eating unrefrigatored quail eggs?

[AZ Birds]

i recently just started selling fertile quail eggs and collected few several times a day and stored in the house at temps at 75-80 degrees. after 4 days of collecting i had someone call me and asked if they could eat the eggs and i told them probably not as the oldest eggs were 4 days old and not refrigerated. would have these eggs been fine to eat or do they really have to be refrigerated? one of my neighbors says his chickens lay all over the place and his eggs could be a couple days old before he finds them and he still eats them.

 

[chrishel]

I let my eggs sit on the kitchen counter for up to 1 week before I get them in the fridge. But that's just me. I want my eating eggs to dry out a little so that the air sac is bigger and it makes them easier to peel after being boiled.

Hatching eggs, I put into the incubator (not on) with a cup of ice to try to keep them at 50ish degrees and more humid until I collect enough and want to start incubating.

 

[Kylesquails]

i eat my fertile eggs after 7 days if i don,t sell them, i have them in a dark cupboard and they taste great!

 

[Bettacreek]

I've kept eggs on the counters for months and they were still great. Of course, I quit doing that when we opened one up to find a half formed chick. I'm still not entirely sure how it happened, because all eggs that are found randomly in the yard are put into the incubator tray, and only eggs that are fresh that day are put into the eating trays. So, I know it wasn't brooded upon before it was collected, yet there was still a chick in there with feathers and everything. :/ So, now, we won't eat eggs from the counter anymore, I decide immediately upon collection what eggs are for the incubator and what eggs go in the fridge. At worst, I feed the eggs to the birds.

 

[AZ Birds]

thanks for info everyone. will maybe start keeping them out of the fridge then for a few days and selling as hatching eggs or eating. before if i didnt sell them within a couple of days i would boil them and feed them back to the birds.

chrishel i like the ice and incubator idea how many days can you collect for by doing that?

 

[drowe005]

Eggs lose nutrients in the refrigerator very fast. It is best to store your eggs in a cool dry place, outside of the fridge. If you plan on storing them long term, rub a coating of food grade mineral oil all over the eggs and they can safely be stored for 6-9 months for eating.

 

[AZ Birds]

wow 6-9 months that crazy guess you learn something new everyday. i love BYC makes me sound alot smarter to all my friends who have been raising birds for years . why do grocery stores refrigerate them though if most of the eggs are sold pretty quickly?

 

[Bettacreek]

Because they wash them, so they don't have the bloom on them (good bacteria) to help protect the egg. :/

As for losing nutrients in the fridge, for some reason I can't bring myself to believe that one. I read something about mineral oil being bad to put on eggs, but not sure what and too lazy to look it up, lol.

 

[AZ Birds]

oh yeah i forgot i read the washing thing few months ago on here. thanks for reminding me.

 

[drowe005]

As for losing nutrients in the fridge, for some reason I can't bring myself to believe that one. I read something about mineral oil being bad to put on eggs, but not sure what and too lazy to look it up, lol.

The way a refrigerator works, is it pulls moisture out of the air in order for it to cool the inside of the fridge. If you were to place a hygrometer in your fridge, you can verify that there is very low humidity inside of it compared to the outside air. The inside of a fridge should ideally be about 10% relative humidity. Eggs aren't 100% sealed, and have small holes all over them, and when refrigerated, the fridge draws moisture, which in turn evaporates whats inside the egg into the atmosphere.

Regular mineral oil is not good to put on eggs, but food grade mineral oil is perfectly OK. If you decide to do, it has to be the food grade.

The reason mineral oil preserves it like that, is it mimics the fluid that's inside the hen and allows there to be a "membrane" around the egg keeping it sealed from the atmosphere. Ideally they should be stored in a basement/cellar or something similar. Around 55-60 deg F and around 30-40% humidity.