Rotten egg!

[Ja9]

I have kept chickens for 4 years and for the first time today opened a boiled egg and it was black inside. It didn't smell but I couldn't get it in the bin fast enough! Pre boiling it had only tilted in the water,not vertical and was about 10 days old. I have always stored the eggs in the fridge which I know isn't always considered correct practice. I also clean off any bad soiling on the eggs with damp kitchen roll. This particular arucuana has always had an intermittently dirty vent ,although quite well, and I suspect she has vent gleet.I am also aware that cleaning eggs isn't always recommended due to affecting the porosity of the egg shell.
How do others store/ clean dirty eggs. Really don't fancy using some of hers otherwise as they can be a bit mucky despite being beautiful blue eggs...and was the egg rotten!?!

[RichmondHens]

The only reason I know for black eggs is too long boiling. If the egg was rotten it would smell disgusting and most likely burst open during cooking, there would be no uncertainty about it. Muck on the shell shouldn't really affect the contents adversely ( you should see my goose eggs, they are often smothered in muck and still are perfectly good inside) although if you suspect the hen has vent gleet which is a fungal infection then it may have affected the oviduct inside - are all this hen's eggs the same or was this just a one-off?

[Bill HH]

Could it be that the egg had been hiding in the nest litter for a while?

[frias]

One of my hens has been laying eggs with a bit of blood inside. If I go to fry one it's easy to see the blood but if I boil the eggs the blood goes black. With eggs bought from a shop these eggs would have been tested and discarded but I find it impossible to know which egg it is until I use it.

[Ja9]

I had a pan of 5 of her eggs and all the others were fine. I always label them when collected so know it was only 10 days old and only boiled for 4 mins max.she has actually always laid really well.Still bit of a mystery and did put me off the other eggs momentarily!

[Floyd]

The Mrs cracked an egg into her Yorkshire pudding mix a couple of weeks back and it was completely black....trust me Usain Bolt couldn't have got the bowl from kitchen to dustbin in a faster time, the smell was unbelievable! Think it was one which may have been overlooked in the coop for some time like Bill has mentioned.

[Glutton4...]

I'd say, that bearing in mind your average free-range Chook has access to all sorts of disgusting things, is it possible that something she had eaten could've got into the egg, during the 'manufacturing' process? Failing that, it could be a bit of her 'innards' which they often 'put' into an egg. The blood content of which, would explain the black.

It would've definitely put me off eggs for a while.

[chris]

I had a similar one, but put it down to a hairline crack in the shell- the egg was a good couple of weeks old by the time is used it- all gelenatous (sp?) and dark grey when boiled.

Turned my stomach, but I'd rather put up with the odd grim thing and have fresh eggs daily

Just poached an egg laid moments ago-well, two... Amazing.


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[Ja9]

I am certainly looking at my eggs now in a new light., but they are still really amazing. Just got 3 more hens, too addictive!

[kathyd]

Re-the dirty bum thing - one of my araucana crosses is a bit the same - gets very mucky sometimes. I just use a pair of scissors and clip her around her rear end, removing any nasty lumps of poo and shortening a few feathers. Nice clean eggies for a while afterwards, and it must be more comfy for her .

[chris]

I find that when my eggs start to get dirty, it's time to give the coop a clean. That probably sounds wrong and that I don't look after them, but it works out at once a fortnight - which is about right right the number of birds and size of coop I have (5 hens, coop can fit in 12 easily).

[Snadger]

Are shop bought eggs x-rayed or anything? The reason I ask is that one of the allotment holders sells the few eggs he has spare.
One of his customers told him an egg had a speck of blood in it and she wants no more.
I have had odd ones with a tiny amount of blood in them but don't know until the shell is broken?

We are talking about 1% which to me is quite acceptable.

[Bill HH]

It is a quite natural for the odd egg to have a blood spot. It is easily removed if people wish.

[chris]

I have one hen who's eggs always has them in. Doesn't bother me - she seems happy enough, folk like that see why supermarkets are so late and powerful.

I think they are scanned (X-ray or laser I'd have thought) - "sub-standard" ones probably go into the liquid egg mixes that make up other produce or powdered egg.


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[Ja9]

Re-the dirty bum thing - one of my araucana crosses is a bit the same - gets very mucky sometimes. I just use a pair of scissors and clip her around her rear end, removing any nasty lumps of poo and shortening a few feathers. Nice clean eggies for a while afterwards, and it must be more comfy for her .

Good idea, shall give her a trim, she's not too chuffed with the hosepipe to give her a quick wash but again it helps the eggs stay cleaner for a while