Hatching shop eggs?

[Kalei]

I've always had this fear of eating eggs and whenever I do eat eggs I take a fork and take off that little whiteish thing that hangs onto the yolk. I'm not sure what it is, but I always take it off. I use to think it was where the egg was ferilized but at least now I know that I'm wrong.

And any of you tell me what that little white thing is?

[Twisterdog]

If you buy organic or free-range eggs, there is a greater likelihood that one might be fertilized. However, it's still a very small chance. The eggs you buy that aren't free range are produced by hens that have never seen the light of day, never been out of tiny cage, and most certainly never met a rooster. The male chicks go to slaughter houses to become the chicken we eat, and the females go to produce eggs.

I ALWAYS buy free-range eggs. At least the hens producing these eggs get to be outside, scratch in the dirt and have a somewhat normal life. The condidions laying hens are kept in otherwise are deplorable. I won't mention specifics here, because it is VERY disturbing, and I don't want to subject anyone to it if they weren't expecting it on this thread. However, if you are interested, google it. You will shocked, I guarantee, and you will only buy free-range eggs after reading it.

I can't remember exactly what that little white thing is called or what it's for, Kalei, but I DO remember reading it somewhere at some point in the past. It has nothing to do with the egg being fertilized or a chick, I do know that.

[lute]

I had heard that on the VERY rare occation you could get a fertile egg from the store, but it's extreamly unlikely. I've never tried to tell if one was fertile or not. After showing my parents a video on the lives of factory chickens we've started getting our eggs from a friend that has chickens. Only until my chickens start laying!

[TamanduaGirl]

Free range is NOT cage free. A farm need only put the same cages out side to be free range, isn't that lovely.

CAGE FREE is when they are what most of us think of as free range, given space to move around outside. This still means they could just be in a small pen outside but better than a tinny cage.

It is always much better to buy local. That just means with in a few hundred miles and is do able for most people. Ideally you can find farms that sell dirrectly to the public and vist and buy your food from them and so see how the animals are kept.

Then there are CSA's they buy from local farmers and deliver to you. This works great for a lot of people, they are most common for produce but some meat ones exist. you can find CSA's that specialize in organic and humanely raised or ask them what the farmer/ranchers practices are. the one's i've seen in the anual publication on buying local you pay a sort of membership fee and are sent your part of the harvests.

If all else fails there is the farmers market for some things and you can always ask around at the suppliers there about things you want but don't see.

http://www.localharvest.org/
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml