Cloudy eggs (inside)

[pigcoon]

Every now and then when we break an egg, it has excess white inside and everything looks very cloudy. We haven't been using these when we get one.

These hens are about 23-24 weeks old and have been laying for about five weeks.

What's going on with these eggs and are they o.k. to use?

 

[shelleyd2008]

The eggs that are cloudy are fresh? Normally a cloudy egg is bad, I don't know what would cause a fresh egg to be cloudy

 

[gritsar]

The fresher the egg, the cloudier the white.
Let me see if I can explain this in a way it'll make sense. When a hen first lays an egg it's full of carbon dioxide, which clouds the white.
As the egg ages, the carbon dioxide escapes thru the pores in the eggshell in exchange for oxygen. As the level of carbon dioxide drops and the level of oxygen increases, the white clears.

 

[HLAC]

Yep, cloudy egg is a fresh egg. If you wash your eggs before you store them they won't be as cloudy as the CO2 escapes faster.

Also, when my hens started laying again from their molt at least one of them was laying eggs with extra white protein around the yolk. Looked kind of weird but otherwise perfectly edible.

The eggs all appear normal now.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Well, I guess you learn something new everyday

I'm allergic to eggs, so I rarely if ever crack a fresh one open....that's my excuse