How long can eggs sit out?

[Suzannah]

My sneaky little hens "stopped laying" this week (which I thought was perfectly reasonable because it has been incredibly hot and they are just 6 months old - although both laying for at least a month during the hottest weather on record in my state), but when I moved their tractor to the side I found 11 eggs, cool and comfy underneath the little platform that is covered. I brought them in and washed them off; hard-boiled six of them because we only have one egg carton (only two chickens) and they seemed fine. I am planning on cracking them into a bowl before I use them (instead of just into the cookies or the cake), but should they be okay?

Sneaky girls...

 

[Tropical Chickies]

Great question, I am going to watch this thread...

 

[enola]

As long as none of them float when put in water, you can crack them to see what they look like before using them.

 

[Suzannah]

Thanks! I have been cracking them in a bowl before we use them, and they have all been fine. They were very cool when I picked them up where they laid them; once my husband missed an egg on the ground when we moved the tractor, and when I found it later in the day it was blazing hot and soft-boiled from sitting in the sun!!

 

[grandmaof5]

Quote:
I was taught to always crack eggs into a small bowl one by one before I added them to anything, and that is what I taught DD when she was young. I told her that the chances of getting a 'bad' egg was slim, but why spoil a whole recipe just in case? It must have come from 'way back when silly hens hid eggs from the farmwife, and she wouldn't know for sure how old they were...

 

[GrandmaAnn]

When doing a little research on the recent salmonella thing, I learned that the commercial places have 5 days to get the eggs cleaned and another 30 to get them into the cartons. I am assuming, though, that they are most likely refrigerated during this time. (Maybe just hoping?

Since we have always had a lot of chickens, eggs found in strange places were always thrown into the compost pile. I throw them hard enough that they break so they don't explode later. If I only hd 2 chickens, every egg would be more precious and I'd do what I could to eat them.

I have always cracked uncandled eggs into a small bowl in case there are large blood spots. If I am frying a sunny side up, they don't look very appetizing. If it is just going into baked goods, I'll scoop out a large blood spots. The little ones I don't do anything about.

 

[Suzannah]

We don't have roos; would that influence whether or not there were blood spots?

I am going to crack eggs in a bowl from now on. Just makes sense. I grew up with chickens but don't remember anything about them except once or twice cracking an egg with a baby in it (BLECH), and that only vaguely.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Blood spots and fertilized eggs are two entirely different things. The blood spot happens during the process of the egg moving down the oviduct before the shell is added, it will happen where the egg is fertile or not. Some individual hens seem more prone to this than others but, if you pick the blood out of the egg, there is nothing that can hurt you healthwise. I agree though, it is always a good idea to crack a backyard egg into another bowl before using. Most commercially produced eggs are electronically candled to remove any with egg spots--not 100% accurate but close.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I was taught to always crack eggs into a small bowl one by one before I added them to anything, and that is what I taught DD when she was young. I told her that the chances of getting a 'bad' egg was slim, but why spoil a whole recipe just in case? It must have come from 'way back when silly hens hid eggs from the farmwife, and she wouldn't know for sure how old they were...

I do the same thing.

 

[bargain]

Quote:
A bit off topic, can you tell me where the guidelines are for the commercial places? I'm certainly not one and never intend to be but I'd love to have this info in writing....Wow 30 days to get them into cartons, mmmmmso 35 days old if delivered next door grocery, or 40 days old if delivered cross country, Now, that's an OLD egg!

I'd love to have this to share with some of farmers market visitors. Thanks Nancy