how long are eggs good for without refrigeration ? (I found the eggs!)

[masonsmom]

I finally found Dakota's hiding spot. Lately she's been presistant on escaping from her pen and slow to come when called which is very unusual for my chickens.. They are always pleased to see us.. You see she's quite happy sitting on her egg.. This spot is well hidden in the yard behind a wood fence in the corner. My chickens are generally kept in a fenced off area except on weekends and days they've escaped.. Anyhow.. When I nudged Dakota out of her spot I couldn't believe my eyes.. This is what I found..

Are they safe to eat? Any way to tell? Any other ideas what we might do with them? Seems like such a waste of eggs.. I live in WA where temps have not reached above 50 degrees, and generally well below that. The chickens have only been laying since November. My best guess is that the majority of these were laid in the last 3 weeks since that's when Dakota (and Louise!) have been getting out the most and before that they were mostly unable to get out.. But I cannot be sure.. So what would you say? What would you do with them? Would they be safe enough to scramble for the chickens if not safe for us? Advice?

Of course, this won't happen again now that I've found them.. She's gonna be a pretty sad chicken without her pile to sit on!

 

[OrphanNanny]

I'd found a stash of eggs last summer up in our barn and just for peace of mind scrambled them all up for the chickens...no waste and they LOVE them! Once I had 5 dz eggs that froze in a "new" refridgerator that I'd gotten to store eggs and scrambled those too. Now that was a feast!!! LOL

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

Try the water test.

Fill a clear bowl 3/4 full of water and put 1 egg at a time into it. If it sinks to the bottom then it's good. If it floats compleatly then it's no good. The further the egg floats off the bottom then the older it is.

Hopefully I make sense.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I am glad you found the stash. I take it she's not been trying to brood them, just stash them.

Eat them? Well, unless facing sure and certain starvation or being a participant on Survivor, I'd break them up, fry them, and feed them back to the hens for protein.

 

[Judy]

I've eaten eggs I wasn't sure of, but not when a chicken had been trying to hatch them. I've read that in Europe, eggs are sold off the shelf, and not refrigerated. So if they stay all the way on the bottom of the bowl in the water test, and I'm reasonably certain I'm not going to find a half grown chick, I open and cook them.

 

[flowerchild59]

I would hard boil them all and feed them back to the girls; no waste, no fuss.

 

[becstalls]

If she's actually been sitting on them, i'd either throw them all out (if you know they're not fertile), or continue to let her sit on them until they hatch (supposing they are fertile and you want peeps). If she's been sitting on them at all, she's been keeping them at temperatures well within the "danger zone" of bacterial growth--that's 40 degrees fahrenheit and above until you hit boiling.

 

[alhanse77]

I have no advice, but I am impressed with her stash of eggs!

Your pic caught me by surprise, too!

 

[JayDee]

Cheeky girl!

and I can add this: In UK & Ireland anyway, eggs are indeed sold unrefrigerated. In fact, a lot of people wouldn't put them in the fridge at all. I do. I think they're nuts

Also, all our eggs are brown. You wouldn't find a white chicken egg in a shop!

But yeah, I'd check them in water. Easy peasy. But if they're possibly fertile, I'd candle them, I guess.

 

[MrsKemmerlin]

No advice, but this sure did make me laugh!

She made it seem like nothing was out of the ordinary in the first picture, then voila, eggs! And a bunch of them none the less!

Silly girl!