In article >,
"Pete C." > wrote:

> Chatty Cathy wrote:
> >
> > Andy wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > That's a tad neurotic! The whole survey is! I won't eat an egg if it's
> > > rotten
> > > and that's it.
> >
> > Was it? Just because an egg has a "string" or a "spot" does not
> > necessarily mean its rotten, IMNSHO.
> >
> > --
> > Cheers
> > Chatty Cathy
>
> Correct, strings and specs have nothing whatsoever to do with an eggs
> freshness.
>
> Pete C.

Disagree.

The white "string" you describe is normal. It's twisted protein strands
on either side of the yolk to help keep it centered during incubation.

Said strands are called the Chalaza.
The older the egg, the less prominent this structure is so it's presence
is desirable. Blood spots are caused by minor damage to the hens
reproductive system during egg development and are meaningless.

This particular discussion goes on all the time on Poultry lists. I've
been on Poultry lists for over 15 years as I used to have my own hens.

http://www.oeuf.ca/en/encyclopedie/oeufnatomie/

A rotten egg will generally smell. If nothing else, the yolk will often
not be intact on breaking an egg open, and the air space will be either
larger or gone.

When I used to candle eggs during incubation, I could tell right away
that I had a bad egg when I opened the incubator. The smell is rather
obvious. The "sniff test" was the quickest way to tell which egg was the
bad egg when you were checking them.

On candling, the air space was often gone as the internal egg structure
was deteriorating and the egg stank thru the shell.

With experience, it was pretty obvious when to toss an egg from the
chick incubator.

I hatched many chicks over 15 years or so of raising poultry.

That can certainly be useful for telling rotten eggs for eating. There
generally is no doubt.

Dad holding two of the last cochin bantam chicks I ever hatched before
giving up on raising chickens due to changes in city ordinances, and ass
holes for new neighbors that moved in from Houston:

http://i10.tinypic.com/63v6atc.jpg
--
Peace, Om

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"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson