How do I keep eggs from freezing?

[Farm Girl 1]

Hello, I have 20 isa browns who are 19 weeks old and so far we are getting 4-6 eggs a day. But once they are all laying we are going to be selling eggs. So my question is with winter coming up soon how do I keep the eggs from freezing? My coop is insulated and will have a heat lamp on in the coop but where I live it's usually anywhere from -10c to -35c in winter. So the eggs will probably still freeze. We don't want to put heat pads in the boxes. Anybody have ideas?

 

[BantamLover21]

One way to keep eggs from freezing in cold weather is to heat the entire coop, using a small space heater, to an above freezing temperature. The only disadvantage of that is that the electricity used by the heater can be expensive, and the heater will take up space in the coop. However, with a heater, both the eggs and your hens should be plenty warm.

Another method of trying to prevent eggs from freezing is to gather them often (2-3 times a day). Eggs don't usually freeze extremely rapidly, so frequent gathering can often prevent frozen eggs.

 

[Farm Girl 1]

One way to keep eggs from freezing in cold weather is to heat the entire coop, using a small space heater, to an above freezing temperature. The only disadvantage of that is that the electricity used by the heater can be expensive, and the heater will take up space in the coop. However, with a heater, both the eggs and your hens should be plenty warm. 

Another method of trying to prevent eggs from freezing is to gather them often (2-3 times a day). Eggs don't usually freeze extremely rapidly, so frequent gathering can often prevent frozen eggs.

I wish that could collect multiple times a day! I can only collect at 7:30am and 4:15pm and later, and supposedly this breed lays before noon usually. We are hanging up a heat lamp up in the middle of the room though. But I'm afraid that it won't be enough heat. For the chickens they will be warm and cozy but the eggs won't. As I said the temp is -10c to -35c. Is there any way to make sure the eggs will stay warm? We don't have enough room to put a space heater in the coop

 

[Kelsie2290]

Try to have as much insulation/padding in and around the nesting boxes as you can. A lot of hay, extra cardboard around it etc, anything to trap heat ... also if you can encourage more hens to use the same nest it helps since the hens will keep the eggs warm ... hens tend to have favorite nests anyhow, but adding more fake eggs to one, making a favorite one bigger etc ... you maybe better off with one large nest ie rather than two smaller nests.

 

[Farm Girl 1]

Right now I'm using pine shavings in their boxes, do you think that it would be a good insulation for the eggs if I put in a some more shavings?

 

[aart]

One way to keep eggs from freezing in cold weather is to heat the entire coop, using a small space heater, to an above freezing temperature. The only disadvantage of that is that the electricity used by the heater can be expensive, and the heater will take up space in the coop. However, with a heater, both the eggs and your hens should be plenty warm.

Another method of trying to prevent eggs from freezing is to gather them often (2-3 times a day). Eggs don't usually freeze extremely rapidly, so frequent gathering can often prevent frozen eggs.

Especially if you have proper, healthy ventilation in the coop....would be like pouring money straight down the drain......lol!

I battle freezing eggs by gathering often, but I work from home so it's doable.
Frozen eggs can still be eaten, if the shell cracks you want to eat them same day...I just put them in a dish in the fridge to thaw and have them for dinner.
Not sure I'd sell eggs that had been frozen but not cracked but sometimes I can't tell if they're frozen or not, so maybe I have.

Farm Girl that's really cold, where are you located?
I would think that a low level heating pad would be far more efficient and much safer than a heating lamp...heat lamps in coops scare the heck out of me.

 

[Farm Girl 1]

We have had the heat lamp in the coop with no problems even when it was on 24/7 when they were chicks, so I'm not worried about that. The heat lamp is to make sure the chickens are warm and so (hopefully) the water won't freeze. But I don't know what to do to not make the eggs freeze besides putting more shavings in the boxes. And I won't sell eggs that froze to my customers.

 

[aart]

Adult chickens are more likely to knock a heat lamp down into the shavings than tiny chicks are.
If you coop is properly ventilated a heat lamp is not likely to keep your water thawed in those kind of temps.

 

[Farm Girl 1]

The heat lamp isn't going to be within reach of the chickens, it's going to be raised up high and tightly secured so they can't knock it down. And right now even though we aren't using it, it's in the coop and is only raised 1-1.5 feet above the floor and the chickens don't touch it. So I'm not worried about it.

 

[maranfarmer563]

I live in northern Pennsylvania,we can get 20 below. I collect before and after work,the few broke eggs we get we eat. We never have any heat source in the hen house. When the water freezes I just knock out ice and refill. My hens lay all winter