found an egg cache - still good?

[Curlita]

We thought that our new girls had stopped laying for the winter, but it turns out that they just decided to start laying in a secluded corner near the shed. My son found the cache on one of his rambles around the yard and we brought all the eggs (18!) inside and I rinsed the dirt off of them. Since the temperatures outside have been below 50 at night, and probably no higher than 55 during the day, I figured they should be fine. We have two new hens, and they aren't daily layers, but are pretty reliable. I figured that the 18 eggs were laid over the course of 2 weeks or less.

Today I cracked two to make brownies and the shells had dark spots on the *inside* of them. I felt uneasy about using them; one of them looked perfectly normal on the inside, but the other one's yolk broke apart really quickly once I cracked it. I did the egg test and none of the eggs floated in cold water -- they all sank to the bottom of a bowl. However, a couple of them released a few tiny air bubbles.

I'm wondering if laying in little depression in the wet Seattle weather did damage to some of the eggs -- or if I did them damage when I washed them off (I know that the eggshell has natural oils that keep it non-porous - right? - and either the rain while they were outside or my washing probably didn't help that).

So -- given all that babble, what do you peeps think? Are the eggs safe to use?

 

[rolffamily]

They might be perfectly fine, but is it worth the risk? I guess I'd rather shell out the $2.00 and buy a dozen.

 

[sonew123]

Mmm typically I would say good with them not floating. But from the way you described them once opened...I'd say no but cook them back and give them to the chickens

 

[Monkey Man]

On our farm eggs found outside the nest are pig food.
Better safe than sick.

 

[JodyJo]

hmmm, I found a cache this summer, we ate them....but none of them released a few bubbles when submerged in water.
I would fry them up and feed them back to the chickens...