- A hen requires approximately 24 hours to produce an egg. Thirty minutes later she starts all over again.
- A yolk makes up 31% of an egg's total weight and is made up of 51% water, 16% protein, 30.5% fat and some minerals. 75% of the egg is water.
- Australians eat about 3 billion eggs a year or 167 per person but egg consumption is highest in Japan, Mexico, Spain and France.
- To test an egg for freshness put the egg in a basin of water. Fresh eggs stay at the bottom of the bowl, while stale eggs stand on end or float because of the large air cell that will have developed inside it.
- An egg will age more in one day at room temperature than in one week kept in the fridge.
- The egg shell may have as many as 17,000 tiny pores over its surface. The egg can absorb flavours and odours through these pores so it is always best to store eggs in their cartons in the fridge.
- If an egg is accidentally dropped on the floor, sprinkle it heavily with salt for easy clean up.
- The Vervain hummingbird lays the smallest egg, about ten millimetres long. The ostrich lays the biggest egg, up to almost 2 kilograms.
- Kiwis have the largest egg-to-body weight ratio of any bird, their eggs averaging about 20% of their body weight. A kiwi about the size of a chicken can lay an egg almost as large as that of an ostrich. An ostrich's egg is about 2% of its body weight.