Cold weather, frozen eggs. Still edible?

[penella22]

Hi everyone,

Very new to chickens. Have been supplementing their sunlight by about 4 hours a day in the morning and hooray! they all started laying right around 20 weeks! (I have an Orpington, a Welsummer, 2 Ameraucaunas, and 3 Wyandottes.)

They all appear to be laying at different times. I've been leaving them in the coop until around 11 in the morning, and then letting them out and collecting the eggs. But lately I only get about half of them. When I go back out to shut them in at night I am finding more.

Either way, with temps close to 0 F eggs are probably freezing fast. Just wondering what the best thing to do with them is? Are they still ok to eat? Do they taste funny? I've been putting them straight in the fridge and then washing them later when they are fridge temperature instead of frozen.

Wondering what other people do with frozen eggs in the winter?

Oh--and I am in Northern New England--cold!!!

 

[lazy gardener]

Personally, I'd not eat a frozen egg if the membrane has been broken. But, I'm sure a lot of old timers probably ate their frozen eggs and lived to tell about it. You can cook them up and give them back to the girls, feed them to your animals. If you do use them, be sure they are very clean, even before you wash them, and use only in well cooked products.

 

[aart]

Agrees if they are cracked thru the membrane, especially if they are mucky, I won't use them but cook them scrambled and feed back to the birds.

Also, would not put them in the fridge, but let them thaw in a small bucket/bowl or whatever. I usually rinse the muck off then let them thaw in bucket before breaking, scrambling and cooking for the birds.

If they are not cracked you can use them just fine for anything, they will have changed in texture so might not make a pretty sunny side upper. I've warned my customers that an egg that may have been frozen will have a different texture and not to be alarmed by it.

You're supposed to be able to tell if they are frozen (the uncracked ones) by spinning them on the counter, but I haven't been able to suss the difference. I guess a frozen(or hardboiled) egg will spin freely and an unfrozen one will wobble(I think that's how it goes).

 

[lazy gardener]

Agrees if they are cracked thru the membrane, especially if they are mucky, I won't use them but cook them scrambled and feed back to the birds.

Also, would not put them in the fridge, but let them thaw in a small bucket/bowl or whatever. I usually rinse the muck off then let them thaw in bucket before breaking, scrambling and cooking for the birds.

If they are not cracked you can use them just fine for anything, they will have changed in texture so might not make a pretty sunny side upper. I've warned my customers that an egg that may have been frozen will have a different texture and not to be alarmed by it.

You're supposed to be able to tell if they are frozen (the uncracked ones) by spinning them on the counter, but I haven't been able to suss the difference. I guess a frozen(or hardboiled) egg will spin freely and an unfrozen one will wobble(I think that's how it goes).

I would think that the spinning trick would only work while the egg is still frozen.

 

[aart]

Quote: Well, yes, it's to be done when eggs are first brought in from the coop.

 

[RonP]

I heat my nesting boxes to help stop frozen eggs.

Here is a link as to how. There is a link to the FDA's site with their advice also.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/heated-nesting-boxes-help-stop-frozen-eggs