Blowing Out Eggs

My friend down the road comes most days and gleans our eggs. We get soooo many right now that we can't eat them all! She thought that some of our naturally colored eggs would be great to set out for Easter, so she blew some out... the hard way. One hole in each end of the egg and blow until your head feels like it will explode!

I knew that Sheepy and her family had made some Ukranian decorated eggs and that she had a way to blow out the eggs with only one hole and she had a 'machine' that did it for her.

When I asked about it, she told me she used a small fish tank aerator hooked to the hose with a hypodermic needle on the end. She said she had to be careful because until she got the hang of it, she blew up a bunch of eggs. She said I could borrow her 'specialized equipment.' (Farmers have alot of 'specialized equipment like that!)

Hmmmmm..... I decided that I could probably do the same thing here with thy hypodermic needle on the end of a syringe instead of getting a fish tank aerator.

I didn't want to wait until the next time I saw her, I wanted to try it right now.... sometimes I hatch a great idea and nothing else can get through my head until I get it done!

This works best with eggs that are at room temperature and a drill bit that is sharp. A dull bit will crack and break the eggs.

First things first, drill a hole in the end of the egg (or the side if you want the ends to show in your final project). I used a small bit on my drill. If the egg is sitting in the carton it has some support, which worked out well for taking photos with one hand, too. Drill into the egg, then reverse the drill and back the bit out. If you just pull the bit out, you will crack the egg.... guess how I know! A small piece of tape placed in the spot you are going to drill will help support the egg and help prevent the egg from breaking.

I used a 12 cc syringe with a 22 gauge 1" needle on the end. The 12 cc syringe is comfortable to hold and holds enough air to only have to open and close the syringe about 3 times per egg. You can use a larger and longer needle if you have them on hand. You can buy syringes with hypodermic needles at most local farm supply stores.

Sorry the photo is fuzzy.... trying to do this and take photos is really tricky! In this photo I am gently pushing air into the egg through the hole on the bottom with the syringe and needle. The hole is large enough that there is room for the egg yolk and white to squeeze out around the hypodermic needle. Of course, I do it over a container to save the edible part of the egg. 
I remove the needle and syringe from the egg to refill the syringe with air. Usually more egg gloops and slimes through the hole.

Once the inside of the egg is in the bowl, I remove the needle from the syringe and fill the syringe with water. Then I put the needle back on and force the water mixed with a little bleach into the egg. A 20 gauge needle is very small, so the syringe fills with water much faster without the needle on. The needle is so small that you can't shoot the water in very fast, either. Slow and steady is better for cleaning out eggs!

Next I remove the syringe and needle from the egg, place my finger over the hole in the egg, and shake the egg with the water and bleach inside.

Then I turn the egg so that the hole is on the bottom over the sink, and gently fill the egg with air to force the water and bleach out. I repeated this step twice so that the inside of the egg would be fairly clean and wouldn't end up smelling later on.

The photo right above has a piece of tape over the egg. If I wasn't careful with the drill bit, I would crack the egg, a piece of tape over the place I was drilling helped to stabilize the egg so that the hole would be perfectly round and nice looking.

CooleyBug (my neighbor) is away for a few days so I didn't get a photo of her beautiful egg display yet.... I'll add it as soon as she gets home.

Now.... on to the next project!

Update 4/13/11:
I found that if I put a piece of masking tape with a hole in it at the end of the egg, it makes it much easier to keep the egg from breaking. The masking tape molds to the rounded shape of the egg better than any other tape I tried. The hole in the tape helps the drill to stay in the right spot while I'm drilling.

The best way to see the hole in the masking tape was to put the tape on the floor. When I put it on the egg for the photo I couldn't see the hole, which wouldn't help anyone looking at the photo!