Posted on 12/05/2024 12:47:24 PM PST by Red Badger
And do they make better pavlova than a penguin’s?
Image credit: Mark F Lotterhand / Shutterstock.com
It’s that time of year again when many turkeys will be adopting an unfortunate position at the dinner table, as is the fate for many other birds classed as poultry. As domesticated animals, we use the products of poultry for bedding, clothing, and food, with perhaps the most common example being eggs. It got us wondering, why don’t we eat turkey eggs?
In the wild, a turkey hen will build itself a ground nest somewhere sheltered in the forest. She then begins a two-week laying window, during which time an egg can pop out every 24 to 32 hours, usually resulting in a clutch of nine to 13, says the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
It’s plenty to be getting on with for a new turkey mom, who will pop off between egg laying to feed so that she can successfully incubate her babies. For egg farmers, however, it’s just not enough.
Why don’t we eat turkey eggs?
In the United States alone there are around 2,500 turkey farms. That’s a lot of turkeys, and presumably a lot of eggs, but they don’t enter the egg market because, frankly, they’re not worth it.
A healthy chicken can lay an egg almost daily, making the *ahem* paltry 32-hour turnover of a turkey seem like a poor yield. Add to that, it takes turkeys seven months to mature to egg-laying age compared to chicken’s five-month waiting period, and they just aren’t as attractive a source for poultry farmers hoping to sell eggs.
a wild turkey among some trees, a second is hiding behind a tree trunk
You can imagine how keeping loads of these things is no easy task. Image credit: SNEHIT PHOTO / Shutterstock.com
If you haven’t seen a turkey lately, may the above photo be a reminder of how enormous they are (and vaguely threatening, if you’ve spotted the second turkey in this photo). Housing such a thing isn’t cheap as they need extra room and food to grow. It’s just not financially viable compared to other domesticated birds in the egg market.
Are turkey eggs edible?
Turkey eggs are edible, just ask turkey farmers. According to Modern Farm, they’re reported to taste very similar to a chicken egg, only a bit bigger with a tougher shell and thicker membrane.
The weird world of eggs
Slightly bigger size, tougher membrane, thicker shell – the turkey egg, while expensive to farm, is really quite normal at the end of the day. The same cannot be said of penguin eggs.
According to Robert Headland, senior associate of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, UK, the taste of a penguin egg is an acquired one, being “somewhat fishy as krill form a major part of the diet”. Donald Morrison, who lives in the Falklands Islands, told IFLScience they make a cracking pavlova, but it’s the boiled eggs that are really something.
Boil a chicken egg and you find yourself with that satisfying white oval, but boil a penguin egg and you’ll be faced with a ghostly orb partially concealing an orange ball. It all comes down to the ratio of glycoproteins they contain, according to the Polar Guidebook. While chicken eggs are rich in mostly ovalbumin, penguin eggs contain 25 percent penalbumin, which helps them to survive in the region’s freezing temperatures.
After all this talk of penalbumin, we might stick to eggs of the chocolate variety.
You didn’t miss anything.....except embarrassment, hangovers and the distinct possiblity of a DUI. 😏
They ARE a Noble Bird, but I’m glad we went with the Bald Eagle as our National Symbol. :)
Chickens are Gods most useful creature, IMHO.
Snake eggs? Platypus eggs? Turtle eggs? Duck eggs? Penguin eggs? Ostrich eggs? No market for them, either.
But people will pay top dollar for fish eggs! Blech.
Thanks for the flashback to a wonderful time in my childhood. 🙂👍👌
Depends upon the breed. I raise Buff Orpington and Barred Rock which are hardy birds for northern locals. (SW Wisconsin) Brown eggs, lay all year. The coop is inside of the barn and has two large south-facing windows so they get plenty of light.
Egg laying is dependent upon daylight hours. You can ‘fool’ some of the other breeds by keeping your coop lit 24/7.
My girls started laying in September. We have 11. We get 3-5 eggs a day, but you’re right - that will go down a bit in the long winter months.
And I know just how they feel! I am dragging until December 21st rolls around and we start getting more daylight every day until Spring! :)
I don’t want something that tastes similar, I want something that tastes exactly like an egg.
A friend’s daughter raised duck and he said duck eggs were edible, but different.
Well we had a small operation of 150 chickens at most and it was an open coop with an enclosed nesting area. In the winter back then (around 50 years ago), the eggs dropped off by 2/3rds or more in the winter.
We get duck eggs from our niece. They are every bit as good as chicken eggs and about 2 to 3 times their size depending on the breed. The shells are a little thicker too.
What would we do without comedians. lol
Enjoy!
Do you remember the breed you were raising then? And where was this located? The drop in production would make sense if they were just the standard White/Red Leghorns.
I used to have 50 at a time at my other farm. Mainly because I had 3 teen boys to feed, seemingly 24/7!
I sold the extra eggs to a local Deli. I’d package them in clear containers - I raised the ‘Easter Eggers’ with all the colorful eggs. Nice labeling with ‘Hand Raised/Cage Free’ notes and tied each dozen with a fancy raffia ribbon. (Women - who do the majority of food-foraging/buying - LOVE them some ribbons!)
I got $2.50 for a dozen; Steve sold them for $5/dozen and customers screamed for MORE!
This was in the early 90’s, well before everyone had their own FOUR laying hens allowed at home.
What I made at the Deli kept us in chicken feed and kept my crew fed. It was not a ‘Wharton School of Economics’ study by any means. ;)
https://www.si.edu/stories/domestic-turkeys-and-their-wild-ancestors
I buy duck eggs all the time. My oldest is allergic to chicken eggs but not duck eggs.
Duck eggs are better tasting than chicken eggs, imo.
eggsactly...
Found an ostrich egg along the roadside on one of my morning runs years ago. The egg was big. Took it home and left it sit. Don’t know ho thick the shell is, but from its weight, one would probably need a blacksmith’s hammer to get into it.
Basic White Leghorns mostly. Although I had a few Rhode Island Reds and Dominiquers, plus a few Bantams, most were the Whites.
Holly Springs, MS is where were were located. Actually a few miles outside town.
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