eggs are brown or white, but some breeds can also lay blue, green, or pink eggs.

11. Duck eggs are higher in fat and better for baking.

12. Brown eggs are more expensive than white eggs, because the hens that lay them are larger and require more feed.

To be continued later...

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Written by: Food Research kitchen