The Great Egg Dilemma: Fertilised or Not?

Margo helps out at a local grocery store, and sometimes she comes home with a story that raises an eyebrow.

Yesterday’s gem came from a customer—vegan, apparently—who wanted a rock-solid guarantee that the eggs being sold weren’t fertilised. I’m no expert on veganism (I barely keep up with any of that business), but I do know a thing or two about chickens.

In commercial egg farms, all the hens are female, and there are no roosters in sight. No roosters means no fertilisation. Simple. And if we’re talking caged hens, well, that’s the most guaranteed scenario of all. A rooster can’t access the hens if his life depended on it.

Here’s the counterintuitive twist that messes with the mind.

If we’re talking free-range or backyard chickens, there’s a chance a rogue rooster could drop by uninvited and do the naughty. It takes but a second. That means, based on egg fertilisation guarantees, free-range offers none at all.

For protection, it’s best to go caged!

And unless hens have evolved the power of immaculate conception, fertilisation still requires that male bird (LGBTIQ lifestyles don’t apply here) to complete the circle of egg laying life. So yes, dear customer, those eggs in aisle four are just as sterile as a nun’s daydream.

Margo had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing, but I’m glad she brought the story home. It gave us a chuckle over dinner.

And yes, we ate eggs, unfertilized, thank you.

–Michael (Dark fiction. Author of SEETHINGS (the first book), free for a limited time)