Frozen eggs????????????

[gabby3535]

I work 12 hour shifts, 3 days a week.......and by the time I get home on work nights, it is dark, and currently below freezing.
I am wondering if there is anyway for me to tell if the eggs in the nest boxes have been, or are currently, frozen when I get home?
Should I just assume they are.......based on the temperature......and throw them out?
Do they crack when they've been frozen or what?
I don't suppose frozen eggs can be thawed and eaten in the future, can they?

 

[dragonlair]

I use them even if they have been frozen. I make sure they are clean and well cooked. They usually crack when they freeze, mine always have. They also defrost pretty quickly if you put them in your warm pocket. Yuck.

 

[Cornychick]

We are having freezing temps as well. I will use them as long as they havent cracked.

 

[dbcooper02]

I believe you can determine if an egg is frozen the same way you can tell if one is hard boiled. Set it on the counter and give it a gentle spin. A hard boiled or frozen egg will spin quite freely, while the liquid in a fresh egg will cause it to not spin so easily. If you touch the spinning egg gently on top to stop it then let it go, the boiled or frozen egg will stay stopped, while the inertia of the moving contents will cause the fresh egg to want to start turning again.
That having been said I sure wouldn't throw them out. If you have concerns about consuming them, you could cook them up and feed them back to the hens.
db

 

[Orpstralope]

Yessirreee, that'd be my solution. I've been eating some pretty chilly eggs recently and they seem fine!

 

[sonew123]

I was just told to have fewer nesting boxes so they all have only a few boxes to lay in..it makes it so a hen is on the eggs most of the day to keep them warm

 

[Orpstralope]

Wish I had that idea first!

 

[Karrie13]

Quote:
How many nesting boxes would you suggest to go down to?

 

[PandoraTaylor]

I have 35 hens and 4 nestboxes, I have not found anythign frozen in my nestbaoxes. Found one under the nestbox, guess she couldn't wait any longer.

edited to add

I use the frozen eggs for breakfast, so far mine shells have not been cracked from freezing....cracked eggs I feed to the chickens and my dogs, I don't see them that often.

I add a few extra eggs to the freezer by cracking into a dish lightly stiring, then bag & freeze. I want some for baking, and was preparing for when the hens slowed down, but my girls are showing they are just getting started good. 24-27 eggs a day now.
some of my pullets have not started yet.

 

[sparkles2307]

so long as they arent crasked we use them frozen or not. Freezing wont ruin them. BUT I did hang a heat lamp about 2 feet from the nest boxes pointed both at them and the roost and the eggs are still cold when I get home but not frozen anymore.