Eggs

[hamish s]

hello

this is a really stupid question, but how do know if an egg is a chick, or its one that you can eat?

This is a thread i've found but i still don't really understand how this can happen, i'm a vegetarian and am wondering if i should be eatting eggs now !

thanks for the answers. but say we had an olde worlde farm where chickens and men chicken run free and do what they like. can the farmer tell which eggs to stick in his frying pan, and which are tomorrow's chickens?


Thurs 24/02/05
13:48 On that type of farm, where there are roosters running free with the chickens, there's no difference in the eggs - you would go out and collect the eggs daily, but if you missed any, and the hen incubated it, you might find a new addition to the flock in a few weeks time!

This is how, if you crack open an egg that hasn't been chilled or stored properly, you can get a developing embryo inside the egg!

[nickmo]

http://www.omlet.co.uk/guide/guide.php?view=Chickens&cat=Eggs&sub=how? for eggy info.

All eggs you buy from commercial concerns are infertile so no fridges full of chicks. The hen lays every 24/25 hours or so regardless of having a c0ckeral about - he will be the only way the egg can develop, and this doesn't happen with large scale production.

The red dot you see once in a while comes from when the yolk is first produced by the hen and it is a dot of blood from the ovary. Totally safe and can be ignored. It is not a baby chick thingy.

Eggs can have a ton of salmonella in them - butcommercial flocks are vaccinated against it. Make sure though that you do cook eggs thoroughly if you have any concerns about it, especially for elderly, babies or pregnant people.

To check if an egg is fresh - drop in a bowl of water. Fresh eggs sink, stale ones float.

[shazbang]

is that true about the floating technique?

[nickmo]

Is it true? Darn tootin'

See: http://www.omlet.co.uk/guide/guide.php?view=Chickens&cat=Eggs&sub=freshness or see: http://www.ehow.com/tips_3444.html or see: http://www.eggsaladgourmet.com/egg_trivia.html .

Tons of info all with the same advice.

The stale egg floats 'cos bacteria present in the egg cause gases to expand in the shell, so it becomes more buoyant. The shell is permeable, but lets more air/gas in than out, so the trapped gas has to expand. thats why a really 'off ' egg can explode.

A fresh egg will also have a thicker white/albumen and a more defined yolk. Colour of the yolk is not a real guide - to make a yolk more yellow, feed chickens brocolli....