Why Turkey Eggs Aren't As Popular As Other Varieties
When I was young, my mom worked for a local turkey farm, so I've actually had the rather uncommon experience of eating the super-large eggs that come from the go-to Thanksgiving bird. Most people have never seen a turkey egg, much less eaten one, and the reason — as with many things in the world — is financial.
If you had the option of readily buying turkey eggs, you might or might not conclude that you prefer them to the chicken variety. But lack of availability is the key reason turkey eggs aren't popular — they've never had a chance to be. And, very likely, they never will.
The overall cost of turkey egg production, paired with a low egg output, makes it financially unfeasible for farmers to commercially market the eggs. It makes much more sense, economically, to raise the birds for their meat.
Depending on the variety of bird, turkeys are ready for butchering beginning at about four months old, whereas they don't begin laying eggs until about seven months old. During that extra window of time, factor in the higher general cost of feeding and housing turkeys in a commercial production setting, couple it with that low egg yield (turkeys lay about one-third fewer eggs annually than their smaller fowl cousins), and they're literally worth more dead (on a platter) than alive (and producing eggs). This is the reason you'll always find the flesh of turkeys for sale in a supermarket, but you'll virtually never find their eggs in your local grocery store.
Chicken eggs win the popularity contest
There are some reasons turkey eggs, on paper, may seem like a better choice for household use. They're not only twice as big as their hen counterparts (yielding more eggy goodness), but they contain twice as much protein and are replete with vitamins, iron, and other nutrients.
On the flipside, turkey eggs are significantly higher in fat and cholesterol, which can be off-putting for some. They also have a thicker membrane and a more resistant outer shell, so they're harder to crack, making kitchen breakage mishaps more likely.
In terms of taste, many consider the two egg types to be pretty similar. From my childhood memories, they weren't — turkey eggs made much darker-colored scrambled eggs (not the light, fluffy yellow of a hen's produce), with a distinctly heavier and non-chickenlike flavor. The yolks are denser — my mom classifies them as "tougher" — and require a bit more elbow grease to beat into submission. It all comes down to what we're used to, though — if I'd grown up eating the more robust turkey eggs as my norm, I'd likely consider chicken eggs too pale and wimpy, with too light a flavor by comparison.
All other reasoning aside, at the end of the day — with the exception of a couple of duck varieties — chickens just outright produce more eggs than any competing bird species, including turkeys. For this reason, they will continue reigning supreme in our grocery stores, our refrigerators, and on our breakfast menus (though there are many satisfying ways to cook eggs for dinner, too).