Can you please share your egg routine?

[BCchick]

Quote:
WAIT till sunrise! How early do you get up?! Good for you. My girls are at the door waiting for me to get my lazy self out there to open the chicken door for them!

I get up at 0630 everyday. These days it's still dark then! Lol.
Sunrise should come earlier after the time change.

 

[mommissan]

Wake up just after dawn. I run downstairs and outside (in PJ's) and let the girls out into the run. I tell them "Good Morning" and give them a handful of clover and a fresh pail of water in their trough (old plastic flower box). I then run around and check the nest boxes to see... nothing yet. I go back inside and wake up the rest of the family. (See the priorities here?) I send off the kids to school, hubby to work and run back to the nest boxes. I open it up and see that my EE is sitting in her favorite nest box. I apologize and she gives me a dirty look. I go inside and finish my coffee and wait for the egg song, which when heard, prompts me to bolt outside and collect my hot little green egg. I thank her and give everyone more treats. I proceed to violate my Red Star and Austrawhite's privacy in the same fashion until they give me what I'm after. I gently wash each egg with warm soapy water and put them away in a clear egg carton, so that I can admire them every time I need something from the fridge.

 

[Noymira]

Glad I'm not the only one who washes eggs! Mine are rarely "clean", not sure why. We do have a dirt run, so that's probably got something to do with it. Plus there are always pieces of pine shavings on the eggs from my Black Copper Marans, when they are are warm there is always a bit of damp on them. I rarely see any poop on the eggs, but quite often there is dirt from their feet, plus the BCM have feathered shanks, so they seem to drag in more of the outside with them.

I usually wash mine in just warm water, dry them off and put them in the fridge. Sometimes I forget the egg basket and leave it by the door where I take my boots off, or fall asleep on the couch and leave them on the counter. I don't get too worried if they sit out overnight, but I do refrigerate them, since I don't have much counter space.

My favorite part of collecting eggs is finding out which nest box was the "hot one" for the day. Sometimes they all lay in one box, other times I'll find a few here and a few there. I have one pullet whose been laying for two weeks and has yet to lay one in a nest box, they are always on the floor of the coop or in the run, I have to watch my step.

 

[stilldeb]

DH lets the chickens out in the morning (Lord love him!) and my chickens are all late layers so there are no eggs first thing in the morning...or even very many before noon.

I go out and talk to the chickens when I take a break (I work from home) and then after lunch start looking for eggs (have to take mealworms, for a "trade"). Otherwise, there will still be somebody "thinkin'" (sitting in a nesting box) and will just given me stink eye.

I always ask them if they made me any eggs, which are usually almost all in one nest box...ask the poor layers/hens in molt how long they are going to be "freeloading chickens" (Tyra, Marigold, Peepermint Patty - you know who you are!), thank the ones that made me some eggs and tell them how nice the eggs are. Hopefully, I have my egg basket. If not, put them in my pocket and hope I don't forget and lean over something and break them in my pocket (again!) before I get them in the house. Give everybody the worms they have been freaking out for ever since I opened the back door.

I take them in the house and put them in the fridge. If they are dirty (usually they are not), I wash them off a bit. If I really have to wash them I coat them with mineral oil to replace the bloom I wash off, which was recommended in something I read about washing eggs. It also makes them very pretty when I give them to my family/daughters and their husbands.

 

[aoxa]

My chickens don't have an egg song.. Is that normal? :S

Today I discovered I needed more nesting boxes.. 3 were laying at the exact same time in different places.. I usually collect the eggs after work, since my chickens seem to lay right around 11 am. We always get them, thank each one who laid an egg, call the others free-loaders, and bring the eggs inside, wipe off any that need to be wiped off, arrange them in the egg carton, and go back out to visit with the girls (and boys).

 

[cherylcohen]

I go out many times to see the different flocks and of course collect eggs, I also visit the ranch where my breeders are giving them fresh water and feed and of course treats. egg collection and then put them in the incubators. snuggling all the while

 

[Cpprpnny19]

Out at 7 to let the ladies out and feed and water all the critters.
No one lays early......

But back out at noon as there are usually 5 by then.........and out again
around 4 to get the last 2-3 laid.

Except last night when out with son I noticed a funky looking egg in
the roosting pen. One of the young hens has started laying and it was
a shell-less egg! Still wet from the hen lol! Showed it to my son and we
oohed and ahhed over it. Like one of those water filled plastic toys you
squeeze

. Son said it felt like Silly Putty.......


Lynne

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I keep dirty eggs in one basket, clean in another, on the counter. I don't worry about germs since my immune system is ok,and I don't want to drive myself crazy, and the eggs don't hang around long enough to go bad. They are in a place out of the way where is stays cool (65 degree or less) If they start to add up I make something egg intensive or mix into the puppy food, shell and all, poop is part of the puppies diet anyway.

 

[kfchickenlady]

Love these stories,

I go out in the morning to feed everyone, go into the coop and pour feed into their trough everyone comes, and they wont peck me as I check the nests, get the eggs, asking "wheres my eggs!" I usually have to move some broody or other off the nest to get the eggs. I have 17 laying hens and usually get at least a dozen a day, but lately only about 4 a day, due to molting. I waste time admiring all the birds and check on their health, etc, telling them how pretty they are...
I put the eggs in the feed can I bring into the coop, put it up high somewhere so my other dogs dont eat them while I finish feeding/cleaning the rest of the animals outside.
I hopefully remember to bring this can inside with me and hopefully it makes it past the laundry room into the kitchen where I put them in the fridge in a special bowl with chickens on it.

I do wash them with warm water and dish soap if theyre dirty, but they are usually very clean.

I arrange the very dark and blue eggs on top so I can admire them whenever I look into the fridge, do the same when I share eggs with friends.

If I forget to bring the eggs all the way in, I dont worry too much about it, I think they stay good for a few days, as long as the temp in the house is cool enough. I do make angel food cakes though if they dont get eaten right away.