Blue spots in cooked eggs -crossposted-

LadyHawk_2006

Songster
14 Years
May 18, 2008
57
169
151
Warwick, RI
I originally posted this in the recipe section, but it was suggested that I try it over here, too

My sister has a small flock and we get eggs from her, but recently we've been finding that after we cook the eggs there are bluish patches or spots all through the white. The first time it happened was with some eggs that I thought we might have just had longer than I thought, but then we just got some from her yesterday and the ones we cooked today are doing the same thing, both with boiling and frying. I do know that one of her hens has been extremely broody and making it hard to collect eggs every day, but I wanted opinions. Can we eat them? I hope my sister's chooks aren't sick because she absolutely adores them! Pix attached are the same plate. They all have some blue spots, but the one on the top is the worst.

Some extra info: Blanche, the broody hen, sits in the coop and steals the other girls' eggs, scooping them in with her wings, and my sister can't always collect them right away.
She has a friend who has chickens with roosters, and she gave her about six fertilized eggs for Blanche (miss broody hen) to hatch and see if it helps.
They all eat a varied died with layer feed (don't know what brand she feeds) as a base, and all kinds of fruits, veggies, greens, and invertebrates as treats and supplements.
The first six eggs I hard boiled, the next six (in the pix) were fried in a plain old non stick pan, and the next six eggs were fine. We don't overcook them or use high heat because none of us (me, hubby, and two daughters) like overcooked eggs
 

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Weird. I would think it'd be noticeable before cooking, but I've never seen this before... And nothing's changed with what your sister is feeding them or where the chickens might be roaming (and snacking)?

Have you cooked any other eggs (from another source, store or farm stand) recently in the same pans? No issue there?
 
They are in an outdoor pen, so if they can reach grasses or bugs or whatever, they eat it, but other than that it's just layer feed and various fruits/veggies/greens/inverts.

NanaK in the egg/chicken recipe forum sent me a link to an article about iron and sulfur being affected by heat and causing blue color, usually in the yolk, and usually because of high heat, over cooking, and/or using an iron pan. It was a non stick pan we've been using for more than ten years, and we don't overcook eggs, but, I suppose I can't rule it out, since it's always possible that whatever they're eating is making them have elevated iron and sulfur levels. I couldn't see when I was hard boiling them, but my husband said that the fried eggs didn't turn blue until they had started to cool off, which doe make me thing possible chemical reaction
 

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