did you know?

• A hen requires 24 to 26 hours to produce an egg. Thirty minutes later, she starts all over again.

• The egg shell may have as many as 17,000 tiny pores over its surface. Through them, the egg can absorb flavors and odors. Storing them in their cartons helps keep them fresh.

• Do you know where the chicken dance came from? Some say it’s an imitation of the dance the hen does when she is laying her eggs!

• Eggs age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator.

• Also known as egg white, Albumen accounts for most of an egg's liquid weight, about 67%. It contains more than half the egg's total protein, niacin, riboflavin, chlorine, magnesium, potassium, sodium and sulfur.

• White shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and ear lobes. Brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes.

• To tell if an egg is raw or hard-cooked, spin it! If the egg spins easily, it is hard-cooked but if it wobbles, it is raw.

• The chicken is one of the first domestic animals, appearing in The East around 1400 BC.

• If an egg is accidentally dropped on the floor, sprinkle it heavily with salt for easy clean up.

• During the spring (vernal) equinox (about March 21), it is said that an egg will stand on its small end.

• Although some people have reported success, it is not known whether such results were due to the equinox or to the peculiarities of that particular egg.

• Eggs contain all the essential protein, minerals and vitamins, except Vitamin C. But egg yolks are one of few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.

• There are 150 species of chicken.

• Yolk color depends on the diet of the hen.

• Chicken are descendants of the red jungle fowl (gallus gallus spadiceus) that lives in Asia.

• Occasionally, a hen will produce double-yolked eggs throughout her egg-laying career. Lucky for some!