The egg that probably came from a constipated chicken

I enjoy Sunday mornings at the local farmer’s market. Fresh air, peaceful times, and 100% of what I spend goes directly to the merchants and farmers. That means all the vegetables and breads and meats came from the farmers, and my money goes right back into their pockets. In other words, I’m helping to stimulate the local economy.

Last week, I purchased a dozen jumbo brown eggs from one of the farmers. Eggs are great foods – you can fry them for breakfast, you can mix them in other baked goods, eggs are very versatile.

It wasn’t until I got home that afternoon, that I looked at the eggs for tomorrow’s breakfast choice and …

Well …

Take a gander at the egg at the bottom center of the photo.

Yes. That is really a wrinkled eggshell in that dozen.

This is new to me.

I looked up the information on wrinkled eggs. And apparently the main reasons a chicken might produce a wrinkled egg like this can include a chicken’s age, whether the chicken was stressed, or if the hen has the avian disease infectious bronchitis.

Now all the websites say that even if the shell is wrinkled, the egg is safe to eat.

I gotta really think about this. There’s 11 other eggs in that carton. That’s at least 11 other egg sandwiches, or maybe 5 1/2 omelettes. And I’m good with that.

The other thing to know about this egg situation is that big factory farms use genetically-designed chickens that are bred for optimum egg production. Anything that isn’t a perfectly white eggshell would not make the carton. With that in mind, this wrinkled egg is definitely a marker that the eggs from this farm are free-range and aren’t kept in factory barns.

But personally, I’m most likely going to leave that egg out of my diet. For now.

But if I get another wrinkled egg from that farm stand … I’ll let them know that one of their hens may need to retire from farm life.

Just sayin’ is all…