How long do eggs keep????

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I would like to know how long do eating eggs keep? I have heard 3 months, is this true? Less amount of time? More? Is there a difference between how long laying eggs from home keep and store bought eggs keep? How long after the expiration date do store bought eggs stay good? Thanks for any help you can give me!

"Home grown" eggs will store longer than store-bought, because they haven't been washed.

From an old issue of Mother Earth News:

The very best way we've found to stash eggs away for long-term storage is in a sealed container at a temperature of 35° to 40°F. Their whites may become somewhat runny looking over a period of time, but even after seven months—the cackleberries stored in this manner smell good, taste good, have a good texture, and—in short—seem "almost fresh".

Here's how you keep all those fresh eggs for winter use:

Break two new-laid eggs into a small bowl. Using a clean knife stir the eggs to roughly mix yolk and white - do not beat.

Lightly oil a Pyrex custard cup. Pour in the eggs and freeze. Do as many eggs as you have and want to put up. When frozen solid, tip eggs into a freezer bag, fitting in as many as possible. Zip tight and freeze. You can add frozen eggs until the bag is full.

Two eggs seems to be the most useful amount for baking and to eat. They are thawed in the refrigerator, covered, beaten into milk, etc. and used just like fresh eggs, to scramble, make omelets, cakes and so forth

what does washing do to the eggs? Are you not supposed to wash the eggs?

The date on the side of commercial egg carton is the packaged date, and the sell by date, not an expiration date.

I sell our farm eggs; and in Ohio, you are required to show the date the eggs were packed on the carton.

Here is a site with some good information
http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ciq-egg-dates.shtml

There is a bloom on the egg when laid by the hen. The bloom is a layer of protection for the egg to keep the nasties out. If you wash the egg, the bloom is removed. You can wipe the egg with a dry cloth and the bloom will not be removed.

Thanks for the link it was helpful But I'm confused now:

Eggs deteriorate as soon as they are laid. Temperature is the main culprit, low humidity a contributor. As the warmth, bacteria and drying begin to have their effect, the egg loses it's quality. It is recommended that you get eggs to around 40 degrees F as soon as possible.
If you cannot, then you will reduce their useful life.

Eggs are stringently graded accordiing to weight, size and othe factors. Yet, some of this depends on you.
I have pretty low standards for everything, as most here will tell you. Ive eaten eggs discovered in the fridge after months of forgotten storage. No problem.
I wouldn't eat uncooled eggs after very long, however, bloom or no bloom. They can get pretty grody after a month out of the icebox.

Here's a few guidleines. Others will offer more advice as this goes on

Left on the counter top, a few weeks are tops.

Refrigerated, theyll last several months - 3 is a near limit.

Frozen, 6 months or so is recommended.

Put them in water glass and they can go 9 months without refrigeration. What will they eat like after that? I dunno, I've never tried it.

USDA advises: "Always purchase eggs before the "Sell-By" or "EXP'” date on the carton. After the eggs reach home, refrigerate the eggs in their original carton and place them in the coldest part of the refrigerator, not in the door. For best quality, use eggs within 3 to 5 weeks of the date you purchase them. The 'sell-by' date will usually expire during that length of time, but the eggs are perfectly safe to use."

Because we haven't purchased store eggs in forever, I can't really reassure you about them. Even before we started our own chicken flock, we purchased farm eggs locally. Personally, I don't think you can really know the age of the commercial eggs or how they were handled between being packed and being sold.

We sell our farm eggs regularly, so I haven't had many eggs go as long as 3 to 5 weeks. But in my personal opinion, a 5 week old egg is perfect for hard cooking for salad. My grandparents didn't refrigerate their farm eggs - they wiped them with a dry cloth if there was straw stuck to them, and kept them in a basket on the kitchen counter.

I am required, because I sell our farm eggs at locations other than our farm, to keep eggs refrigerated at 40° by the Ohio Dept of Ag. Your state may have different requirements.

Because eggs are a food, I think the best approach is to do what you feel most comfortable doing.

Eggs will keep for weeks even unrefrigerated, especially if (as discussed above) the bloom hasn't been washed off them. They were one of the foods sailing ships used to stock up on in ports for that reason. My favorite breed, Marans, was developed in the port of the same name to service the sailing industry. The French claim that they last even longer then other eggs because of a thicker shell and bloom.

And eggs are either good or bad - there won't be any doubt in your mind. So if you've got old eggs, crack them open outside and either eat them or toss them in the compost.

Dang, Oblio and I are on the same side again.

I personally never refrigerate store-bought eggs. Just a personal quirk of mine. My eggs last several weeks left out on the counter. They will last well past their sell-by date, even at room temperature.

If I have any doubt, I simply crack them into a small bowl and do a sniff test before putting them in a pan or whatever.

YMMV!

GREAT information everyone! Thanks for the replies!! Now I'm not worried about my eggs that have been in the fridge for a month and I will crack them open and investigate before I decide to eat them. And I have a good idea of what to expect when my hens start laying eggs.