found 4 dozen eggs that were hidden in a pile must have been there a month

[jolenep]

We rigged a nest box in our coop/barn and had it elevated on tires so it was not on the floor and not
thinking that they would crouch under there they did and found 4 dozen eggs, old and dirty. I cleaned
them off but I don't think they are good to eat now. (samonella?) and we can't candle them cause they seemed to have been left there for awhile. So, my question is how good are the eggs good to
eat for human consumption or should I just give them to the dog and the chickens scrambled up.
I wondered why I was only getting 2 eggs every day (after Thanksgiving) instead of 5 which I should have gotten. I have 5 pullets. One cockerel.
How late can you candle an egg?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

You can candle an egg at any point but I wouldn't bother unless you think someone might have been sitting on them (in which case you'd have been missing a chicken). You could float test them, though it's not the most reliable of methods to determine age. TBH though if your temps have been quite cool you may not have an issue with cooking and feeding them all to the animals.

 

[brewfarm]

Where are you? I'm in Washington state and it's cold enough that an unwashed egg could last a month easily. I probably wouldn't eat them myself. I would wash them, scrabble them and give them your animals. My hens love crushed egg shells.

 

[jolenep]

thank you for the replies. I am feeding them to the animals but I would like to be
able to tell which pullets are laying which egg. I

 

[K813ZRA]

I am a bit picky about the eggs that I eat and even more so on the ones that I sell. If I did not collect them within a 24 hour period I give them back to the birds in the form of an omelette. However, out of curiosity I have left eggs on my counter unwashed for different periods of time throughout the year and float tested them. After a few weeks of time, say 3-4, they start to stand up in the water. Another week or two they bob up and down and very quickly after that they start to float. I think, for me, six weeks is about the limit I would trust an egg in such a situation. Less so from the coop where it was likely warmer. The fridge is another story. I have just finished up eating my eggs from fall this past month since my older girls were not producing. Just now had some start to 'stand' in water after about three months.

Never really kept notes or anything. That is just from memory.

 

[aart]

tell which pullets are laying

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/

How to tell which bird is laying which egg?
The only surefire way to know is to stake out the coop and catch 'em in the act.

Was egg stash found in coop but not in nest.....
...or outside of coop?

 

[jolenep]

inside coop.

 

[aart]

inside coop.

Why are they not using the nests?
Need to remedy that....and block off where they were laying.

 

[chickens really]

Toss the eggs out and get proper nests built..

 

[GC-Raptor]

I would like to be
able to tell which pullets are laying which egg.

I did it on the weekend. I started to stalk the henhouse at 5am when I open the coop and turn on the lights. . I only had 5 hens and 2 nest boxes.
I went out every half hour. If a nest was occupied I waited. If not I went back to the house and back to the coop in 30 minutes. At time my hens usually finished laying by 9am. Lucky me they finished before 9. . . . . .
But they don't always lay exactly the same every day, as you can see in this pic. . This was laid 19 days later. GC