Here's another thought.......

[Snadger]

.............from the cobweb infested depths of Snadge's brain.......

When vegetables and fruit are hybridised, very little thought is given to taste!

Just had a couple of boiled eggs, without using salt, and I'm sure I preferred the taste and texture of one to the other.

One was a normal ISA Brown HYBRIDS egg and the other was a white egg layed by my Black Minorca.

I definately preferred the taste and texture of the purebred Minorca's egg as opposed to the ISA Hybrid's egg.

Which leads me to the hypothesis.............which breed of hens lay the tastiest eggs, or do they all taste the same in your view?

[RichmondHens]

Hmm, food for thought! My parents always say they prefer bantam eggs to large fowl (they may be biased, having kept them for 40 years). When we first had our own chooks, we bought Welsummers and Rhode Island Reds. Never really thought much of the Rhodie eggs, but always loved the Wellies, and not just for the colour. They really did seem to taste better. Since then have always had Welsummers, but never bothered replacing the Rhodies (although have an old Rhodie cross, the last of the line of the original gals).

[Snadger]

I prefer bantam eggs, but not because of the taste but rather the ratio of yolk to white. Banty yolks are the same size as LF so there must theoretically be less white!

[HayleyB]

Never thought about it but I reckon you have sommat there Snadge cause I prefer bigger yolks and less white but only have two banties one of whom has never laid an egg .

[di]

Aren't anty eggs supposedly more nutritious than hens eggs?(or was someone just pulling my leg?)

Despite being in the same run and having exactly the same diet our Cream Legbars eggshells are far harder to break than the Norfolk Grey and Orpies.Also I'm sure the yolks are yellowier.

[its hilly]

i love your throw away thought s Snadger.
Now youve got me really curious, I'm going to have to try a taste test or two.
as a follow on..Ive had eggs from the free range producer on the market, they are commercial, not hobby. Now although their birds are free range on good ground and not overstocked or underfed, their eggs dont have as much flavour or colour as mine from my free range hybrids. is that down to difference in breeding or because mine get their veg stew and other treats. Although mine dont get vast quantities of treats they get something different most days.

[petal]

i prefer the silkie eggs, yolks are big and a glorious golden colour.

[Shellintons]

I love the eggs from my Wellsummers and Cream Legbars. They are much nicer than the Light sussex. I do like my orpingtons eggs too but for pure boiled egginess, the wellies and the legbars win hands down. The children and Mr P agree with me but I think it's the colour the girls like.
I do like the bantam eggs for an egg and bacon sandwich though ;p

[Hilary B]

Breed probably makes a difference (bantam/large certainly does) but feeding will make a bigger difference. I would think that under average commercial conditions (even free range commercial) the feeding will be boring enough not to allow breed differences to show up. Once you are feeding them like pets (lots of veggie bits etc) breed differences are likely to become more pronounced.
Rhodies and LS are the foundation breeds for so many hybrids, mainly because they are pretty high-producing as pure breeds. It could be that the breeding for production levels has depleted the flavour ability. Just a load of guessing based on what happens in other areas. Breed for quantity and quality suffers.

[frias]

Welsummer eggs better than ex-batts but this could be because the batties are old girls and the whites get more watery.

[Brengirl]

I did mention on another thread that I buy bantam from our local producer at the market. I used to pay £4.00 for standard trays but have now switched to £4.00 for 2 trays of bantam. They seem to stay fresh much longer, the yolks are proportionally larger with the benefit that you can use a whole egg rather than half.