Specks in eggs

Chicken farmer, here...

If you buy factory (battery) eggs, there's almost no way to get fertilised eggs.  We sometimes get roosters in shipments, but we hunt them out and separate them ASAP.  Blood specks are not permitted past the candler.  If you get some, though, it's usually no problem to eat them... and not usually indicative of an embryo.

We used to get people panicking about 'bugs' in our eggs.  These people were buying 'cracks' very cheaply from the farm... and we had a buckwheat system.  Well, we don't sell cracks anymore.  To the public, anyhow...

Eggs keep a long time, even unrefrigerated (though we don't recommend this).  Checking them is easy.  Shake the egg.  There should be no movement inside the shell.  None.

If there is movement, throw away the egg.

But yes, with free-range eggs, you can get a lot of interesting things.  A quick candling should eliminate the ones with blood spots/young chickens/whatever else...

Forgot to add...

blood spots are often an indication that the hens are stressed, if there's suddenly a lot of specks.

Chicken farmer, here...

If you buy factory (battery) eggs, there's almost no way to get fertilised eggs.  We sometimes get roosters in shipments, but we hunt them out and separate them ASAP.  Blood specks are not permitted past the candler.  If you get some, though, it's usually no problem to eat them... and not usually indicative of an embryo.

We used to get people panicking about 'bugs' in our eggs.  These people were buying 'cracks' very cheaply from the farm... and we had a buckwheat system.  Well, we don't sell cracks anymore.  To the public, anyhow...

Eggs keep a long time, even unrefrigerated (though we don't recommend this).  Checking them is easy.  Shake the egg.  There should be no movement inside the shell.  None.

If there is movement, throw away the egg.

But yes, with free-range eggs, you can get a lot of interesting things.  A quick candling should eliminate the ones with blood spots/young chickens/whatever else...

that's very informative - thank you! Iwas wondering about the specks as well, and usually just hunt them out and take them out as they gross me out.

I just read something here...


Somebody was mentioning the white thing next to the yolk and said it's the umbillical cord!!!

Um... birds don't have umbilical cords, or belly buttons.  It's an important question to ask everyone you meet... "Were you born or hatched?"  and then... "Can you prove it?"

The white (albumen) is the equivilant of the placenta I believe.

Thanks for the info, madeira!

This got me more interested and I found an FAQ page for an egg company in the US.

About that white thing:

The white cord is the chalazae and you want to see it because it is a sign of freshness. It is nothing more than twisted egg whites that form a "rope" to anchor to the top and bottom of the shell membrane and center the yolk.

And more about the blood spots:

Blood spots occur naturally when the yolk (egg) leaves the hen's ovary. A trace amount of blood attaches to the yolk and stays there as the shell grows around the egg. The egg is fine, but you may want to pick the blood spot off, or, if you're scrambling or baking, just whip it into the egg. But don't try that if you're Kosher. We try to pull all the eggs that have blood spots off the line, but sometimes, especially in brown eggs, they're hard to see while candling. But please put the misconceptions to rest - blood spots are not a sign of fertility nor do they mean that the egg is bad.

That explains why I've never seen them in eggs in America and see them fairly often here!

OK, but what does candling mean??

happy to report no specks in my eggs today.

i'm going to that farmer today to get more! he has happy chickens i think!

Candling isn't really a 'hi-tech' term.. or procedure.

Basically, you just shine a light through the eggs.  In a fairly dark room.

You can see specks inside the eggs, and whether the shells are OK.

thanks for the info about the white thing Jen!  But Im still pulling it out with a fork!!!!  Old habits die hard!!!

Candling isn't really a 'hi-tech' term.. or procedure.

Basically, you just shine a light through the eggs.  In a fairly dark room.

You can see specks inside the eggs, and whether the shells are OK.

Thanks... i was wondering that myself!