Egg storage

[rojororeo]

Quote:

Novel idea!

Though sometimes the chickens don't wipe their feet on the provided mat and use the foot bath before they go in the nest

Haha! That made me laugh! I hate when they don't wipe their feet! And I am just going red-faced and wasting my breath constantly yelling for them to do so each time I see a chicken enter the coop!

Why would Walmart have empty egg cartons?? Clearly I'm missing something here.

I wondered a bit too, but figured they are probably from the cake/deli area, or are from the broken eggs, and the non-brokens get consolidated into other cartons... but wouldn't that last one technically be illegal, as then the date codes aren't valid?

Yeah, I charge $2.50 for eggs from my 11 very spoiled chickens. They get BOSS and scraps (generally apple cores and veg bits) in the morning, some scratch before bed and have feed from a local grain place 24x7. They are free range meaning they can go out into the fields during the day all they want. They don't "want" when the ground is covered with snow like it is now so they stay in the barn alley. They are only caged to break them if they go broody (no rooster, no reason to sit on a plastic egg or empty nest for days on end - bad for their health). They are in their coop at night with an auto door that lets them out into the alley (easily 500 sq feet inside the barn) about 8 AM. So I can certainly say with confidence that my eggs come from free range chickens (which by USDA law only have to have access to "outside" even if it is a few minutes a day on a concrete pad) and would command a higher price than generic factory farm eggs. Plus my chickens (and most everyone's on BYC) are probably treated much better than most "cage free" and "free range" hens at large egg producers. PETA has nothing to complain about with my chickens

. Even a vegan would have a hard time thinking these girls are having anything other than a good life. The eggs they give me are a natural result of them being alive and healthy.

So technically mine are cage free then! They are in an open air yard the size of a nice neighborhood backyard.. can't let them be on the whole property as they would quickly become dinner/toys for our dogs. They get the same type of food as yours though. Yummy non-gmo, soy free, organic chicken feed, and all the human food scraps they can keep from the barn cats Very happy birds indeed.

About half the girls lay Large, XL and the occasional XXXJUMBO! The rest lay medium or small with the few that the 2 Cubalayas lay being barely USDA small. Couldn't see charging $3 for a carton that would rate USDA medium on total weight. After moulting, the bigger eggs are well into Large/XL and a carton of 6 "large" and 6 "not large" weighs over the USDA minimum for a dozen large eggs. So I suppose I could up the price but I'm only selling to 3 friends so I don't think I'll change the price. After all, they suffered with store eggs from Oct into Feb while my chickens were lazy butts and barely kept up with what we needed for ourselves.

I need to check some store eggs again to see the sizes for ours... so the ones in the store must meet a certain weight per carton? Interesting. It seems like all my hens are on the small side for their breeds, but they are all just coming on a year, so maybe not fully grown yet?

 

[RaZ]

Just to assure everyone as to the general storage period:
1) Look at a carton in the store.:
a) You have NO idea when the eggs were laid, but probably in the last few days in a store with good turn over.
b) The "use by" date will be at least a month and a half out out. So eggs that have been compromised are good for at least a month and a half refrigerated and given the litigious nature of our country, that 1.5 months is probably very "conservative".
2) Remember that a chicken lays an egg only every day or two and won't sit on them until there is a clutch so figure AT LEAST a week, probably 2, and the eggs are fine. If they are fertilized, they don't start to develop until they are at LEAST 85F. So you know that an egg laid today and kept at room temperature is fine AT LEAST 2 weeks and based on tests like the one in Mother Earth News Magazine, many, many weeks.

I wondered a bit too, but figured they are probably from the cake/deli area, or are from the broken eggs, and the non-brokens get consolidated into other cartons... but wouldn't that last one technically be illegal, as then the date codes aren't valid?

I was at the grocery store today and watched one of the baggers sorting through several cases of eggs that had been damaged during shipping. He was sitting there, taking unbroken eggs from the damaged cartons, wiping them with a rag and then putting the egg into another carton. The eggs that were merely cracked but still whole were put into a different container. I chatted up this worker to see if I could get some of the damaged eggs (I could use them for dog food). I was told that the "busted" eggs were used in the deli and bakery.

This store employs several "differently abled" people, so there was no guile in what this person said. He was doing the job that the "boss" told him to do. I don't think that there is anything wrong with the damaged eggs and using them likely would cause no harm. However, I'm sure that the damaged goods were written off to an insurance claim or something.

But it got me thinking...if they are repackaging damaged eggs, what stops them from repackaging other damaged or "expired" food products? Or using them in the in-store bakery and deli?

 

[rojororeo]

I was at the grocery store today and watched one of the baggers sorting through several cases of eggs that had been damaged during shipping. He was sitting there, taking unbroken eggs from the damaged cartons, wiping them with a rag and then putting the egg into another carton. The eggs that were merely cracked but still whole were put into a different container. I chatted up this worker to see if I could get some of the damaged eggs (I could use them for dog food). I was told that the "busted" eggs were used in the deli and bakery.

This store employs several "differently abled" people, so there was no guile in what this person said. He was doing the job that the "boss" told him to do. I don't think that there is anything wrong with the damaged eggs and using them likely would cause no harm. However, I'm sure that the damaged goods were written off to an insurance claim or something.

