I love speckled eggs. My Marans hens lay the most beautiful eggs!
The only issue I have with my Marans hens, is their eggs seem to have more blood spots than the eggs from some of my other breeds.
With Market season around the corner, I thought this would be a good time to talk about spots in eggs.
Blood spots or meat spots in eggs is completely normal and safe. They are caused by a bit of blood vessel or tissue getting trapped in the egg as it's forming.
Inside the hen, little "yolks" are attached to her overy and fed by a series of tiny blood vessels. Each day, one of these develops and starts its journey down the ovaduct. Along the way albumen (egg white) and a shell is added. Sometimes tiny bits of blood vessel get trapped in before the shell is added. This is more common in brown egg layers and happens more often as the hen ages.
These spots do not mean that the egg is developing into a chick! Even with a rooster present, an egg will not start to develop until it's been incubated at about 100 degrees for 24 hours.
Why don't you find spots in store bought eggs? All those eggs have been candled-i.e. they have had a bright light shone through them to detect any spots. Eggs with spots are not thrown out, they are just put into bulk egg products instead of your dozen.
Bottom line, enjoy those farm fresh eggs and appreciate the variety in the hens and their eggs.
I think I lost a couple egg customers because of the blood specks, they think it's fertile. I've tried to explain the bullseye but the blood gets them :/ I had one lady tell me if you submerge the egg in water it washes the fertility off, LOL, okay...... Even my oldest didn't know we ate fertilized eggs. I tried to explain to her that you have to incubate them to actually make a baby. The same people that won't buy eggs with a speck of blood in them will throw a bloody pound of hamburger in to a pan and eat that. Baffles the mind.
ReplyDeleteI love my speckled eggs too. I call them freckles :) I finally hatched out some Marans. I hope they are a nice breed :)