How long are eggs safe to eat?

[lanaschix]

My own chickens are not laying yet. My sister has been out of town for one week. She has 4 chickens. Her daughter was supposed to be watching them but not sure how faithful she was.

We went tonight and my children collected 9 eggs. (it was dark and they are not sure if they got all of them) So they could be between 1-7 days old. I should mention we live in Florida and temps have still been in low 80s.

Are they ok or should we toss them?

Thanks!

 

[lanaschix]

Oh and on this subject - I hear conflicting things about washing eggs. Should you wash them after collection or not?

thanks

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

My rule of thumb with eggs is that if you crack them and they smell OK, then they are OK. I don't wash my eggs unless they obviously need it and then usually before I eat use them rather than when I collect them. I don't refrigerate and I've eaten eggs that have been sat on the counter top in summer for 6 weeks and were fine. I also found a sneaky nest (mountain) of 47 eggs last winter that 2 of my naughty girls had been stashing up in the eaves of an old stable and all were still edible.... we were eating eggs for breakfast lunch and tea for weeks to use them up!!!.

I'm sure your eggs will be fine. The only possibility that some of them might not be good would be if one of the hens is broody and had been trying to incubate them, but you would have to reach underneath her to get them and she would probably peck you, so you would almost certainly know about it if that was the case.

Hope you enjoy them .

Barbara

 

[Spartan22]

We don't wash our eggs but we collect them everyday and also clean the poop boards every morning so the chicken doesn't track in poops in the nests with their feet.

We also don't refrigerate our eggs unless it was soiled and been washed.

 

[lanaschix]

Great, thanks!