But it got me thinking...if they are repackaging damaged eggs, what stops them from repackaging other damaged or "expired" food products? Or using them in the in-store bakery and deli?

Huh... I too agree that if the store can be sure to not sicken anyone, then go for using the cracked non-sellable eggs, I hate waste!... Makes me sorta glad though that we never really buy anything from the deli or bakery section lol...

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Store Delis- don't you ever wonder where all of the food comes from for the deli? Whole chickens to rotisserie, veggies....makes me wonder about some big chains.

 

[KieksterChicken]

I have worked in a deli at a larger grocery store chain in the south. Rottiserie chickens are shipped in frozen from a large poultry company, thawed in a cooler and then cooked on the rotisserie. Meats for slicing are shipped in precooked from companies specializing in those meats and are thrown out no matter how much of it is left if it has been open longer than a week I think. I don't remember the limit on that though. Veggies come from the produce department, who has it shipped in from a wholesale market once a week and are used fresh. All the damaged over-ripe veggies are either thrown or given to people who have livestock to be used as feed. Bread is made in the store bakery from mixes for the most part and also shipped in from other companies as frozen dough and then baked at the store bakery. Most of the bakery products left over at the end of the day are thrown out but sometimes it's given to people who have livestock to feed them. The products these grocery stores use are not artisinal or free range or certified organic since they come from big food producing companies. However, the stores adhere to strict rules regarding safe food storage, handling and preparation as per Health Board rules. This of course involves proper refrigeration and sanitation rules. Most large grocery chains are this way. If you walk into a large chain grocery store and you can smell a spoiled meat smell from the deli or meat department don't buy their products because the only way that smell develops is from improper sanitation and meat that has gone out of temp and spoiled. Luckily the grocery store chain I worked for adhered to their own sanitation rules and food safety rules which were above and beyond the rules set down by the Health Board and we never had any problems from the health inspector the entire time I worked there.

 

[Sovereigngift]

We are new to chickens....what does the washing do that changes the egg to needing to be refrigerated, and what is the best way to wash them?

 

[Themehmeh]

We are new to chickens....what does the washing do that changes the egg to needing to be refrigerated, and what is the best way to wash them?

There is supposedly a thin membrane of chicken mucous on the egg called a bloom. When the egg is washed, that membrane is removed, exposing the surface of the egg and making it more vulnerable to bacteria.

However, I said up top somewhere, I've kept washed storebought eggs out on the counter for a month at a time and I've never encountered a rotten egg. I think we give the bloom more credit than is due.

The best way to wash them is in cold water- you don't want to use warm water because bacteria like it warm and if the water is hot enough to kill the bacteria it's hot enough to cook your egg. You can use heavily watered down dish soap if your intention is sanitizing. There are also professional sanitizers on the market for the purpose of washing eggs
to be sold.

If you want the eggs to last longer after you've washed them you can coat them in any oil that doesn't rot. Coconut oil or mineral oil are ones I see often. People use olive oil too sometimes but olive oil does go bad.

The best way to keep eggs is unwashed in a carton in the fridge.

 

[Phoenixxx]

We are new to chickens....what does the washing do that changes the egg to needing to be refrigerated, and what is the best way to wash them?

As the egg is being laid, the hen adds a very fine film to the shell that protects the egg from bacteria and other infectious agents. Washing eggs removes this film thereby allowing the egg to potentially become contaminated. That is why grocery store eggs have to be refridgerated - they get washed in processing.

 

[bruceha2000]

So technically mine are cage free then! They are in an open air yard the size of a nice neighborhood backyard.. can't let them be on the whole property as they would quickly become dinner/toys for our dogs.

Not only cage free but free range!

Per "code" chickens do not have to ever see the light of day, let alone go out of the building, to be "cage free". Cage free means only that they don't live in cages. They could live in a shed with only artificial light. The difference is a caged bird can't walk around, a cage free bird can. Meat birds are never caged, so labeling a meat bird "cage free" means nothing. You can find pictures of thousands of chickens living in a large building with little room to move. Better than a cage but nothing we would consider acceptable living conditions.

I bet you have happy chickens.

Bruce

 

[rojororeo]

Not only cage free but free range!

Per "code" chickens do not have to ever see the light of day, let alone go out of the building, to be "cage free". Cage free means only that they don't live in cages. They could live in a shed with only artificial light. The difference is a caged bird can't walk around, a cage free bird can. Meat birds are never caged, so labeling a meat bird "cage free" means nothing. You can find pictures of thousands of chickens living in a large building with little room to move. Better than a cage but nothing we would consider acceptable living conditions.

I bet you have happy chickens.

Bruce

I didn't realize the code aspects of that when it came to backyard chickens! Cool! I always feel guilty that I couldn't call them 'free range.' As in our house 'free range' is synonymous with 'dog treat' or 'dog toy,' so they have to be penned away from said dogs And they only have a small leanto, so nothing but happy sunshine for my flock!
I think they are very happy actually, thank you. Even when I step on the occasional foot and don't realize it- they just stand there and stare at me, off balance and wait for me to figure it out. Goofy hens. I love hearing the rooster find some new treats I hid for them. Right now they have a massive pile of pinestraw to play in. I put corn or scratch in it, and they spend hours playing in it. I never realized chickens could be so fun and calming to watch!