Soft shelled eggs - can you eat them?

[Icemaiden]

One of my ex-batts laid a softie this morning (maybe becuase of all the stress & upheaval on Sunday?). It's intact, & currently in the fridge.
Is it safe to eat?

 

[Bickerton]

Can do but may have chicken flange in it so I wouldn't recommend it

 

[Marigold]

Yes perfectly OK so long as the membrane is intact. At least, the odd softie has never done us any harm! The membrane seals the egg, and the shell is only so it can pass out and potentially be sat on without damage to the contents.

 

[chrismahon]

One of ours had a blood spot in it today -fine when cooked. Yes eat it, as Marigold says if the membrane is intact.

 

[Icemaiden]

OK, thanks. Into the pan with it tomorrow. It would have seemed a shame to waste it after the hen had gone to the trouble of laying it.
We only had one egg yesterday but are back to two regular eggs plus the softie today, so I'm pretty pleased.

Bickerton: what's a chicken flange?

 

[Chuck]

There is a risk with soft shelled eggs if they are soiled at all, in which case they are best discarded. Hard shell and membrane are there to keep bacteria from getting into the egg.

 

[Marigold]

O course you could always scramble it in the microwave and feed it back to them - a bit of extra protein to help those feathers grow.

 

[chrismahon]

I saw Chuck's post and lost my appetite at the blood spot egg. So sadly it went down the toilet. Can't risk my health with our chicken's enclosure not yet completed - and so much work still to do!