I normally buy free-range eggs.

[reynardo]

But the other day the shop was way low on eggs and the closest I could get were barn-laid (which is where the hens aren't kept in cages but are free to wander around a large barn. Supposedly). I always check the eggs when I buy them to make sure they're not cracked, and I don't tend to keep them in the fridge as there's rarely room, and it's never been a problem before having the eggs on the bench for a week.

Until today:

Opened the egg carton, and one of the eggs had a dark trail of something-that-had-been-liquid across it. As the carton itself had no residue, I knew whatever-it-was hadn't just been dripped on, so I looked closer (but not too closely). A crack. With something sulphurously black oozing out. Ick.

The remaining 6 eggs were removed from the carton, and the carton carefully closed and placed immediately in the bin. I must have juggled it a little though - OMG the smell!

Then the eggs were carefully cracked one at a time into a glass. The first was dubiously watery and therefore donated to a worthy cause. The second had that dark-green watery warning that you have about-half-a-second-to-not-breathe-in-too-late! and also went straight in the bin. The third was dodgy to the point of not trusting it, and the last three were definitely on the getting-towards-stale side. They would have been fine in a cake, for instance, but the requirement here was for bacon, egg and cheese muffins, where the eggs have to be good. And definitely not to the standard of a Curate's Egg. I threw them into the frypan with the bacon rind bits that someone was going to get, because he needs his treats, but they weren't up to human standards.

So we had straight bacon-and-cheese muffins for lunch, and the rubbish tin is getting emptied in about 5 minutes once the coffee has sunk in. And I'll not be buying barn-laid eggs again.

Comments

[waitingman.livejournal.com]

I had an egg similar to your second one the other day ~ cracked it open, saw the dark green colour, opened my mouth to say something like "WTF" & promptly gagged on the stench

Thank god I was only cracking it into a cup & not directly onto the hotplate!

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Thank god I was only cracking it into a cup & not directly onto the hotplate!

Agreed. That's why I always use a cup.

[maelefic.livejournal.com]

Had an egg similar recently, but what makes this more disturbing is that it was from our own chooks out the back. Interesting thing is, none of them are sick, so don't know what was going on there...

I was making one of my patented scrambled egg concoctions (with various yummy bits and pieces in it), and it happened to be the third egg I cracked into the bowl. There goes the whole mixture :(

[shadow-5tails.livejournal.com]

I don't think this is so much a problem with barn-laid vs. free range, as much as an issue of how long the eggs have been in storage before they are distributed and/or sold. Typically, eggs sent to the supermarket spend weeks in warehouses first (in part, the cynics and conspiracy theorists say, so that you can't stock up on them when they're cheap and have them last for ages at your end), whereas eggs fresh from the farmer's markets or what have you last much longer, whether free-range, barn, or caged.

I'll confess that at present, there's not one free-range "stamp of approval" with enough credibility to satisfy me; I heard that one was starting up recently that would ensure adequate monitoring of approved farms to maintain standards, but even the RSPCA were selling their seal to the highest bidders, which made it meaningless...

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

True - it could just be that people buy the Free Range a lot more, thus leading to a much faster turn-around, while Barn Laid (which I understand is a fairly nebulous sort of description) may well be less popular and thus hang around a lot longer.

[velvetink.livejournal.com]

I've given up on shop eggs, lucky we are near some farms so usually pick some up fresh that way, and honey too.

[alchemon.livejournal.com]

And this is why I always do the float test on eggs, no matter how long I've had them. I've seen eggs gone bad in 2 days, so I don't trust anything anymore!

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

You're lucky, when Buzzy gives me a bad egg, it usually hatches before I can throw it away. ):=

[feodora.livejournal.com]

urrrrgggg