Last week was Farm Week in our nursery, Miss Rowe brought the hens in so the children could learn a bit more about why farmers keep hens. Of course the children have met the hens before many times, this week we really focused on egg production and what that means for us humans. The children were shown shop bought eggs, all clean, uniform in size and colour. Miss Rowe asked the children to look at the hens and think what kind of eggs they might lay. Small hens, small eggs perhaps? So to get the uniform eggs we like to see in the shops all the hens need to be the same breed, the same size and be kept under the same conditions. They saw the stamp on the shop eggs, letting us know the egg has been checked and is safe to eat. But what about our hens eggs? They loved to see the variety of sizes and colours and tried to guess which hen laid which egg. The blue and green eggs are always the favourites, They were surprised to see how much brighter the yolks were in our hens eggs. The happier and healthier the hen the brighter the yolk.
So how can we tell if ours are safe to eat, because we can’t see mould like with other food or smell inside, so we use a water test. A good egg will lay on the bottom of a jug of water firmly on its side. An egg that’s on the turn will tip up and be suspended upright, hmm that might be getting a bit risky to eat. A rotten egg, well that will be floating on the top of the water. We definitely avoid those ones. As Miss Rowe tested the eggs the children shouted out of they thought it was safe or not. Then we went outside so the children could collect the freshly laid eggs which the children got to cook and eat later in the week. Let’s hope they tested them first!
