Frozen eggs?

[riftnreef]

OK...is there a way to combat frozen eggs? My girls just started laying Friday and already I've lost two to freezing! They seem to be laying around 10am, and I don't get home from work till 4pm or so...it has been sssooooo very cold out that the eggs are freezing within a couple hours. Is this just something that we northern chicken keepers have to live with during the winter, or are there some tricks to getting unfrozen eggs?

 

[rosaline]

Can you put a heat lamp in there with them

might keep the eggs from freezing

Good luck x

 

[Akane]

Mostly you have to live with it for awhile. You can get a few thawed ones by putting more heat around the nest boxes. Some have tried heating pads. I point a heat lamp where they are most likely lay. Really cold weeks I still get more frozen than thawed.

 

[Chooksaurus]

We were planning to point a heat lamp toward the nest boxes this winter, but we got quite lucky. We had a Barred Rock hen go broody on us, and after 2 weeks of trying to get her off the nests, I gave up and am letting her work it out for herself. She is keeping most of our eggs nice and warm until we get home from work to collect them.

 

[La Mike]

They wont hatch after freezing right ?

 

[cointoss]

You could try putting more nesting material in the bottom of the nest, and insulating the coop more. My mom came up with an ingenious method of putting horse or chicken manure 3/4 of the way in those black shavings bags, then tying off. Leave air in the bag to ensure bacterial activity and they will cook into a great compost by spring AND warm up whatever area they are placed around -- you could put them along the outside of the coop walls, or under the coop if it's raised like mine...

And no, frozen eggs won't hatch.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
how cold is it there?

 

[txchickie]

I get frozen eggs all the time. I go out at about 6am and then not again until 3pm and it seems with this awful cold weather lately, ALL of them are frozen and of course cracked. They go to the dogs or I scramble them and feed them back to the girls.

It's irritating

 

[CARS]

I'm sorry..

That last reply about getting frozen eggs ALL THE TIME in TX has me busting up!

I haven't seen freezing temp in almost a month. We are WAY below that! I collect in the morning, one out of the dozen a day are split.

What are your boxes not lined with. I use straw. I can't believe that that alone would make a difference.

Hope you find something that works.

 

[Chickenmaven]

Quote:
Right, but in this cold, who cares? You don't want babies in this harsh weather. I cook & feed the frozen ones to the dog - or if I have too many, I feed them back to the chickens.