My entire life I have enjoyed eating eggs. Scrambled, omelettes, Eggs Benedict, over-easy (or is that easy-over?), hard and soft-boiled. It’s all yummy! But up until this past year, a thought has always been with me: “How come I’ve never seen any evidence of a baby chicken in any of these eggs?” It’s been in the back of my mind every time that I cracked open an egg that just this once, I’d see a partially-formed chicken embryo or something. It was only when I visited a farm for a friend’s son’s birthday party that I found the answer. I picked up a book in the little gift shop where it describes raising chickens. I discovered that the hens lay eggs whether or not they are fertilized. What a revelation! This actually explains why some people who do not eat meat, still eat eggs.
From Wikipedia:
Most commercially produced chicken eggs intended for human consumption are unfertilized, since the laying hens are kept without roosters. Fertile eggs can be purchased and eaten as well, with little nutritional difference. Fertile eggs will not contain a developed embryo, as refrigeration prohibits cellular growth for an extended amount of time.
I wonder if this is common knowledge or just something people don’t think about. I am guessing everyone but me knew this.