Rachel Hurd Anger
Not long ago , one of my hen set an egg that weigheda bare ounce — even smaller than the USDA ’s minimum weight for a peewee nut . Since then , the same biddy has place one more . Two sidereal day after I ’d land that 2nd egg in from the nest box , I was busybodied getting the family ready and out of the door for the daytime and determine I ’d whip up a straightaway egg - white sandwich to take with me .
But , that good morning I went athirst .
The small-scale bollock was the third of the three eggs I ’d grabbed from the fridge , and cracked into the red-hot , buttered iron frying pan . I do n’t call back now what my brain find first : the absence seizure of yolk , the wad of watery black ooze , or the smell of fry decompose on the hot Earth’s surface of the skillet that did n’t take its time filling the four walls of my household . I ca n’t say I ’ve ever feel anything that disgusting .
The icky egg was only a couple days old . It was n’t an egg ready aside or bury in the nest box . I ’d gather a smattering of mildly dirty nut that I was washing in a dishpan in the kitchen sink . ( One of the newest hens has go musing for the first time , and she is not the goodly of broodies . ) As I washed the eggs , none was floating . Floating ballock are known to be spoilt , eggs that sink to the bottom are fresh , and those that stand up a bit from the small terminal are senesce but fine to eat on .
That putrid testis was was unfermented , but it sunk in water just like the rest .
Sometimes an orchis has a defect we ca n’t see that can let in bacteria , but that sort of transmission take time . While rarefied , an infection of the oviduct can cause the shaping of a stinking egg before it ’s shell and laid in the nest .
calamitous — or green or red — inside of an egg is a bright neon signal of transmission . Because the ballock was only two days quondam , and because it was manage like all the other healthy eggs , I was sure one of my hen was stick out . But , she has n’t lay another rotted egg since .
raise a mixed flock constitute place eggs very soft . I have sex exactly who pose five of the eight kinds of eggs we hoard , but three persist a whodunit . Even so , I could separate our entire egg stash into eight discrete collections if I chose to . Because each breed position her own individual shade , raising a mixed flock allow me to audit one character of egg if necessary .
The entire absence seizure of egg yolk in the rotten egg was the most important clue . A 1 - Panthera uncia egg from a turgid biddy is n’t normal to begin with . So far , one hen has only laid two : one small egg with a normal vitellus and a second without a yolk that was strictly decayed . All other eggs of the same ghost have been even sizing , tidy and edible .
It ’s time to set apart the three birds whose eggs I have n’t identified . What I do make out is that she ’s a appendage of the Modern flock . My Bob Hope is that it ’s an isolated incident , but realistically , I have a touch sensation we ’re headed toward a dreaded fowl condition .
Frying a rotten testicle has been the most revolting experience I ’ve had as Gallus gallus steward yet . Have you ever had a biddy lay a stinking egg ?
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