Found my ladies stash!

[Budgetcooper]

Soooooo....I found these today.

And to be honest I’m not to sure what to do. There’s 20 of them. All from the same girl. Outside all day in 30 to 40 degree temps. Are they still good? Does an egg go bad if frozen? And why here? If only she talked. Haha.

For the last month we have found an egg everyday or every other day in the nest box.( excited that our girls are starting to lay) Obviously she like the concreate basin better. Sorry to ramble just excited.....and slightly confused on how to get her to lay in the coop and not in the back 40.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I think all you can do is keep her penned where you want them layed each day until she produces.

 

[olivigus]

Ha--this brought back a fun memory. We have one truly free-range chicken--she is an intrepid explorer and won't stay in the run! So we just let her do her thing. All our girls' eggs are good, but Hopper's are truly outstanding, since she eats greens in the yard all day. She's taken to laying in the boxes lately, which I'm thrilled about, but for a long time it was a mystery where she was nesting. We'd hear her doing her egg song in the yard, but darned if we could find the nest. One happy day we found a stash of 18 eggs in a planter box. We ate them all. Unwashed eggs have a natural coating that helps protect them. You can always try the float test before using them--if they sink, they're fresher. But I would still crack each one into a separate bowl before adding them to a recipe or cooking, just to be sure.

 

[rebrascora]

A couple of years ago I found a stash(mountain) between Christmas and New Year of 47 little blue/green and pink eggs.... a mother and daughter tag team had been creating. I did a float test and all were still edible. I was eating omelettes for weeks! Not one was wasted. If you are concerned about them, crack them open. If they look OK and smell OK, they are OK. If you are still cautious about eating them yourself, scrambled them and feed them back to your chucks.

Confining them to barracks for a week of so, is the usual way to reconfigure their laying habits. Good luck with them.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I'd take a look at them. No point wasting two dozen eggs!

If they don't float in a bowl of water, they aren't rotten. If they don't have cracks in them, they aren't bad.

You can eat eggs that have been frozen. Eggs that have been partially frozen will have slightly watery whites; eggs that have been frozen solid will have weird yolks that refuse to break apart. You can use the first type, but the second type is only good for fried eggs (sunny-side up, to those of you not from my area)

Even if you don't want to eat them, your hens will love them.

 

[17 chickens]

do you have any plastic easter eggs to put in the nesting boxes? It works great for traing most birds

 

[olivigus]

I'd echo that last idea of "training eggs." We have a set of ceramic ones in pastel colors that I reintroduce into the nest boxes when newbies are getting ready to lay. I also used them to help get everyone started after the winter layoff. But I've learned to only use the pink, yellow, blue and purple ones. The green and brown ones were too hard to tell from the real eggs--we actually tried to cook one once!

 

[Budgetcooper]

Thanks for all the replies and memory sharing. For the plastic eggs I believe we have some stashed some where. When we found the first egg we left it in the box so she New this is where you lay.

 

[aart]

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The 20 eggs are likely all still good, but at the temperatures you mentioned not a single one will hatch. Easter is 2 months away but all 20 should be eaten up before the 16th of April.