# Egg info from Grandma



## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

Just had a nice conversation with my daughters grandma who told me she used to work on a chicken farm. She candled eggs and boxed them. Meaning she would hold the eggs up to the candle light to see if it was fertile or not. They also had light under the conveyer belt to recheck before packaging. 

She told me: When eggs come out they are rubbery and soft and that the air helps create the shell. She also said eggs weight is more important than their size. And color doesn't matter. 

She told me: A fertilized egg will have a white thing in the yolk, almost snot looking. And to throw out any eggs with blood in them and try to figure out who layed the blood egg. Possibility egg layer is sick or needs change in diet. 

She told me: eggs you get at the grocery store are not fresh, they can sit in the egg fridge for up to three weeks before shipping to the store or longer during Easter. 

My next step in this chicken journey is eggs, of course, need to know what to do when my hens start laying. At this point, I am checking daily for eggs and plan to try the candling method. So much too learn!! Any thoughts or information appreciatted...

She knew about eggs not chickens, I will spare you the horror stories she told me. I have a chicken grandma now!!


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

Is she a feathered fairy grandmother? That would be appropriate for Chicken Land. Lol


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

My mother used to be an egg candler too, although it was a little different. She checked for cracks and blood before shipping them off to stores to be sold and eaten. None were fertile as there wasn't any roosters around but I remember her bringing home these enormous chicken eggs that were just unable to be sold they were so huge. They were like goose eggs and having 2-3 yolks wasn't uncommon. I even cracked one quadruple yolker open once. Morbidly I wondered what that would have made if it were a fertile egg that hatched!


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## hollyosborn (Jul 8, 2012)

my chickens eggs arent rubbery when they come out.. hard as rock... I candle my eggs every night.. fascination i have.. my kids roll their eyes. LOL


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## 7chicks (Jun 29, 2012)

I am always in awe when I get to watch one of my girls lay an egg. My mom who is still kind of afraid of chickens from experiences growing up, was made to watch one day. At first she was like - oh no thank you! I made her stay and watch anyway. Afterwards, she had to admit, it was neat & that she had never watched a chicken lay an egg before. Quite the process they go through it seems to me. I mean who wants to go into labor virtually every single day? Augghhhh. NO thank you!


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

Grandma did mention they looked for cracks and blood, too. She also mention the goose size eggs with double and triple yolks. I can't wait to see an egg laid. Not yet ready for chicks. My chicken family was unexpected, so I am taking a crash course on chickens.


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

I love these stories. I can just imagine these women working in these eggs processing places. They were our pioneers who paved the way for women who work today. How exciting listening to them talk about their lives. I have so much respect for what they have been through and what they have seen and done. Tell me more, tell me more!


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

She also said when they got a custom order for special eggs, they would stop the conveyer belt and change packaging but use same eggs, Nice! More money, same eggs.... lol


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

Could you get her to join the forum? What wisdom and history she wound bring.


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

?? she is more old school than me. She is planning to come over for a chicken visit..we will see if the fever spreads to her or not...


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

Fingers and toes crossed.


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## catlady6200 (Sep 6, 2012)

Back in the 40's my grandparents had a rather large chicken ranch, Usually about 5000 laying hens and 2500 fryers at any given time. I started working on the ranch at age 8. Gathered eggs first thing in the morning, then fed, watered, moved eggs to separater room, all before breakfast. After breakfast we candled all the eggs and separated them to size, and then moved on to killing the chickens they had orders for. Lots to help with for an 8 year old. You would think I would have not liked chicken anymore after the way they were raised and killed but still my favorite meat. 
When we moved back to the country we got chickens again but the most we had were 75 at a time. Got rid of them when I had to go back to work so it has been 30 years since I have had chickens. My small flock are now pets, not for eating, just for eggs (when that finally happens) and of course to love. Always they were for commercial purposes so this pet thing is new to me. Never knew they could be so loving.


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## TinyHouse (Aug 31, 2012)

This brings back some (hazy) memories. My step-mother told us that she used to have a job candling eggs and that is ALL I remember. I just didn't give it much thought at the time...... now I wish I'd asked her questions about it.....


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

Probably a good thing you didn't know how loving chickens could be, Catlady. That would have been very difficult emotionally for you as an 8 year old.


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

I asked Grandma how come you never told me any of this info, I never knew? She said, you never had chickens. 

I love the stories, too!!


