Cold eggs

[Cyprus]

Well here, almost every egg is frozen and well on exploded by the time I get to them.
And they really do explode.

I always refrigerate my eggs, regardless.

 

[BReeder!]

Well here, almost every egg is frozen and well on exploded by the time I get to them.
And they really do explode.

I always refrigerate my eggs, regardless.

I do have the benefit of my wife being a stay at mom - she is able to go out a collect eggs in the early afternoon so they've only been sitting for a few hours at most. If I had to wait until the evening when I get home from work it would likely be a different story.

 

[aart]

I agree with this in the case of cold eggs. Cold dry air is likely to wick moisture through the egg shell and dry the egg a bit. Air sacs will increase a bit when this happens. I'm not certain that a few hours in the nesting box should cause enough evaporation though to cause the egg to float.

Cold air can be drier.... but no, a few hours in the nest will not cause that much evaporation....... tho frozen eggs might float, hmmmm, ya know, like ice cubes float. Have one out in coop, will try floating it tomorrow, if I remember.

As for old eggs though, I do trust the float test simply because i have made the mistake of cracking a rotten egg once and never intend to do that again.

How old?
How old was the rotten egg?
So you float all your eggs and if they float you toss them without opening them?

I gather all eggs daily, my birds don't free range so no hidden nests.
Have never had a rotten egg in my basket.

I gather frequently in cold weather, at varying intervals depending on temps, to avoid frozen unto cracked eggs.

 

[Cryss]

Once they thaw out, you can candle them. cracks, even hairline ones, will show up as white/lighter lines and spots. Which brings me to another question. I've got a bad case of Hatching Fever, but my hens and pullets lay at different times of the day, and no one is home most of the day to do an egg-check. How long does it take for the cold to kill an embryo?
Edit .. I'm moving this question to Hatching Forum, too ...

Thank you for the candling idea!

 

[WindingRoad]

All 5 of my ladies laid today and I threw them all out, they were frozen. I won't risk getting sick but to each his own!

Were they cracked? They may feel cold to you but not necessarily frozen. No need to throw them out. I just put mine on the counter in the kitchen and let them get warm.

 

[BReeder!]

Cold air can be drier.... but no, a few hours in the nest will not cause that much evaporation....... tho frozen eggs might float, hmmmm, ya know, like ice cubes float. Have one out in coop, will try floating it tomorrow, if I remember.


How old?
How old was the rotten egg?
So you float all your eggs and if they float you toss them without opening them?

I gather all eggs daily, my birds don't free range so no hidden nests.
Have never had a rotten egg in my basket.

I gather frequently in cold weather, at varying intervals depending on temps, to avoid frozen unto cracked eggs.

I don't float all of my eggs. I gather daily too. I would only float an old egg. Typically eggd only sit a few days by us.
The rotten egg, I am not certain how old it was. It was a dick egg my mother in late got from a neighbor. It was really rotten though.

 

[Kiki]

I don't float all of my eggs. I gather daily too. I would only float an old egg. Typically eggd only sit a few days by us.
The rotten egg, I am not certain how old it was. It was a dick egg my mother in late got from a neighbor. It was really rotten though.

A what egg?

 

[Cryss]

I'm pretty sure she meant DUCK egg..

 

[Kiki]

I'm pretty sure she meant DUCK egg..

I'm peeing in my pants.

 

[gimmie birdies]

It was 2 diff years, but my 2 best egg layers those years was a leghorn, and blue andelusian, and of course they are both not cold weather birds.