How often do you gather eggs in the coop?

Get to know your girls. I currently have 3 of 6 hens laying. My 2 leghorns lay around 10AM every day. My Jersey lays around 1:30PM every second day. I'm lucky enough to run my own business and work from home, so I spend a lot of time with my chickens just hangin', but I usually collect 2x per day if I have the time.. once after the Leghorns, and then I grab my Jerseys hen.

I usually put mine in the fridge right away, but only because it's part of my routine.. there's nothing wrong with waiting a few hours.

Correct, don't wash them. It's not like you eat the shell anyway. There might be a little bit of brown or poop on it, but it doesn't affect the egg quality. After I use the eggs, I bake the shells at 250 degrees for about 10 minutes, let them cool then crush them up and feed them to the girls for added calcium. They go nuts for them!

 

I work from 6:00am to 3:30pm so I only check once a day. In the winter when my DH works afternoons( he works swing shift) he will check around 11:00 less chance of eggs freezing.

 

They will lay when they are ready. I have 3 leghorns all the same age and only 1 is exhibiting signs of laying soon. She also has the biggest comb. Another one has about the same size comb and one of them is way behind as far as comb growth. Even though they are the same age, they all mature at different rates.

 

I am a stay at home mom so we spends lots of time outside with the animals. My kids and I check for eggs numerous times throughout the day lol. Its an excuse to hang with the chickens and gives me lots of chances to watch their behavior to make sure no one is stressed, sick, injured etc. I leave my eggs on the counter for days/weeks. I only refridgerate once my basket cant hold anymore eggs or if the temps are too high in the house. Oh and I don't wash eggs unless they are dirty with obvious mud or poop.

 

I agree getting to know your girls is a big part of collecting eggs.. I have some hens that are in the egg boxes first thing in the morning, but most lay around 10-12AM. I go to school from 8AM-1230PM and I don't get home until around 1:30PM and I collect eggs then which is about 15 or so. I collect again around 5:00PM and get two or three more at the most. I know you're suppose to collect as often as you can, but if that isn't possible then collect when it's feasible for you.
I do not wash my eggs after I collect them, but I do refrigerate them right away. Although you don't have to but an unrefrigerated egg ages in one day the same amount that a refrigerated egg does in 1 week..

 

I collect once a day. Girls just started laying. Only 2 of my RIR's are laying at the moment and the first one layed around 730ish other around 10. So I collect at 10:30 I will go out through out the day and see if anybody else laid an egg also, about once every 3 hours i'll go check coop and our property.

 

Why don't you wash the eggs? I plan to give away/sell my eggs and also plan to wash them.