On Thursday, July 17, 2014 6:45:25 PM UTC-7, Nellie wrote:

> Speaking of eggs, I had some strange ones the other day. I bought the same ones I usually buy and the yolk was fine, big and yellow, but the whites were watery, not viscous like they should be. They tasted just fine and the consistency of my omelets were fine, but those whites bothered me. I'm not sure I would want to use them in something else where it might matter.
>
>
>
> What do you suppose that was all about.

Found this at a poultry site.


Watery whites


Description
When an egg broken onto a flat surface has a watery, spread-out white, this usually indicates that the egg is stale. The height of the white and the weight of the egg are used to calculate a value in Haugh units on a scale of 0 to 110; the lower the value, the staler the egg.
A minimum Haugh unit measurement of 60 is desirable for whole eggs sold to the domestic consumer. Most eggs leaving the farm should average between 75 and 85 Haugh units.
Incidence
The development of watery whites is chiefly due to the increasing age of the egg. The rate of development is increased by high storage temperature and low humidity (see figure 4). As birds age, the Haugh unit value of their eggs decreases by about 1.5 to 2 units per month of lay (see figure 3). Some birds consistently produce eggs with watery whites (Haugh units less than 30) later in lay.