The taste of eggs

chrismahon

chrismahon

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Just had another disappointed customer. We only had 4 eggs to sell. We stopped putting out the signs months ago because people just call in on the off-chance that we will be in and have some.

"Why do your eggs taste so much better than everyone else's?" Asked the customer. "I stopped buying supermarket eggs a long time ago but even the little local producers are nowhere near as nice tasting as yours."

So what exactly does influence the taste of eggs? I've put my thoughts in a list and see what everyone else thinks.

DIET. Ours are on Smallholder pellets with no GM ingredients and no 'yolk enhancers' -the three permitted chemical colourants. They are all on grass runs which are frequently moved except two groups which are allowed 'free ranging' time, despite the fox problem, to compensate. They get a small mixed corn treat and then get 'fruit of the week' -whatever is falling off at the time which is plums at the moment as the cherries have been eaten by the flood of Starlings we had this year. They also get tomatoes later in the year and apple (stored in the cellar) all Winter. Plus leaves off the Purple Sprouting.

HEALTH. All are regularly wormed and generally happy. Coops are clean, dry and draught-free.

BREED. They are all Pedigrees and therefore produce less eggs than Commercial Hybrids. I think the slower passage through the ovaduct allows more flavour to be added to the yolk. As far as I am aware no-one locally sells eggs from Pedigrees, they are all hybrids bought specifically for egg production. We have no market for eggs outside the tourist season so hybrids would be a major pain in Winter with all the eggs to get rid of and a huge feed bill to boot. Our hens eat very little when they are not laying.

Any other factors?
 
Ok Chris, I'll chime in,

We all know I've only been getting eggs for about a month now, but I've had farm fresh eggs before. Infact my friend up the road was giving me some eggs here and there. They were really good, better than any "store bought" eggs, but they looked just like "store" eggs. The yolk was pale yellow and I think the reason is because they stay in their run and coop, no free ranging. They're given only layers feed and what ever few bugs and leaves that may happen into the run and or coop. His chickens are just that, chickens. He cares for them and protects them, but he has them for two reasons, eggs and meat. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Since we've been getting our own eggs they look and they do taste different. Ours free range atleast twelve hours a day. They eat Layers Pellets, bugs, grass, fruit, vegetables, alittle pasta here and there, cracked corn and cereal and they have plenty of fresh air. Something else that they get that a lot of other chickens in our area don't, is attention and love. I know this is crazy but Terri goes out every night when we shut them in the coop and she sings them a lul-a-bye while she strokes each and every one and we have 16 girls. It's one of the craziest things I've ever seen, but I think that has helped in them producing early. She is outside all the time talking to them. Those girls love her to death.

I'm a novice and I don't know too much about chickens, but I do believe in the old saying "You get more bees with honey than you do with vinegar" and our girls get "Honey" every single day.

The Breeds, we have two Hybrid breeds and five Herritage breeds. I honestly can't tell the difference in sight or taste of the eggs. They're all GREAT!!
 
Hi Wrigley across the pond.....
laughed at your description of your wife and cuddles to the chicks.
I don't lullaby mine, I think my neighbours would lock me up if I did, but I love mine to bits, and they know it.
Flower beds out of bounds, and they know it.....
Certain parts of the garden out of bounds, and they know it....
My last one to be added, Nellie, was out and about on day two, and just kept running to me for re-assurance, ignoring the other chickens, and making a bee line for me, thinks she is a real person.
When my granddaugher visited this week, Nell took a fancy to her, and followed her like a little dog, did'nt let Amy out of her sight!!
All this, AND eggs too!!!!!!!!
I saw your video and thought it was great, your commentary was really cerebral!!
 
Thought I'd join in! My three girls produce lovely tasting eggs (at least that's what everyone tells me as I don't eat them)! Mine get layers pellets, a cabbage 3 or 4 times a week, occasional fruit, corn as a treat, grass cuttings,very occasionally a little bread and a couple of handfulls of bird seed mix occasionally as a treat. Fresh water all the time which they don't seem keen on and would rather peck up the spilt water! Shortly they will will be having some elderberries when they ripen. However, the yokes are not orange but yellow. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought the deep coloured yokes were as a result of something added to the feed?
 
That's 'the yolk enhancers' I mentioned Damecluck. Three permitted chemical colourants found in the majority of feed and only avoidable in the shops if you buy Organic. We pay about 30% more for our feed than the 'coloured' stuff we can get locally.
 
Some of my girls lay eggs with orange yolks, others with much paler ones, some just yellow.
I have reached the conclusion it is something to do with the girl herself. They all share the same diet, all have the same things to eat, usually
S&P layers pellets, mixed corn as a treat, a bit of bread, 'cos they love it, and I am soft on them, and at the moment my brothers bolted lettuce from his allotment, which goes down a storm, and meal worms, - never rejected or left. They have cabbage, costly as it is from the supermarket, and the occasional left over pasta or baked beans (to kill for).
One thing is certain, everyone says super eggs, don't want any other.
 
if you only had 4 eggs to sell Chris does that mean they have stopped laying? We've had very few eggs for the last 2 weeks - the Houdans are definitely moulting but my girls don't seem to be yet.

Because the hens lay eggs with different coloured shells it's easy to see the difference. My Welsummers lay more orange yolks than, I think the light Sussex for example. The only "colourant" they get is cut maize and grass.

I've had to buy eggs fromm my previous supplier - they are (commerical) free range but the yolks are small, pale yellow (so no chemical colourant) and they don't have the flavour. They weren't that fresh either.

If I can sort the logisitics I'm hoping to get 4 more hens which I'll have to keep here, and then get working to bring my Welsummers here as well.
 
Some have stopped laying because they are broody, some because they were broody and some because they are starting to moult Margaid. So we get about 5 eggs a day from 22 capable hens. We could have done with a cash injection just before we go, but it now means we have feed left over at its use-by-date which is annoying. One of the Bantam Leghorns is laying thin shelled eggs so she is about to stop as well. I don't think the blood testing helped much either.

We had hybrids that laid huge eggs but with small yolks, not much bigger than the bantams. Lucy Legbar lays very occasionally now (she's 5) and her yolks are gold coloured, make up most of the egg and are quite firm. They taste fantastic.

I think some people cannot tell the difference in taste between small producer eggs and battery eggs. They taste what their eyes see. Guess their pallet isn't sensitive enough anyway.
 
Some of the better suppliers, such as Garvo and Smallholder, use marigold petals as natural yolk colourant. Presumably this isn't objectionable to anyone?
 
I think you are supposed to grow Marigolds next to cabbages to keep the butterflies off the cabbage. Perhaps it will keep the chickens off the cabbage as well?

If it's a natural substance I personnally have no objection to it Marigold. We are not organic with our feed as I think it's a step too far in terms of cost. However everything they consume in the Orchard has not had any chemicals (apart from the muck in the air) on it for at least 10 years. Exception being the tomatoes and cucumber that is growing in 25% chicken manure and gets trace elements as a watered feed about once a month.
 
I feed all my hens Garvo. I have 6 hens - 4 who live together and are fed Garvo Alfamix and the other two who live separately who are fed Garvo layers pellets. They are all kept in similar ways, in the same environment, just separated by a fence. If one group have veg, the others have the same, so the only difference is the Alfamix versus the pellets. The hens on the Alfamix lay eggs with lovely golden yolks, but the two on the pellets lay eggs with much paler yolks. Can't say I've noticed any difference in the taste though. In this case, the yolk colour must be down to the Garvo and obviously the Alfamix is producing the darker yolks for some reason.
 
Other possible variables might be the breed of the hens in each group, their age, or the length of time they've been in lay - we've all noticed how shell colour gets paler as lay progresses so possibly the same goes for the yolks? I'm just hypothesising here, I expect you're right that it's the feed which makes the difference, except that I think I remember the Garvo website going on about the marigold petals in layers pellets making the yolks yellower.
I wondered why you are feeding different stuff to the two pens, Sue? As Alfamix is quite a lot more expensive, I used to mix it in with the pellets for a treat, or just use it as mixed corn at treats time in the afternoon. My local Garvo stockist has given up, (too many bags delivered split on the pallet, so no profit in it for him) so the girls wont have that option any more I'm afraid.
 
Good point Marigold re. the breed/age etc., but mine are all the same age and all different breeds. So in this case that can't be a factor.

The reason I'm feeding the two hens the pellets rather than the Alfamix is because when I did fed it to them they just threw it all over the floor and wasted so much, which the other 4 hens don't do. Which is why they are now back on pellets (Garvo) and they don't throw that around! Their loss!!!
 
Garvo Alfamix contains significantly higher pigments than Garvo pellets, this probably accounts for the yolks being a brighter colour in the hens consuming the layers.
 
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