1 hen - i got a few speckled eggs?

[DeneenR]

I spoil my chickens. And this morning. I fed them..then I went to clean up the her coop and I found this little stash.

OMG Y’ALL i found 18 chicken eggs…this morning!!!


So this morning I consulted a professional farmer and he told me to throw them all out…. since I don’t know when any of them were laid.

I think I only have one hen an she is brown and two roosters that are more black in color..



My question is...a few of the eggs looks speckled brown and white?? is that normal?

 

[nuthatched]

You could have done float test on them, I wonder why a professional didn't offer that piece of common advice.
The ones with marbling are probably the bad ones.

 

[NatJ]

All the eggs in the picture look normal to me.
It's fairly common for a hen to lay eggs that look a little different sometimes.

About whether the eggs are bad:
yes, throwing them all out is a safe way to do it. With only one hen, some of them are at least 18 days old, even though some are going to be recent enough to be fine.

Or you could float-test them. Put each egg in water, and throw out any that float.
(If they float, that means they have a large air cell, and that means they were laid quite a while ago, so you don't want to eat those.)

You can choose to candle the eggs too: if there are any chicks in the eggs, you probably don't want to eat those

For any eggs that sink in water, they are probably safe to eat, but there's one more test that's also a good idea:
Each time you want to cook eggs, crack just one egg into a bowl and look & smell the egg.
If it looks fine and smells fine, then it's safe to cook and eat.
Then crack the next egg into the bowl by itself and check it...
This way, if you find a bad egg, you throw out only the bad egg, instead of all the eggs.

You could have done float test on them, I wonder why a professional didn't offer that piece of common advice.

Probably because with "only" 18 eggs involved, a professional would throw them out. The risk of a customer getting a bad egg would not be worth it.

 

[Perris]

hello @DeneenR - welcome to BYC

The egg in the bottom left appears to have some eggyolky shaving stuck, and it is possible that an egg broke over the others. The 'speckled' ones may have calcium deposits, egg white, or something else on them (I can't tell from the photo). In any case, I would wash them all and do a float test; any egg that sinks was laid within the last month and is probably fine, while any that floats is probably at least a month old and may not be. If you want to use them, start with the ones that float highest, and in all cases break them open separately, as NatJ said, and use your nose, and chuck any that smell bad or look dodgy.

 

[DeneenR]

hello @DeneenR - welcome to BYC

The egg in the bottom left appears to have some eggyolky shaving stuck, and it is possible that an egg broke over the others. The 'speckled' ones may have calcium deposits, egg white, or something else on them (I can't tell from the photo). In any case, I would wash them all and do a float test; any egg that sinks was laid within the last month and is probably fine, while any that floats is probably at least a month old and may not be. If you want to use them, start with the ones that float highest, and in all cases break them open separately, as NatJ said, and use your nose, and chuck any that smell bad or look dodgy.

Thank you so much!!! i appreciate u answering me. i am kinda lost when it comes to chickens. found 2 chickens abandoned in a bird cage..they are my males

 

[DeneenR]

You could have done float test on them, I wonder why a professional didn't offer that piece of common advice.
The ones with marbling are probably the bad ones.

Thank you..i was wondering why myself. i am all excited now. i put them in the fridge this morning so i am going to check them out tonight.

 

[DeneenR]

All the eggs in the picture look normal to me.
It's fairly common for a hen to lay eggs that look a little different sometimes.

About whether the eggs are bad:
yes, throwing them all out is a safe way to do it. With only one hen, some of them are at least 18 days old, even though some are going to be recent enough to be fine.

Or you could float-test them. Put each egg in water, and throw out any that float.
(If they float, that means they have a large air cell, and that means they were laid quite a while ago, so you don't want to eat those.)

You can choose to candle the eggs too: if there are any chicks in the eggs, you probably don't want to eat those

For any eggs that sink in water, they are probably safe to eat, but there's one more test that's also a good idea:
Each time you want to cook eggs, crack just one egg into a bowl and look & smell the egg.
If it looks fine and smells fine, then it's safe to cook and eat.
Then crack the next egg into the bowl by itself and check it...
This way, if you find a bad egg, you throw out only the bad egg, instead of all the eggs.




Probably because with "only" 18 eggs involved, a professional would throw them out. The risk of a customer getting a bad egg would not be worth it.

Thanks so much. i just joined and i am already learning so much!

 

[aart]

Floating an egg will only tell you how old it might be.
They float due to evaporation when older.
It will not tell you if an egg is 'good' or 'bad'.
Plus then you've wetted the egg so it should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated.

When in doubt....or even if not...
Open eggs one at a time in a separate dish before adding to pan or recipe,
use your eyes, nose, and common sense to decide if egg is OK to eat.