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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I don't get a lot of extras but when I do, I feed them (scrambled) to the hens. If I get enough this summer, I'll share with the neighbor who offered to chicken-sit if/when we go somewhere....
Favorite egg recipe--Shakshouka, eggs poached in a rich tomato sauce, you can find a plethora of recipes online.
 
Right now I am getting around 40 eggs every day from around 65 hens/pullets. I am having a hard time keeping up with the demand from my customers. But, if I ever do have any eggs more than a week and a 1/2 old I donate them and plus I always make sure my wife's and my family have eggs.
 
My friend and I have noticed something about the easiness of peeling fresh eggs, in addition to the trick with soaking them in cold water as stated above. We noticed that her very fresh eggs, which she does not REFRIGERATE at all, were easier to peel than my very fresh eggs, which I put in the refrigerator for certain reasons. Interesting.
 
I have a dorm fridge on the front porch and an honor jar. If I have extra eggs I put up an "EGGS" sign and people driving by know there are eggs in the fridge. When someone buys the last dozen, they take the sign down. Looking for a winter solution... this year we've had below normal temps and eggs freeze.
 
Connecting with egg customers was a problem until we put a dorm fridge on the front porch. When we have extra, we put out an "EGGS" sign, and an honor jar with change in the fridge. When neighbors drive by they know there are eggs in the fridge. When someone purchases the last dozen, they take the sign down. Has worked great for spring, summer, and fall. This year we've had an especially cold winter and I can't leave them out.
 
Just a note on extra or "free eggs'!! My tax man told me to keep tract of the give a way's to pantry's, and community soup kitchens. Inventory by month and put a market value on them. They are TAX Deductible. So we profit two ways giving the eggs away. Less inventory, sale price deductible and a fantastic way to help the needy by using the eggs.
 
Could you not boil up the eggs and feed them to chickens being grown simply for meat such as Cornish Rock?
 
When we get too many and they start getting a little too old for us to eat we just scramble the older ones for the dogs. They love them, and they're very healthy for them!
 
I tried freezing eggs but found it unnecessary since the hens continued to produce the eggs that I need on a normal day; however, the absolute best use of extra eggs for my family is to create quiche mixture of eggs, cheese, and other ingredients then freeze it for future use. Use a 'standard' recipe like Quiche Lorraine or make up your own. I use 6 eggs and other 'stuff'. Should make close to a quart. No degradation due to freezing. Freeze and use when you need a quick meal - I pour into a pie pan that is lined with crust, cook at 350 degrees for between 45 - 60 minutes (depending upon the ingredients). Yummy!
 
We've got three hens, and when they're all three laying, that's more than enough eggs for us. We got some 6-pack egg crates and give them away as gifts. We live in an urban area with neighbors pretty close, and my hens can get loud (especially first thing in the morning), and we've found that sharing the eggs keeps the neighbors from complaining. They also reciprocate when they've got extra produce or herbs to share.

When we started sharing eggs with co-workers, guess what... so far, three of them went out and bought coops and chickens of their own.

And also, I work on a Tex-Mex food truck, and I'll take extras to work. We added a huevos rancheros to the "secret menu," and it's delicious. Crispy fried tortilla, refried beans, with a fried egg on top garnished with habanero hot sauce. You should see how excited customers get when I tell them the name of the bird who laid their egg. "That's from my hen Janis! She laid it yesterday." I've only got three hens and their eggs are all distinct, so I know which one I served.

I'm considering getting little one-inch stickers with photos of the hens to give to customers so they can wear a photo of the hen who laid their lunch for the rest of the day. They'd also look cool on the egg cartons when we give them away.

And I'm repeating another user's idea here, but we give them to the dogs as special treats on the weekend too. My sister is a veterinarian, and she told me that as long as I don't use butter or salt, a fried or scrambled egg is a very healthy protein-rich treat for dogs.

I once posted a photo on Facebook of my breakfast, and a friend commented "I'm so jealous of your fresh eggs." I said "I'm leaving the house soon for the day, but I'll leave you a 6-pack in the mailbox." She sent a message later that afternoon and said "I left you a surprise in the mailbox." She swapped the eggs for a GOOSE EGG from her parents' farm!
 
Just a note on extra or "free eggs'!! My tax man told me to keep tract of the give a way's to pantry's, and community soup kitchens. Inventory by month and put a market value on them. They are TAX Deductible. So we profit two ways giving the eggs away. Less inventory, sale price deductible and a fantastic way to help the needy by using the eggs.
Thanks! I did not know that!
 
I tried freezing eggs but found it unnecessary since the hens continued to produce the eggs that I need on a normal day; however, the absolute best use of extra eggs for my family is to create quiche mixture of eggs, cheese, and other ingredients then freeze it for future use. Use a 'standard' recipe like Quiche Lorraine or make up your own. I use 6 eggs and other 'stuff'. Should make close to a quart. No degradation due to freezing. Freeze and use when you need a quick meal - I pour into a pie pan that is lined with crust, cook at 350 degrees for between 45 - 60 minutes (depending upon the ingredients). Yummy!
When making quiche what's the best type of crust to use -- raw crust or pre-baked crust in the oven before adding mixture. I've made quiche only with raw crust and it bakes nicely with the quiche mixture but I see a lot of recipes using pre-baked crusts too. What's your preference and why?
 
I plan to try many of these recipes. I had one of "those kind" of neighbors who called to complain that I had too many chickens per the city folk ordinance so too many eggs is not my problem. Before that however, I had planned to donate all our excess eggs to the "Dare to Care" food bank which assured me they'd be tickled pink to have them. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I'm fairly sure the donation of cage-free, free-range, organic eggs to the food bank is tax deductible at fair market value or what they'd charge at the store. Even if you don't have enough to take the deduction there are lots of good reasons to help struggling families feed their kids, that karma stuff doesn't have to be a bad thing. Anyway, thats my recipe for extra eggs
 

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