Egg cache found in tall ornamental grass

[critterkeeper25]

The other day, while I was grilling dinner, I saw one of our hens disappear into one of our flower gardens. Curious as to where she went, I walked around the garden, but couldn't find her. I decided to crouch down and look under the 3ft tall ornamental grass that we have growing in the garden. I caught a flash of movement in one of the clumps of grass. The hens have made an archway into the side of the clump, made a nice pressed down nest area in the center of it. In the center was the hen I was looking for, turning around and looking at the 11 eggs deposited there!

My conundrum is...I don't know how long these eggs have been there. I don't know if they were laid that day (we have 17 hens and get an average of about 13-15 eggs a day) or if they had been in there for days, in the almost 90 degree heat, and also possibly having been exposed to the watering that we had to do to keep the plants alive. I notice a drop in egg production once in a while when it is really hot out, so I didn't wonder where all the eggs were when I was in the nest boxes.

Are these eggs okay to eat?

 

[GribCottageHens]

Hello critter keeper.
I have discovered hidden piles of eggs on a few occasions. Before throwing them away I do the float test, fresh eggs will sink to the bottom of a jug of water, if they float at all I don't risk it. Hope that helps

 

[jj8527]

I am going to watch this thread. We have a Leghorn that I thought had stopped laying for a week or so. (She typically lays an egg every day. My husband just found 8 eggs in a window well. We have had some warm
weather as well, but not HOT, until the last 2 days. Not sure if we should eat them. I HATE wasting them.

 

[critterkeeper25]

Hello critter keeper.
I have discovered hidden piles of eggs on a few occasions. Before throwing them away I do the float test, fresh eggs will sink to the bottom of a jug of water, if they float at all I don't risk it. Hope that helps

Thank you GribCottageHens! I'm going to go do the old float test now! I'm with you when it comes to not wanting to waste the eggs. They work so hard to make them. Last week I caught my foot on the basket of eggs I had sitting on our garage steps. I was carrying the laundry basket and couldn't see it. I knocked over the basket and broke 7 eggs! Boy was I mad at myself!