There are lots of things most people
don't know about eggs. Most people buy the Grade-A, perfectly shaped,
spotless brown or white eggs from whatever grocery store they go to,
and are completely unaware that other sizes, shapes, and colors exist. There are speckled eggs, round eggs,
oblong eggs, nearly black eggs, blue eggs, green eggs, pink eggs,
mini eggs, gigantic eggs...the list goes on. Different chickens
lay different eggs. Even 2 birds of the same breed lay slightly
different eggs. At most egg farms, more than half the eggs are thrown
out or put in lower grades - B or C - because they aren't quite
perfect enough to go on store shelves (too small, too large, a
speckle, a double yolk, or some other "abnormality"). The thing is, these "abnormalities"
are normal. I mean, if you think about it, how likely is it that
every egg a chicken produces would be perfect? So I'm writing this to give you a
little more information on this rather interesting subject.
Let's go from the inside out, and
start with the yolk. The yellow blob in the center. Once I met a
person who didn't know what the yolk was called. Anyhow, the yolk is
what feeds the chick while it's growing in the egg. And no, not every
egg has a chick in it, only eggs that have been fertilized by
roosters can produce a chick, and only if they are kept at a specific
temperature for 21 days, and even then only about 60% of eggs
hatch, and after that there are any number of problems that can arise
if the chicks aren't given proper care – but I digress. The yolk is the main food source for
the chick. It contains all the fats and a little less than half the
protein. The yolk's color ranges from bright yellow to gold to
a paler color usually seen in grocery store eggs. The color doesn't
affect the nutritional value of the egg (though it is generally
agreed that brighter, "healthier" colored eggs taste better), it
merely depends on what the bird is fed: hens with more corn in their
diet produce brighter yolks, and hens with more grains in their diets
produce paler ones. But why yellow? This is one of the
more intriguing facts. The color itself, the yellow pigment, comes
from the chickens legs. Yep, you read that right. Most hens
hatch with bright yellow-orange legs, and as they lay more and more
eggs, this color slowly bleaches out. However, the color can be
replenished by the sun – which is why factory chickens, who spend
their entire lives in small cages, stop laying less than 2 years
after they start, and free-range hens, who get lots of sunlight,
continue to lay into and sometimes beyond their 3rd year of
maturity. But what about hens with black legs?
Turns out, they still have this yellow pigment, it's just overruled
by the dominant black pigment.
Next up
is the egg white, or albumen (al-byoo-men). Except no one calls it the
albumen. I don't know why, it's such a cool word. So, the albumen contains the rest of
the protein in the egg. When the egg is laid, the albumen contains
carbon dioxide, making it white, opaque, and cloudy. As the egg ages,
the carbon dioxide escapes through the pores of the shell and the
albumen becomes clearer and thinner. This is one of the reasons why
when you try to fry an old egg it runs all over the pan. Around the albumen are the inner and
out membranes. Why 2? Because right after the egg is laid and
starts to cool off, a little pocket of air forms at the wide end of
the egg between the two membranes. This is so the chick can breath as
it's developing; the air sack becomes a channel, getting fresh air
through the pores in the shell to the chick. This is also why eggs
are always placed pointy-end down in the egg carton – with no chick
using the air in the sack, it slowly grows. If the eggs are in the
carton pointy-end up with the air sack at the bottom, the air sack
would grow faster because air rises, and consequently the egg would
go bad faster. One more neat thing about air sacks:
older eggs, having larger air sacks, will float in water, while newer
ones sink.
Last, but most certainly not least, is
the eggshell. The shell is made mostly of calcium carbonate, and is
covered with pores, allowing air to get into the previously mentioned
air sack. But couldn't germs get inside, then? Nope. The egg is laid
covered with a thin, pretty much invisible protective covering called
the bloom, or cuticle, which keeps out bacteria and also keeps in
moisture. Often when eggs are collected there's
dirt and other unpleasant stuff on the shell – this is cleaned off,
of course. But some factory farms clean their eggs a little too well,
and the cuticle is wiped right off, letting in bacteria. The shell of an egg is truly
brilliant. It is shaped in two convex arches, which give it
incredible strength. If you drop an egg, and it lands on one of its
ends instead of its side, it is highly unlikely it will break. The
television show "That's Incredible" ran a segment in which eggs
were dropped 300' from a helicopter – and some of them didn't
break. The strength and thickness of a shell
still varies, of course. Free-range birds with access to more food
and sunlight usually produce stronger shells than factory birds. I
remember when I first got chickens at age 7; when they started
laying 8 months later, I tried to crack one of their eggs to fry.
I was used to eating store-bought eggs until then, and they usually
only require a couple light taps to crack. It took me several tries
to crack the egg from from my chickens.
And the egg itself. Size differences come
from a lot of different factors.When a hen first starts laying, her
eggs are usually smaller. And believe it or not, there are different
sized chickens. There's the standard; the
bantam, which is between 3/4 and 1/2 the size of the
standard; and the rarer jumbo, or giant, usually about twice the
size of a standard. The standard lays medium to large eggs, the
bantam peewee to small, and the giant lays X to XX-large and jumbo.
And contrary to what may seem logical, the bantams tend to lay the
strongest eggs. Lastly, there's the color of the shell.
In doing a little extra research while writing this, I stumbled
across the myth that the color of the shell has something to do with
the nutritional value of the egg. What? No! The color of the egg is
just that – the color. But it's still pretty cool. You can usually determine what color
egg a hen will lay by looking at – get this – her earlobe. Hens
with white earlobes will lay white eggs, hens with slightly tinted
blue or pink earlobes will lay tinted eggs, and hens with the
traditional red earlobes lay brown eggs, though there are a few
exceptions to this rule. The Ameraucana has red earlobes
but lays blue eggs in various shades. The many, many different breeds lay so many different colored
eggs:
- The Barvelder lays eggs with a unique copper color.
- The Catalana lays pinkish eggs.
- The Penedesenca lays very dark brown eggs.
- The Cochin lays lovely speckled brown eggs.
- The Maran lays deep reddish-brown eggs.
- The "easter-egger" lays pastel green and blue eggs.
Chickens are truly fascinating
creatures. Some people say that they are mean, stupid egg machines
for us to eat, but after having chickens for half my life, I must
insist those people are wrong. Sure, there are a few ornery ones, and
some that aren't very bright, but every chicken I've ever met or
owned has a personality. Some are friendly, some are shy, some are
talkative, some are quiet, but once you get to know them they can
become lifelong friends. Because they are a lot like people. They have good memories for human faces and they definitely have feelings.
Sources: The Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow, Raising Poultry Successfully by Will Graves, Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds by Carol Ekarius, and various knowledgeable chicken people and friends. Images courtesy of Molly Barlow.
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