No contest for me... give me the free-range hens with a roo every time. Do some people balk at the idea of fertilized eggs? I find it hard to imagine.

Free range + roo boys for me! :) I actually don't care flavor or nutrition-wise if there is a roo or not (no difference), with me I just think having a roo completes the flock and makes for happier birds all-around.

Velvet ~:>

Honestly, if I can, I will never eat another egg from factory farm birds again. Besides the taste difference, I really do not want to support inhumane practices, battery cages etc.

Free Range + Mr. Roo please :)

-Sheila

I have been tested for allergies to eggs and I am allergic to egg whites. Now, this may not make sense but if I eat a store bought egg, I wheeze like a squeaky door but if I eat one of the eggs that I collect from my hens (who have a rooster running with them) I don't wheeze at all. This doesn't mean that I won't build up an allergy to them but now I don't seem to be allergic to the eggs I gather here at home. So is it the eggs that I am allergic to or is it what is in the store bought eggs? HUMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

The eggs from my free-range hens + roo (no antibiotics) are hands down the BEST! The store bought eggs taste like rubber to me now. (even the ones that claim to be "cage free/organic").

I have a handful of muscovy ducks, not chickens, but I think maybe the same principles apply. I grew up eating eggs from the grocery store, factory farmed chicken eggs, so to me, that's what eggs were supposed to taste like.

The free-range duck eggs have a much richer, stronger 'eggy' taste and took some getting used to, but now I definitely prefer that taste. I have given the eggs to friends, some like the taste, some don't.

In general, it seems to me like the folks who tend to be a bit squeamish can't get used to the different taste, and I think eggs with bits of straw clinging to them remind those squeamish folks of where that egg popped out of LOL! Not like those super-clean white eggs sitting in a cardboard tray in the grocery-store cooler :-)

That's the main reason we go through all the work of having chickens - to have great eggs from antibiotic free birds.

Well.....that....and because they're so enjoyable too!

I've eaten both - can't tell any real difference in taste, but I do prefer 'free-range' eggs, because they're so much 'yellower'.

On the 'antibiotics' thing; let's get this straight - commercial layers are NOT fed antibiotics; FDA will not allow it.
IF there were a disease situation present that necessitating treating those layers with an antimicrobial in the feed or water, the producers would be required to adhere to the established withholding times before eggs from those birds would be allowed to be marketed.
Commercial pullets typically are fed rations containing coccidiostats, and perhaps other antimicrobials that have been shown to promote growth or diminish disease/death losses, but feeding of those compounds is stopped prior to egg production and marketing.
Just because an animal received antimicrobial therapy at some point in its life doesn't mean that meat, milk, eggs, etc., from that animal are 'tainted' forever.

I love the bright yellow my egg yolks give to the potato salad! No contest.

really, antibiotics wasnt the problem--seems the rooster was. lady refused to buy eggs, after she found that a rooster was with the hens. and-according to the books, the blood spot does not mean the egg is fertile.no, he objection was that she would be eating baby chicks. just wondered others thoughts on this, as i'm farm raised, thought perhaps i was biased. thanks, everyone.

They aren't baby chicks if the eggs are gathered and refrigerated promptly -- just the potential for chicks. It takes at least hours for the cells to begin to divide and much longer before there is a brain, an eye, a heart or anything recognizable as a chick in the making. The lady is entitled to buy eggs she feels comfortable about eating, but her scruples seem excessive to me. (Reminds me of the Margaret Atwood book "The Edible Woman" - a Canadian novel from the Sixties.)

I don't believe there is a difference roo or no, but you can't beat a fresh egg. Funny thing is my experience with roosters is that the girls are happier without one.

Aha! I see... the old 'that blood spot is the beginning of a baby chick' gross-out. This seems like a terrific opportunity to educate that lady on the fascinating intricacies of the chicken egg. You can gently tell her, in an offhand, by-the-way-isn't-this-interesting kind of way, that the blood spot isn't a chick at all, but simply a deposit from the hen's body when the egg was being formed--usually the result of a tiny broken capillary which left a tiny blood speck. Both fertile and infertile eggs can have these, and they don't mean anything is wrong or that the hen was ill. It's normal.

The same thing goes for the Chalaza, that white stringy, ropy material that people see in eggs. The Chalazae act as little shock absorbers, they help keep the yolk suspended within the center of the egg. Some people think that THESE are baby chicks--they aren't.

The spot on a fresh egg yolk that DOES indicate fertility is called a Blastodisc. You can only see these by cracking open the egg and looking at the yolk. The Blastodisc is the small white spot on an INfertile egg, when the egg has been fertilized the Blastodisc becomes the Blastoderm and it's appearance changes slightly. There is a GREAT site with very clear pics and wonderful explanation's here:

http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/b1166-w.html

They have a fertile and infertile egg yolk side by side, you can instantly see the difference. :)

Reassure your squeamish lady that unless the eggs are brooded by a hen for at least a day or so, no chicks are going to develop, and that you are sure to gather your eggs at least once a day. :)

Velvet ~:>

I had my hen for a year before getting a rooster-it really did seem gross to me to eat fertile eggs, now I dont think twice about it.

A friend of ours from the city came to visit and we gave her an egg... she said it stunk but that she would try it. she acted like it was weird to have an egg fresh from the chicken's butt lol I wonder how many city folk even think about where their eggs and milk really come from??

I am a country girl, and, of course, I prefer a fresh, dark yellow yolk in my egg! I don't care if a they have a rooster or not, but I do want those chickens free-ranging so that yolk will have some color. I think the real difference is the freshness! The chickens can even be in a pen, just so their diet has some good, green material in it.....

BTW, did you know not every country refrigerates their eggs. I can remember my grandmother selling her eggs each week for grocery money. She cleaned them and put them in an egg crate all week long to take to town....she didn't even own a refrigerator. Have you seen the Martha Stewart shows with a basket of her eggs sitting on her counter top? I think we are overly concerned with refrigeration.

gld

gld, I couldn't agree with you more! I let mine sit out for a couple of days, they are so pretty I love to just admire them on my counter :) If I need to rinse an egg because it isn't perfectly clean I tend to refridgerate it sooner since the bloom gets washed off.

-Sheila