How do you track how old your eggs are?

[brokenknee]

One co-worker says he writes the date on his eggs with a sharpie. I was wondering if any one used other ideas on how to know how old your eggs are.

We currently have seven hens, six are laying and we almost always get six eggs a day, sometimes only five, but mostly six. It is just the wife and I and there is no way we can use all those eggs. We live in farm country and people with chickens are not in a shortage. Most of my co-workers have at least a few hens for eggs. I tried giving eggs to the one co-worker that does not have chickens and he declined. That may explain why he only keeps chicken in the summer and then gives them away in the fall.

I really have no interest in trying to sell our excess eggs, I give them away when I can, but want to make sure the eggs are fresh.

Related question, how long do eggs stay good? I know eggs in the grocery store have an expiration date on them, but don;t know how long those eggs are in the packaging process.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I mark my cartons. I have a family of 7 and 18 pullets laying. So I totally understand you egg extras. You could always buy a few extra ice trays and Crack the eggs into them. Freeze and save for baking . You can also pre scramble them and freeze them for breakfast burritos. Just don't freeze in the shell it will crack.

 

[Pork Pie]

I just put mine in order in egg cartons, starting front left, then working to the right. But i like the idea of a this set up in the link below:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Egg-Skelter...id=1447992582&sr=8-88&keywords=egg+containers

Thinking i might get one when i go home to the UK for Xmas.

CT

 

[Blooie]

I use a plain pencil and write the date on the big end of the egg. Also in pencil, I mark the outside of the carton with the inclusive dates, ie 11/17-18, Then when I reuse a carton all I have to do is erase the penciled in date on the outside. Works great for me on accounta I ain't always the the brightest crayon in box and I get mixed up really easy. Older eggs that are still good, but not as fresh as I like to sell or give away get hard boiled, crushed shells and all, and fed back to the girls - especially this time of year when I have a few in heavy molts. The extra protein is good for them.

I have also frozen eggs. I found complete instructions for doing that on the Incredible Egg web site. http://www.incredibleegg.org/eggcyclopedia/f/freezing-eggs/

 

[MeepBeep]

For eggs that get refrigerated for other people, we put a post it note in the egg carton, and even in your case if it's not a full egg carton each day, the one or possibly two days the post it note is off, isn't going to make any real difference... And if you really want you could do multiple post it notes in the carton... Note we remove the notes when we sell, eggs are never over a week old when we sell...

For 'our' eggs we just leave them on flats on the kitchen counter, oldest flats on the bottom, and do a mental rotation of stock when used no dating them...

 

[shodack]

Grocery store eggs are probably a month old, sometimes more...

 

[Egghead_Jr]

My eggs go into a basket on the kitchen counter. When it start's to fill up I take out all the top eggs then scramble a dozen or so from bottom for brunch. If I'm really getting over run will take all but the known laid in last few days and hard boil them. Teenagers usually like boiled eggs for snack food and of course egg salad for sandwiches or pickle them. If you've a store near you that sells those pickled polish sausage from the large jars try and buy a used jar with the juice still inside. Pack that with eggs and wait a week or so. Awesome! Can be used second time but not nearly as good. So my egg management is simply use the bottom of basket eggs when using a lot and if overrun to boil them. Eggs keep for months right on the shelf, it's more a matter of using them up and wanting only fresh eggs, why we have chickens in the first place. I only stock pile and refrigerate prior to molt or if any extra prior to February as my birds almost stop laying here in the north then. They get stored in cartons and stacked so oldest is on top.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

We write the date on them with a sharpie.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I would think a sharpie could leach into the egg so a pencil would probably be safer. I just don't have the give a hoot to pencil 18 eggs a day so I only mark my cartons. I also make sure to NEVER wash the eggs unless going straight to the fridge. My neighbors know if they want "clean" eggs to just tell me and I will wash just prior to delivery. The outer most membrane is what makes them shelf stable.

 

[TheGonzo]

I write the Week number (47 this week) and F or L (first or Last half of the week) on the cartons and then I add the eggs from left to right in it (you could make an arrow to be sure).
This way I always know which eggs to use first.
I always crack eggs older than 28 days into a cup to see if it is still good. You can smell it and there's no doubt when you get an egg that has gone bad.
I would never use a sharpie. www.Sharpie.com say that "we do not recommend using them on areas of items that may come in contact with food or the mouth". There are as many as 17,000 little pores in an egg. They let air, water and certainly also chemicals through.
If you have to write on the egg, use a regular pencil