How reliable is the egg float test?

[amberskyfire]

I just crawled under my house and found a ton of chicken eggs my girls have been laying for goodness knows how long. I tried putting them in water and they all sank and lay flat on the bottom. Is the float test super reliable? I don't even know how long they have been laying under there. Maybe days, maybe weeks, maybe months! The have always liked to hang out under there and I've had them for a couple of years. I'm scared to crack any open.

 

[bigmrg74]

If you're going to try to crack one open, I would suggest doing it outside somewhere you can just drop it and leave the egg if you need too.

 

[enola]

If they all lay flat on the bottom, they should be safe to crack open. When eggs get old the white evaporates and the air cell enlarges, causing eggs to partially float. Of course once they get past that stage, they start decomposing and the egg fills with gasses. They float much better then. When an egg floats like that, you DON'T want to crack that one open.

 

[RonP]

Yes, if the egg floats, be careful.