What to do with your extra eggs

What to do with extra eggs?

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I don't know about you but sometimes in the spring/summer when you have a backyard flock you start getting more eggs then you can eat, soon you have them stacking up in a corner of your fridge, and in no time at all they have taken over! What are you going to do with all of those eggs? Well here are a few things I have done when in this predicament:

Egg Recipes

The first recipe I turn to would have to be quiche, its quick simple and delicious. You can make it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner; I have also found it is a party favorite. You can put anything you want in it from ham, onions, and cheese to having it plain with crust (you can make it Gluten Free as well). Listed below are just a few of the many recipes you can make to use up your eggs:

· Frittata
· Deviled Eggs (party favorite)*
· Eggnog
· Egg salad*
· Homemade Mayonnaise
· Challah bread (my favorite!)
· Enchilada
· Eggs Benedict


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*note: I have found the easiest way to peel fresh eggs is by steaming them for 16 minutes then placing them in cold water (I mean very cold water).
***You can also check out the Official BYC Contest - Chicken and Egg Recipes - Win a BYC Cookbook! thread for more recipes or share a few of your own!

I'm not very sure where this one would fall under so I put it here :)! If you don't want to eat them then you could scramble them and feed them back to your hens, they will LOVE them and it is a great source of protein!
Freezing Eggs

Another method of using extra eggs is by freezing them for later, that way when the cold winter/fall months come and your flocks egg production is down you’ll still have eggs! You can freeze them as a whole, just the whites, or just the yolks but whatever you decide on do not freeze them in the shell (it could cause bacterial contamination).

Freezing whole eggs: First get a freezer safe container (like an ice cube tray or a silicone tray) crack one egg into each well (coating the container with coconut oil or some sort of cooking spray makes it easier in taking them out) and freeze. Once frozen take out and place into a plastic freezer bag, to use them you take as many eggs as called for in the recipe and defrost them over night in the fridge. Use them immediately and cook completely. They should last for about 6 months frozen. You can also freeze whole eggs scrambled: whisk the eggs lightly (you don’t want to much air in it) then add a pinch of salt. Also remember 3 tablespoons is equivalent to one egg. (freezing, storing, and defrosting method is the same as above)

Freezing Egg Whites: Separate your eggs then place your egg white in a separate well in your container as the yolk, freeze, store, and defrost the same way you did with whole eggs.

Freezing Egg Yolks: After separating lightly whisk the yolks, adding a pinch of salt to keep yolks from getting grainy. One tablespoon is equal to one egg yolk, so you can freeze it how you like just remembering to put one tablespoon for each yolk required in the recipe. Freeze, store, and defrost the same way as the whole eggs.

Selling Eggs/Trading Eggs/Giving Eggs Away
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If you have friends and family who love fresh eggs you could just give them a dozen or two to show your appreciate them (I’m sure they will appreciate it
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). Another option you should consider is selling your eggs. Now you don’t have to start a big business or anything, you can just call up a few friends and ask if they would like to buy some fresh eggs from your flock. I have found that whenever I do this they grab at the offer. As for price, I sold mine for $2.50 which is pretty cheap for fresh eggs. Check to see how much fresh/free range eggs are in your area, you may find you could make a small profit. Even though I don’t make a small profit it does help me pay for my flocks feed as well as bedding. Then lastly (but not least) you could trade your eggs with a friend who grows fresh produce, or makes jams, or honey, or anything else!


Remember these are only a few things you can do with your extra eggs, so get creative and don’t let those eggs go to waste! Feel free to ask questions or share what you do with your eggs in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

*Be sure to read the comments, there are so many helpful ideas shared by members!*
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Chicken Girl1
A chicken girl raising her flock of hens on 10 acres, with lots of woods and privacy.

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We donate our eggs to a local food pantry. They are happy to get them and their clients are thrilled to actually get something that is fresh. Some food pantries will not take them because of a lack of storage facilities.
 
Hi! I don't know how to reach my local people here so I will put this out to all. I have a store where I sell chicken and bee supplies. I need more fresh backyard chicken eggs to sell at my store. If anyone is interested and in my neck of the woods please shoot me an email. I'm located in Los Gatos California. Melody [email protected]
 
Lucky! I wish I could do that! But I don't have a rooster or enough room for chickens (but I'm working on it:p)! Thank you for sharing.
 
Lucky! I wish I could do that! But I don't have a rooster or enough room for more chickens (but I'm working on it:p)! Thank you for sharing.
 
Great Article, thanks for sharing!
I have frozen eggs, it works wonderfully
As far as recipes...breakfast burritos are good for any meal! Old fashioned Pound Cake also uses loads of eggs!
 
For those looking to donate to food pantries:

http://www.foodpantries.org/ will give you the food pantries in your area. If the "needed" items don't list eggs, and it seems they rarely do, email the listed contact (ours answered within 5 minutes at 11pm) or call during their hours to check. If there are multiple pantries, maybe look to see which ones are open 3 times or more a week - some are open only once a month (so unlikely to take and store eggs). Ours even offered us used cartons to replace the ones we brought.
 
Puddings and custards is good for using up eggs.
I use to have too many eggs all winter and then spring and summer my hens (gamehens) stayed broody so I got few eggs. I would give them to everyone I knew during the winter and wishing I'd froze some come summer, lol.
 
I've done all of the above! The food pantry was very happy to get some. My only problem is that their drop off hours only work for me in the summer, when I'm not teaching school. I also have a group of people that buy eggs. I've frozen them. I've donated 15 dozen to the local girl scouts for a weekend camping trip ( they had scrambled eggs for 100 people!). The dog and the hens love it when they get their share of scrambled eggs. My parents love when I bring them fresh eggs or deviled eggs. I have hatched some in the incubator and let broodies hatch some. I've donated some to the local high school for them to hatch. The only thing I think I haven't tried (Yet) is making a frittata. I keep saying I'm going to try it, but haven't yet.
 
Excellent article Chicken Girl1! Now that our pullets are also laying we have several flats piling up. Thank you for the ideas!
 

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