Recently at a party a man i had supplied with eggs for free at one time sat down beside me and told me that the eggs he was getting from the social worker were much better, the yolks were oranger and richer than mine. He accused me of never giving my chickens people food scraps which probably contributed to the taste of the eggs not being as rich and vibrant. i told him the chickens get organic veggies and fruits from myself and my neighbor all the time. What he doesnt know is that when my chickens went into a molt and werent producing, the social worker was looking for people to take an excess of eggs off her hands and i recommended the man, seeing how disappointed he got when the eggs i brought were for our coworker and it wasnt his turn again yet. I asked her to supply him with eggs because i knew it would be a while before mine produced again. It seems to have worked out well as an arrangement for the both of them. He had already told me at one point in the past that the social worker gives him 18 eggs when i only gave him 12, so this was working out great for him, and i was happy it was and thought nothing of it. But now this felt a bit personal. I knew he had been drinking and so i tried not to pay his comments much mind. He went on about how the social worker lets her chickens free range and mine are penned up so hers get to eat all these tasty insects that make the eggs delicious. I cant free range mine because im at work during the day and there’s predators. I tried to focus on the party and who we had come together to celebrate. He didnt say any more about it, except that he didnt want or need my eggs anymore because the social worker’s were so much better and tastier. It was late when i got home and i still had to do all the chores so i couldnt be bothered to think about it just yet.
The following morning i cracked an egg for a quality control check. Inside was a yellowish orange yolk. To get it much more orange than this it would have to be fertilized by a rooster, at which point it would be very orange. I cooked the egg sunny side up and then engaged in the chew and spit method to taste an egg that i was allergic to (the reason i give them away).
The egg white was fluffier than store bought eggs. The yolk was bigger and oranger. It needed a bit of salt. It just tasted like an egg to me. It was not euphorically tasty. I wasnt having some sort of psychedelic experience. There were no tastebud explosions. I was just tasting egg. However, it also didnt taste bad to me. It tasted like a normal egg. I wasnt sure why he was complaining about a free supply given to him out of kindness. I texted a family member who i knew would be straight with me and asked her if the eggs were bleh. She responded hours later saying that they loved the eggs and they were much better than store bought eggs. I hadnt had a store bought egg in years so i didnt know what to compare it to. I took her word for it. They were on an all natural feed with built in grit, essential oils, and peppers for deworming and it kept them shiny and beautiful. Nobody seemed to have any complaint about the eggs while they were getting them. If the chickens molted or reduced egg laying due to old age, then people came out of the woodwork with insults and critiques about egg quality and taste. Again: im giving them away for free…im not selling them. Sometimes people remind me why i prefer the company of animals. They’re self-involved and at times, fickle.