If you have never eaten really nice eggs, please try and get some!

[BadGardener]

OK I'm going to be a bit evangelical here.
About 9 months ago dh brought a box of eggs home which were a gift from one of his colleagues who keeps chickens.
They were a complete revelation - enormous dark yellow yolks, and flavour which made us realise we had been eating crap eggs all our lives. It was like the difference between instant coffee and real coffee. I made a batch of perfectly normal fairy cakes for dd's birthday party and all the grown-ups were raving about how nice they were, simply because of the eggs (I am not that great at baking.)

We had always bought free-range/organic eggs where possible, but honestly, the ones you buy in supermarkets are nothing like these were.

In the end I had to get my own hens, just to ensure our supply

It bothers me that there are so many people going through life not knowing how nice eggs can be. Please, if you have never had Really Nice Eggs, find a neighbour who keeps chickens, or stop at one of those places by the road where a backyard chicken keeper sells their eggs from their gate, and get some that are only a few days old and just see how nice they are [deranged evangelical smile]

I have a local farm nearby that sells eggs. I have never been in there, but always mean to.

You have just given me the push I need

Can you see where the chickens live Satc2? Are they properly free-range somewhere they can eat grass?

no.............I will not eat any eggs, nice ones or otherwise.

I've developed a farking intolerance for them and they make me feel like shite.

My DS's however eat the best that the I can find in the supermarket......I don't know anyone that has chickens, and no farm shops nearby

I am an egg snob but sadly also quite lazy. I used to get those blue eggs from the supermarket and they were a notch up from the usual free range etc kind. Think I'll go find me an egg farm.

Toccata.

I've never seen the blue ones.

It has to be a good egg farm - I think the 2 key things are that they need to eat plenty of grass or other green stuff and they need to be fed on high-quality food - your hens could have free run of a Capability Brown landscaped garden but if they were fed on fishmeal their eggs would still taste fishy.

I have a hen which lays blue eggs

Is it an Araucana?

my nan used to keep ducks and chickens, man i loved stayed with her, she made theeee bestest scrambled eggs and egg mayo rolls!

haven't yet found any quite as good, not even at the local farmers market, but they are better than the supermarket ones [yuck]

we have one egg every day for brekkie, always have done, and eggs in the custards/puddings/cakes at the weekend.

Its the freshness that makes the difference. Shop bought eggs can be up to three weeks old

It really does make a difference doesn't it? A few times I have had Really Nice Eggs from either the local farm shop or a couple of times from a friend and the difference is marked even against free range organic.

We have had double yokers before and duck eggs too which I think I actually prefer to chicken.

I'm going to the farm shop this week now because of this thread, I'm hankering for some Really Nice Eggs!

Our cream legbar lays pale blue eggs, the Marsh Daisy/Sicilian Buttercup cross lays lovely cream ones and I think our Malaysian (something or other) laid a round cream one today

We have access to Nice Eggs. You are right, they are utterly different. Coudlnt work out why my meringues were so rubbish til I tried Nice Eggs.

toccata: you should still get hens: if your dcs can eat eggs, then it's worth it!

plus they're pets that earn their keep

(and you can sell/give away the ones you don't get through)

Yeah, I will check out the living conditions first - but im sure their free - range.

Badgardener Speckle, our blue egg hen, is a Cotswold Legbar, which is a variant of Katymac's Cream Legbar.

My other two are a RIR (pale beigey eggs) and a Bovans Goldline (browny eggs) - they look really pretty together on my egg rack

I didn't know Legbars laid blue eggs - I thought it was only Araucanas.
My Gingernut Rangers are described by the breeder I got them from as 'goldline' but I don't actually know what that means!

Its just a breeders name, BadGardener One breeders Gingernut Ranger is anothers Gold Star etc.

Yes, you can get Cotswold Legbar eggs from - Waitrose! Of course.

I recently started getting what I hoped were Nice Eggs from our local farm shop of a friday, at the same time as I dropped in to buy a chicken for the weekend. But when I crack them, the white is sort of too thick and viscous - anyone know why? Are they actually really old eggs, and not Nice at all?

I've always thought a thick white is a sign of a good egg and a sign of freshness. Runny whites equal old eggs IME. Thick whites certainly make the best poached eggs anyway.

Actually, come to think of it, I have had Really Nice Eggs recently - from PIL, who keep rare breed chickens. A couple had double yolks, and they were all incredibly rich and very yellow. And a small-holder friend of theirs gave me some turkey eggs - they really were delicious - made a very rich sponge cake with some of them.

Gaelicsheep - oh, ok. They didn't taste off or anything. I never knew that!

I need to find a place where I can get Really Nice Eggs. I miss those yummy yolks, so yellow that they're not yellow but almost orange.

I'm not sure I "know" that either . Can any egg experts confirm one way or the other?

You're right, I think! I googled it. Thick egg whites = very fresh eggs.

(Actually, the vast majority of search results for 'thick egg white' on Google are not, um, culinary at all. Almost put me off my next egg.)