FOUND IT!!!!!!!!

[tellynpeep]

I KNEW they were laying in the woods. I'd found 4 small nests, but they never went back to those after I took out the eggs. I knew exactly which birds were not using the nest boxes. But couldn't find the spot till just now.
FIFTEEN eggs!

This surprised me for 3 reasons: 1) it was far from where they normally forage. 2) I (thought I had) looked there already 3) It had not been predated. We have fox, coyote, skunk, weasels, etc here.

So.... can anyone think of any reason these eggs shouldn't be OK to eat? It's been cool here (not over 50 for the last week) but they have been rained on a couple of times.

Thanks!

Oh.... I placed some fake eggs after collecting the eggs. Hopefully they won't go off and find yet another nesting spot.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Try the float test on them (do a search for float & eggs to see what that means).

 

[okieroy]

They should be fine to eat. However, you can always water test them. Place the eggs in a glass of water. If they float, that means that bacteria has started to breakdown the egg and caused gasses to form within the shell. If the eggs stay on the bottom of the glass, no gasses and presumably safe to eat. CAUTION: this is an old wives tale, but I have never gotten sick personally from duing this.

 

[trilyn]

Well you can always try submerging them in water, the ones that float are bad; the others should be fine. Somebody should be along soon that knows more than me! Good luck and glad you found those nests!!

 

[Momo]

The float test works. When I was a kid we had some EE/banty hens who used to go broody and hide out in the back 40. We would eventually track them down to their hidey holes and then we would drop the eggs in a saucepan of water. If they floated, we took them outside (far from the house) and threw them against a boulder. Oboy those floaters were always rotten!

 

[tellynpeep]

Oh boy.... Thanks. We'll be floating eggs in the morning!