Perhaps you are wondering why it is necessary to perform a chicken egg freshness test when you can check your hens’ nesting boxes daily. But if you have come across a rotten egg at one time, you will not wish to have a repeat of a similar incidence. I have always made it a routine to check the egg freshness. This will determine whether a particular egg is fertile, spoilt or fresh. Maybe you too can consider taking into account this test to improve the productivity on your farm. Let’s learn together how to carry out an egg freshness test. So, how do you do a chicken egg freshness test? There are many ways you can test the eggs for freshness. From the floating test to bowl test and candle test to cooking an egg are all effective ways, you can apply to determine how fresh your eggs are.
Don’t be deceived by the visual aspect of the shells to think that all the eggs are fresh. You can only be satisfied when you perform one or several of the aforementioned egg freshness tests. This is important especially when the source of your eggs is somewhere else rather from your farm. Inasmuch as you may trust your supplier, it is never always right to assume that all the eggs coming to you are fresh. Take your time and do some tests to know the status of your eggs.
Chicken Egg Freshness Tests
The Floating Test
The float test is the most common method used by farmers world over. Even though the float test may not be 100 percent accurate, for some chicken keepers the test works pretty well. How is it done?
First of all, choose an appropriate container and fill it with water. Then take one egg and gently drop it into the container with water. If it sinks and lies straight at the bottom, then it is fresh.
But if the egg is a week old, it will sink at the bottom and tilt slightly on one side. The tilting will increase depending on how old an egg is. In other words, the older the egg is the more it tilts. And if it floats, just know it is already stale and should not be used in any way.
A fresh egg will sink and lie on its side at the bottom of the container. When it is a few days older, it will sink but one end will tip upwards in a slanting position. If the egg is stale, you will see it standing on its end. What happens when it is rotten. Well, it will float freely to the top.
Why should you use the floating method? The floating method works perfectly well due to the fact that every egg has an air pocket located at the broad end.
The air pocket provides the developing embryo with adequate air during the hatching process. As the egg ages, the air pocket becomes larger, meaning that more space is left behind. So, the egg floats the more it becomes older.
The Bowl Test
If you are looking for the easiest chicken egg freshness test, then you should consider the bowl test. As you may know, bad eggs can be determined without necessarily breaking their shells. Such eggs have their membrane intact hence, they are harder to crack.
A stale or rotten egg will smell bad right from outside and even if you forcefully crack it, the foul smell from the thick rottenness will become unbearable to you and anyone else around.
However, some chicken eggs are extremely hard to test their freshness by examining them. As such, you will only resort to the bowl test to find out more about their freshness. You should never rely on the appearance of an egg to determine its freshness.
A dirty and old looking egg can turn out to be fresh. But, when the testing is done on it and the one that looks clean and fresh. It can emerge to be stale much to your surprise.
That being said, you can carry out the bowl test by taking an egg and cracking it open. If the cracked egg does not have a bad smell, its egg white is clear and has good color then go ahead and use it.
Otherwise, you may throw away an egg if you suspect that it is stale or rotten. During the bowl testing process, make sure that you rinse the bowl thoroughly before testing another egg.
This is so important, especially when you come across a rotten egg. The main reason for using the bowl when performing this test is to avoid cases of rotten eggs. Also, undeveloped chicks from plopping out and messing everything round.
The Candle Test
From time immemorial, the candle test has always been the ultimate solution to determining the freshness of an egg accurately. In fact, the old-timers regarded the candling of eggs as the most reliable way of carrying out a chicken egg freshness test.
This technique allows you to test an egg using a candle, thus the name of this ancient technique. Needless to say, you may use a powerful light to shine through the egg in a dark room for better results.
However, you can look for a candling station to make the test look more professional or use a candle or flashlight in a completely dark room. Keep in mind that the darker the eggshell the more difficult it is to see through. There is no better way of determining if the eggs are fertile or not without the use of the candling method.
The candle test allows you to see a spider-like formation inside the egg as an indication of its fertility. The spider-like formation is nothing else other than a network of blood vessels running from side to side.
To carry out the candle test, you will have to shine the light (from the candle or flashlight) source next to the egg, paying attention to the broad end. If the light source is powerful enough, you will see the internal part of the egg illuminated to reveal more details. From your observation, you will be to tell the contents of your egg. If the eggshell is not filled up completely, then the egg is not fresh.
Remember, the more the air pocket in the shell, the older the egg. When an egg is fresh you will realize that the yolk does not move about freely. This is because the air space in the shell is small, so it doesn’t allow the contents to move easily unlike when the egg is older.
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The Cooking Test
A fresh egg from your chicken will have a good-looking orange or dark yellow colored yolk. This distinctive color makes the yolk stand up against the whiteness of the egg.
The white region next to the egg yolk appears thick, allowing you to see another thin layer of white around it. All these features will tell you that the egg is fresh the moment you crack it to reveal the contents in the shell.
If the egg is not fresh or is about one week old, it’s yolk will appear flatter and not as dark as that for a fresh egg. When you look closely, you will discover that the white part of the entire egg looks more or less the same as the yolk towards the edges.
If you fry the same egg, you will see a flat, pancake-like shape with the yolk becoming a little bit hard quickly. Such contrasting differences can help you distinguish between a fresh and stale egg.
Also, a fresh chicken egg will take more time to cook compared to the older one. Despite all these changes, both eggs will have the same nutritional value regardless of their freshness.
Related Questions
What is the main reason for taking a chicken egg freshness test?
The main objective for carrying out egg freshness test is to determine its fertility and how fresh it is.
Do you think a chicken egg freshness test is necessary when choosing eggs for hatching?
One of the main reasons for taking the chicken egg freshness test seriously is to determine if the eggs are fertile. In this regard, it is necessary to carry out the test to know which eggs are fertile before hatching them. Otherwise, you may end up counting losses when some eggs fail to hatch after the incubation period.
In Conclusion
Egg freshness test is one of the simplest tasks that you can perform at home to determine the freshness of your eggs. While some people may find it unnecessary, the test can make a huge difference if you are not sure about the source of your eggs.
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