Frozen eggs

[Scott16475]

Hello. My apologies for replying to an 'old' thread but i'm new to chickens and with winter coming up, I thought I had better get educated on 'frozen eggs'. I live in Minnesota and temps can stay below zero for days on end (including "high" temps) and because I'm typically at work during the day, I won't be able to run out there every hour to see if there's eggs. If it's well below freezing and I come home to eggs sitting in the nest, are they edible or should I automatically throw them out? Any signs in or on the egg I should look for to know I should throw it out?

Thank you!

 

[jailerjoe]

Hello. My apologies for replying to an 'old' thread but i'm new to chickens and with winter coming up, I thought I had better get educated on 'frozen eggs'. I live in Minnesota and temps can stay below zero for days on end (including "high" temps) and because I'm typically at work during the day, I won't be able to run out there every hour to see if there's eggs. If it's well below freezing and I come home to eggs sitting in the nest, are they edible or should I automatically throw them out? Any signs in or on the egg I should look for to know I should throw it out?

Thank you!

I'm in Minnesota as well although a bit north of you (3 hours). My understanding is it's probably best not to eat the cracked ones but those that haven't cracked are ok but the texture may suffer. I'm going to keep my cracked ones and when I get a few, scramble them up and feed them back to my chickens.

Stay warm!

 

[louie2037]

I just put them in the fridge for a couple of day, they'll thaw, and they're edible. We either scramble them, use them in baking, French Toast, etc. We've been collecting frozen eggs for three years with no ill effects, and I'm sure we'll be collecting frozen eggs this winter too! Merry Christmas!

louie2037

 

[AkChris]

If it's cracked I just set it in a separate bowl in the fridge and then make sure I use in within a day or two, I use them scrambled or in baking so I know it'll get well cooked and the texture doesn't matter so much,

I keep my nest box pretty clean so don't have much problem with dirty poopy eggs but if there was a frozen, cracked egg that was really dirty I'd probable just throw it in the compost or give it to the dogs rather than eat it
.

 

[RonP]

Here is a link to my article on how I deal with frozen eggs.

Hope it helps.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/heated-nesting-boxes-help-stop-frozen-eggs?

 

[jailerjoe]

Here is a link to my article on how I deal with frozen eggs.

Hope it helps.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/heated-nesting-boxes-help-stop-frozen-eggs?

I like the idea but your article states it only works down to 10F. Most of a typical Minnesota winter is below 10F. We go weeks below zero in fact. I wonder if there are other mats that put out more heat?

 

[RonP]

Other types I'm sure.

These will work 99% of my cold season.

I have not tried the other types.

I rarely have daytime temps even in the low teens.

 

[docedfri]

I have some eggs that froze but not broken.are they still good?

 

[mortie]

I have some eggs that froze but not broken.are they still good?

They're fine.

It's very cold where I live. My eggs freeze at least partially almost every day lately. As long as they're not cracked, I eat them and I haven't noticed a difference.

 

[Scott16475]

Like mortie, we eat our frozen eggs as well and haven't noticed a thing. We won't eat them if they're cracked or busted but if they're just frozen, we bring in our frozen eggs, let them thaw in the fridge, and eat them when we eat them.