The Most Common Egg Questions Answered: Q&A with The Farmer
I will sometimes get questions about our farm fresh eggs. Sometimes I know the answers, and sometimes I don’t. But I know someone who does.
I have included 11 most commonly asked questions below, with my husband’s own words following the question.
Introducing the Farmer: AKA my husband
My husband doesn’t like the internet very much. I hardly ever let him know what I’m writing because he is set in his ways and hates technology. But today, I wanted to secretly interview him and put his voice up on the blog, too. Now it’s not just me talking! (But he doesn’t have to know.)
Most Commonly Asked Egg Questions
Question #1
True or False? White eggs from the store are bleached.
That is true. They bleach eggs for cleanliness. That’s what I’ve always heard. But they’re already white from the type of chicken that lays white eggs. You can’t turn a brown egg white with bleach.
White leghorns, for example, produce a white colored egg. A Black Australorp produces a brown egg, an Ameraucana produces a blue egg!
Question #2
Do you need a rooster in the flock to produce eggs?
No. Hens always have eggs in their body. The only reason for a rooster is to fertilize the egg to make baby chickens. Some people believe if you have a rooster in the coop they’ll lay better but that’s not true.
Question #3
What are the chances that a fertilized egg (baby chick) ends up in my carton?
Very good chance if there is a rooster in the coop. But it doesn’t matter as long as the eggs are taken out of the nest. The egg has to be under the mother chicken, with a temperature of 99 in order for the fertilized egg to grow into a chick. It takes a chick 21 days to hatch.
Question #4
Do you have to refrigerate fresh eggs?
No. They’ll last longer if you keep them cool, but you don’t have to. They’ll still last weeks out on the counter. Some people never refrigerate their eggs and they’re fine. The ones from the store you have to keep in the fridge because they’re probably older anyways.
Question #5
How long do eggs last before they go bad?
They last several weeks in the fridge, probably two to three months until they go bad. From my experience.
Question #6
How can you tell if an egg has gone bad?
The smell. Or you can put them in water, and if they float they’re bad.
Question #7
What makes an egg double-yolked?
I don’t know. What makes twins?
Question #8
Do different chickens lay different colored eggs?
Yes. White leghorns lay white eggs, Auricana’s lay blue eggs, Cuco maran’s lay dark brown eggs. Different breeds have different colors.
Question #9
What makes a “rotten egg”?
I guess just the temperature. And how long it’s been sitting out.
Question #10
Does what the chickens eat really matter when it comes to their eggs?
Yes. If they are free ranged, and if they eat a lot of leaves and grass and bugs, the egg yolk will be a lot thicker and richer in color. It’ll be almost a dark orange. The yolk will be thick. Grass is the big thing on the color. If you keep them in a pin and just feed them scratch, the yolk will be more runny and lighter yellow.
We feed our chickens different minerals in their feed. It makes a difference in how much they lay. Calcium makes the shell hard. Soft shelled eggs have a calcium deficiency.
Question #11
What’s the differences between free range, cage free, and organic?
Free range means that the chickens are left out to scratch and run through the yard or the woods. They have an open lot where they can get to grass and bugs.
Cage free just means that they aren’t in a tiny single cage. They’re not in a confined space, they’re just loose with other chickens in a coop. A caged chicken, like a production chicken, is in a tiny cage and all they do is eat and poop an egg out on a conveyer belt. Our chickens are cage free.
Organic means they’re probably free range and what grains they’re fed is supposed to be organic. The organic market goes by certain guidelines to be qualified and labeled “organic”.
Don’t take my word for it, do your own research.
That wraps it up! Did we answer your question? Do you agree with our answers?
Anymore questions, please feel free to write us and ask away!
Check out more posts in Farm Life!
Interested in raising your own chickens from eggs? Read Incubating Chicken Eggs: Start Hatching at Home