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## TinyHouse (Aug 31, 2012)

catlady6200 said:


> Back in the 40's my grandparents had a rather large chicken ranch, Usually about 5000 laying hens and 2500 fryers at any given time. I started working on the ranch at age 8. Gathered eggs first thing in the morning, then fed, watered, moved eggs to separater room, all before breakfast. After breakfast we candled all the eggs and separated them to size, and then moved on to killing the chickens they had orders for. Lots to help with for an 8 year old. You would think I would have not liked chicken anymore after the way they were raised and killed but still my favorite meat.
> When we moved back to the country we got chickens again but the most we had were 75 at a time. Got rid of them when I had to go back to work so it has been 30 years since I have had chickens. My small flock are now pets, not for eating, just for eggs (when that finally happens) and of course to love. Always they were for commercial purposes so this pet thing is new to me. Never knew they could be so loving.


Sounds a lot like my childhood.  My grandmother lived with us after my mother passed away when I was in 2nd grade. The chickens were "hers". I helped with all the chicken chores growing up too and didn't much like the chickens. It was nothing for my grandma to grab the axe and butcher one or a few - I got to see the whole thing and it never bothered me at all to see a chicken being slaughtered (still doesn't but it's done way "nicer" than the way she did it).

If you would have told me 10 years ago that I'd be "in love" with chickens, I would have said you were crazy. In fact, I lived out in the country, had a big garden and plenty of room, we have always loved EATING eggs, but it just struck me the other day that having chickens never once entered my mind THEN. I wonder why that was.... timing I guess. Everything in it's own time - and now is mine for having chickens again, on my terms.


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

Grandma sad no sorry.....I asked her to write a paper on her experience, so we will see, no promises.


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## Jules (Sep 11, 2012)

BootedBantam said:


> Grandma sad no sorry.....I asked her to write a paper on her experience, so we will see, no promises.


That is such a shame. The wealth of knowledge she would have but then in her day she probably wouldn't take a poorly chicken to the vet, just take an axe to it!!

Hey ho....thank heavens for pet shops


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

Booty, you could interview Grandma and put that in your book too. Record it all so you can transcribe it later.


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## kejmack (Sep 3, 2012)

Hate to tell you but eggs are HARD when they come out. That is why you get hens that are "egg bound". 

Secondly, maybe it is just being ex-Amish and all, but we never candled eggs. And, we have never worried about eggs with blood either. We eat them all.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

You might not care but I am afraid the Health Department feels otherwise. They are of the opinion cracked eggs shouldn't be sold to the public for consumption, which is probably best because you don't know how long they're going to be lying around on a shelf before they are sold. (Those ones were given to the egg beater company to test their new models on - I kid you not!) As for the blood - I think that was just the business' way of trying not to freak out their less informed customers.


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

I didn't say she was right, I said this is what she told me, and asked for thoughts on the subject. Further research did answer a few questions on eggs for me

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Shell_Eggs_from_Farm_to_Table.pdf


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## TinyHouse (Aug 31, 2012)

WeeLittleChicken said:


> You might not care but I am afraid the Health Department feels otherwise. They are of the opinion cracked eggs shouldn't be sold to the public for consumption, which is probably best because you don't know how long they're going to be lying around on a shelf before they are sold. (Those ones were given to the egg beater company to test their new models on - I kid you not!) As for the blood - I think that was just the business' way of trying not to freak out their less informed customers.


I guess I must have missed it somewhere, but who said it was OK to eat cracked eggs? I do know that if the membrane inside isn't torn, then it probably is OK, but I myself would play it safe and not eat a cracked egg.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

That's why the eggs were being candled... one person was checking fertility and another was finding cracks and blood. I think its on page 1 somewhere.


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## TinyHouse (Aug 31, 2012)

Ohhhhh......


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

http://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-facts/basic-egg-facts/history-of-egg-production/from-ancient-times


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

http://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-facts/egg-industry-evolution


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

http://www.aeb.org/egg-industry/related-links


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

http://www.eggnutritioncenter.org/egg-facts/other-egg-sites/


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

http://www.afn.org/~poultry/flkman4.htm and that is it for tonight's research.....


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## BootedBantam (Aug 31, 2012)

And I did read that blood eggs are okay to eat, just my choice not to eat them.


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## Jules (Sep 11, 2012)

BootedBantam said:


> And I did read that blood eggs are okay to eat, just my choice not to eat them.


Must admit that I eat/use them. If I find them with a cracked shell then they get binned...unless it's me that's cracked it


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