Speaking of eggs

dss62467

Cathlete
Does anyone have a clue why one would want "fertile" eggs as opposed to infertile? I buy organic eggs and noticed that on the carton it says that they can't gaurantee that all of the eggs are fertile. Personally, it grosses me out when I crack open an egg and find a little red spot in it.
 
Donna,

A blood spot in an egg doesn't have anything to do with whether it is fertile or not. I found this:

Egg with blood spots inside

This is usually the result of blood escaping from the ovarian follicle and becoming embedded in the albumen. It can sometimes be the result of shock or stress and normally rights itself. There is some evidence that there is a hereditary tendency for this condition, so avoid breeding from such a hen.



Here is what I found about fertile eggs:

Fertile eggs

If hens are running with a cock the chances are that they will be laying fertile eggs. These should not be offered for sale for they cause offence to many consumers. Registered producers are required by the egg marketing regulations to produce eggs with, ‘a yolk that is free of foreign bodies’.

There is considerable misconception about this subject, with people making varied claims such as: ‘hens lay better when there is a cock with them’, and ‘fertile eggs are more healthy and nutritious’. In fact, the opposite is the case with both claims. With the former, there is a greater risk of disease transference, as well as physical damage to hens from the male’s spurs. With the latter, there is a greater risk of disease-transference into the egg.

Traditionally, breeding flocks and laying flocks were kept quite separate, as they still are with free-range flocks today. If you have your hens running with a cock and don’t object to eating fertile eggs, that is of course your own business, but selling them to others should be avoided.
 
Emily - you are a walking cornucopia of information! And don't you have a deck to build?!? Get out there, woman!!!


Angie
 
Well, I'm glad that I now know that about the blood clot. Yes, I eat chicken...but still there's something just gross about the clot. I just pull it out and dump it down the garbage disposal, so it's not like I don't get over it.

So...are you saying I shouldn't be eating the fertile eggs?
 
ew on this whole thread. ew ew. i didn't even know red spots were possible.
ew!!! now i'm afraid to crack open an egg.
 
I heard a discussion about this before a fertilized egg is suppose to be a happier egg, better, more protien. I guess it would if a chick life was starting in it. I dont eat eggs all that much but my kiddies do.I do not get fertilized because if the farm does not seperate them in time you will see the blood and they taste different.
 
I eat eggs all the time, and most day's eat raw egg yolk (no, i'm not worried about illness, as the chickens are all free to roam the land totally and i have never got sick, but i would never ever eat raw egg yolk if the eggs same from a store and not a farm, where i can see them walking around) but would never eat fertilized ones. Not ever. Nasty.
 
I don't eat eggs...YUCK! I'll cook with them but to just eat an egg...nope, not me! x( Never found a red spot in one BTW...
 
I think egg whites are an excellent protein and most often don't eat egg yolks. I am far more concerned about whether or not a chicken is cage free. Check out the process of de-beaking chikens to keep them from pecking each other. Now that's gross. Although I don't buy eggs marked fertile, who can know whether or not the rooster has gotten into the hen house, particularly on a farm? I wouldn't be surprised if I'd eaten one. And I have cooked and eaten a red spot because on many levels eating other living things, in general, is somewhat icky and I fail to see the distiction between one thing and another. I use grass fed beef too and it's much less red than commercially raised beef and somewhat greasy but I drain that and know it has more of the good types of omegas which are lacking when it comes to corn fed beef. Cows are ruminants. If I'm not deterred by the bloody package of beef, which I wash and recycle, I am not to be deterred by a blood spot on an egg. :)

Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"

Tell me, what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? -Mary Oliver
 
Bobbi - your logic is sound, but it still grosses me out. I also get repulsed if I notice a vein when I'm eating chicken. If I don't see it, then I don't care that I've probably just eaten a whole bunch of them.

I definitely only buy the free range eggs, which is the whole point of getting the organics. They're much more expensive, that's for sure. Actually, I have found a farm close to my house that sells eggs and I think I will start going there.
 
I don't much care for chicken on the bone for just that reason so it's boneless, skinless and organic for me. My kids get so grossed out by the handling of raw meat I find myself asking them how they think that MacDonald's hamburger they love so much started it's life? :) The longer I have been a mom, the less easy to disgust I have become. :)

It is rididculously expensive, not to mention time consuming to go to the speciality stores which carry what you need. The supermarket is much more expensive for organics but in a pinch.... I love the Farmer's Markets that spring up here and there. It's been so hot in Arizona, hens are laying eggs that are already cooked. ;)
Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"

Tell me, what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? -Mary Oliver
 

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