Can You Eat Eggs You Find In The Wild?

Just something that popped into my mind that may be handy for many of us to know.

Can you eat just any Eggs or are there some that you should just be weary of what it is?

 

I think it depends on where you are. In most cases, eggs from the wild will probably be okay to eat when cooked. Anything is better than the caged eggs you get from industrialized areas and from super markets (unless organic), but I would still be weary of the quality of the egg if the area you find it in is polluted. And...I'd be a little scared to crack it open if I didn't know where it came from and what type of animal it belonged to.

 

Domestic eggs for human consumption that industry sells are unfertilized. I never foraged wild egg before, but It will certainly be a different experience than picking a chicken egg from the fridge. Most wild bird eggs are edible, though. Be warned, don't try it unless you're in a survival situation since taking wild bird eggs is illegal in most areas. Additionally, fish eggs are very nutritious and at a push if you are really desperate, with a bit more knowledge you can consider some reptile eggs.

 

From what I know, any egg is edible as long as it looks like a bird's or a fowl's egg. Maybe I wouldn't eat a reptile's egg, huh. How does a snake's egg taste? I wonder. In times of severe hunger, the soldiers in Vietnam ate raw eggs that they chanced upon in the ricefields. There were even stories that they ate raw meat of rats, but that's another story.

As with the eggs, one good egg to eat is the turtle's egg that is found in the shores of mostly deserted islands. One navy man who was assigned in Turtle Island, a deserted island in the south of Manila, he said that turtle's egg is nutritious. However, it tastes like sand. So that gives me another point of thinking that how could I eat something that tastes like sand? Maybe I would just try to find some sea gull's egg that I can eat raw.

 

I wouldn't just assume any eggs i find in the wild will be edible especially if you have no clue what animal it came from. What if you're looking at a snake's egg or something, just thinking about it made me cringe. To be on the safe side, if you're unsure of the kind of egg you found, don't touch it. Just eat the ones that you know about like chicken eggs, bird eggs, etc.

 

If you find eggs in the wild, you need to hold it up to the sun or flashlight and see if the embryo is partially developed or not. You will get a surprise if you try to boil or fry it. In asia they call boiling a half developed duck embryo balut. I've eaten them before and it depends on how far along the development stage is. If its in the early stages, it taste good. If it almost fully developed you will see facial features and feather.

Don't knock it until you try it. It survival, so anything goes.

 

Haha, I have seen Balut before. Not something I think I'd try bar sheer necessity but whatever floats your boat.
As for the Reptile egg thing, I'm pretty sure you could tell upon touch that you have a Reptiles Egg, from what I've heard by all accounts they have a very soft shell, as opposed to the classic bird's hard shell we are used to.

@Endure, thanks for the advice. This wasn't something I was going to try though (but I see why being curious would be a strange thing, possibly) just something I thought might be handy to know for a post-SHTF scenario.

 

I think all birds eggs are edible. I have even heard of people eating snake eggs, people have said they taste like solid egg whites. I wouldn't try anything else because I don't know much about eggs from other animals.

 

I find duck and, especially, goose eggs to be richer and more flavorful than hen's eggs and they are plentiful where I live. If you are a much more fearless type of person, crocodile eggs and red ant eggs are nutritious although I have been told that the flavor of crocodile eggs leave something to be desired.

 

I suppose the embryonic stages of development of various animals are usually free of toxins. Thats why you find most animals being protective of their eggs. I concur that most bird eggs are edible. I should also add reptilian eggs. The most important thing to make sure of is that you should thoroughly cook them in case the animal has infectious pathogens which might be present in the egg. Wild eggs have the advantage of being organic. Make sure you scout for the egg layer lest you find yourself in a nasty confrontation with your wild hosts.

 

I've had baluts and don't care for them but as others have said, "survival is survival."

 

That balut looks disgusting. Sorry don't mean to insult you poster. But with all honesty, I won't even step my foot in a restaurant that prepares that kind of thing.