How to store/keep eggs? My first chickens laid eggs.

[Texashatching14]

Hi. This might be a dumb question but this is my first time owning chickens and I've never dealt with it before! I have 2 pet 6 month old barred rock girls and they've recently just laid their first eggs. I am not sure when the first two happened, I just looked in the dog house yesterday and found 2 eggs right next to each other. I should throw those out right? This morning when I looked I found another egg in the dog house (why not use the coop I have no idea haha). So I know that one's fresh. What do I do with them? I think I heard someone say sometime to not refrigerate them. Is that true?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Congratulations that your girls are laying! It is so fun to gather your first eggs.

Several points here:
1. Leave some fake eggs in the nesting box to encourage them to lay there instead of their choice, the dog house (you could also block the dog house).

2. There are differences of opinion on whether you should refrigerate or not refrigerate eggs.

In Europe, it is illegal to wash eggs for sale as it removes the bloom placed on the egg as it is laid. That bloom protects the egg from spoilage (otherwise no baby chick would ever hatch as the egg would spoil way before 21 days).

In Europe they keep unwashed (but coop clean...no fecal material) eggs on the counter at room temperature. Studies have actually shown you can keep eggs fresh for about 6 to 8 weeks at reasonable room temperature.

In America, the FDA requires washing and sanitizing of all eggs for sale. Therefore, having the bloom removed, they must be refrigerated.

Eggs can keep for months in the refrigerator with no loss of flavor or condition. After about 7 weeks on the counter top, it is good to either use or refrigerate.

I'll link an interesting study from Mother Earth news below that answers your question in depth. http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-store-fresh-eggs-zmaz77ndzgoe

Have fun with your hens and your new eggs.

LofMc

 

[MMagic]

I also have my first flock and my oldest pullet just started laying eggs. So even in hot weather if I don't know how long the egg was out it sounds like there is not problem since the bloom is on the egg.
This post made me curious to search and see if any BYC polls have been done regarding how many people wash their eggs versus don't wash and refrigerate versus don't refrigerate.
Also, made me wonder how long eggs usually sit from the time they are laid in a chicken laying operation until they are sold in the grocery store, since some grocery store eggs seem to go bad fairly fast (certainly in a few weeks) as per the floating in water test.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I also have my first flock and my oldest pullet just started laying eggs. So even in hot weather if I don't know how long the egg was out it sounds like there is not problem since the bloom is on the egg.
This post made me curious to search and see if any BYC polls have been done regarding how many people wash their eggs versus don't wash and refrigerate versus don't refrigerate.
Also, made me wonder how long eggs usually sit from the time they are laid in a chicken laying operation until they are sold in the grocery store, since some grocery store eggs seem to go bad fairly fast (certainly in a few weeks) as per the floating in water test.

If I remember correctly, FDA rules state an egg operation has 30 days to package eggs from date of lay; then the distributors/stores have another 30 days to place on shelves.

So the average age of a commercial egg is about 6 to 7 weeks.