Egg consistency

[james w]

I always grew up thinking that one way to tell whether to tell if a egg is fresh is to break it and see what happens. In the pan, fresh eggs will "hold together" whereas older eggs will fill a much larger area.

Now that I have a flock myself I noticed that even eggs layed the same day so not hold together. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts about why and what possible factors influence the consistency of the egg.

Thanks

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Generally speaking it's true the fresher the egg the higher the yolk will stand and the thicker the white will be. Generally speaking.

But storage affects that a lot. A day on a warm kitchen counter can be like a week to an egg that's kept in the refrigerator. Both can still be safe to eat, wholesome and nutritious but the egg that was kept in a warm environment will lose quality faster than an egg that was refrigerated. One will have a yolk that stands higher and whites that are thicker than the other for a longer time.

Then there is the health of the hen that laid it, what she eats, and her specific breed and variety. Chances are good that if you have a number of different breeds and varieties you're going to see some differences in white thickness and yolk height even if they are all eating the same diet, kept in the same flock, and their eggs are stored in the very same way.

But generally speaking the fresher the egg and the better it is stored the longer it will retain a thick white and a yolk that stands proud.

 

[james w]

Well I have to say that my eggs rarely stand in the nest boxes for more than a few hours and go straight into the fridge. I have even seen this low yolk position, as you refer to it, in eggs laid just minutes before it is opened.

I do have a variety of breeds, I would say that both health and diet are optimal. But I have seen low position in across the breeds.

I wonder if they are missing something though in their diet. Perhaps humidity also counts.

Perhaps I need to do some research.