Bad Egg

[mrbunker]

Lately my hens have been laying an abundance of eggs and I have been sharing with coworkers. To my dismay a coworker reported that one of her eggs was bad. I would love some insight into what went wrong so this doesn't happen again!!! I'm truly mortified!!! Here is the scoop:

I do have a broody hen who did move her eggs around a bit, but I'm relatively confident that I did not mistakenly give the coworker an egg the broody kicked out of the nest, but it could have happened. I collect eggs daily around dusk, brush them off, then promptly refrigerate. The coworker reports that she hard boiled the egg (really well done). When she cracked it after hard boiling, she could see the white, a faint yolk, and a large portion of congealed material that was straw-like in color with a very different texture than the white and the yolk. She reported no smell that was noticeable. She cooked another egg at the same time and it appeared normal. The rest of the eggs were thrown out. Our eggs typically have a dark yellow yolk and this eggs yolk was very faint.

We rarely hard boil our eggs as we prefer them prepared other ways. Any ideas what could have happened? This is new to us and appreciate some thoughts.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I suppose an egg kicked out of the broody's nest could explain that.

Every now and then an unusual egg, which is different than a spoiled egg, can occur. I recently cracked open an egg with an unusually large membrane attached to the yolk. I don't know what it is called exactly - almost like wht might develope into an umbilical cord like thing eventually. I collect eggs every day and I don't even have a broody in the coop.

 

[mrbunker]

Thanks for the reply. I agree, I think it was an egg that was kicked out of the broody's nest. Wouldn't it smell though? Would the floating test have caught it? Is it okay to do the float test on all eggs as I usually just dry brush them? All these questions...

Thanks,
Megan

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Hmm, I don't know that the float test would catch such an egg. Eggs float because moisture has evaporated out of them as they age. I not sure that a cooked egg of that sort would smell.

Gee, if I did a float test on all the eggs I gave away, I don't think I would want to go to the effort anymore.

 

[fingbob]

Mark the eggs with your broody. Just put a simple x or something on them. Then you will know if she kicked one out.