Emu eggs hit market at £23.99 a shot

Word has reached the Forager that a flock of emus in Leicestershire, contracted to posh egg supplier Clarence Court (part of industrial egg packer Stonegate) has come into lay.

Hurrah for that! Apparently it is a pretty hit and miss affair, occurring any time between November and May – and even then the birds only lay one egg every third day.

Mind you, looking at the size of the things, that’s not altogether surprising. They’re massive! One emu egg is the equivalent of 12 hen’s eggs. Ouch!

And that’s not the only painful part. Apparently they are retailing for £23.99 a shot at Waitrose “for a limited time only”.

The press release accompanying this announcement contains several other fascinating facts about emus and their eggs:

• It takes 1hr 45mins to hard boil an emu egg
• 45% of an emu egg is yolk
• The emu is over 5ft tall and lays its egg standing up
• They lay 30-40 eggs a season and can live for 30 years
• Emus are native to Australia and are not aggressive