I found her

[Chicken support]

finally found out where my little girl was hiding during the day. She gets out(an escape artist) and is gone and suddenly reappears at the end of the day. Also found 30 eggs in her hiding place,lol


how long can a egg set out before it goes bad. I know all of these are bad, i was just wondering.

 

[Lollipop]

Maybe they aren`t bad. Are you gonna hatch`m or eat`m? I had a game hen that laid 10 eggs in the hot Florida August sun over a months time, then go to settin and hatched all 10. If you`re gonna hatch`m, give it a try. If you`re gonna eat`m, put each one in a bowl of warm water. If they float, or try to float, throw them out. If they sink, eat`m..........Pop

PS; hatchability is supposed to rapidly deminish after 10 days. Guess I forgot to tell my hen.

 

[Chicken support]

Eat them, she is just 5 months old so I dont know if her eggs were fertilized or not. Will try the warm water method though, thanks

whats the rule for eating eggs and how long can they set out do you know?

 

[Uppity Peon]

They last 1 or 2 weeks easily. However if the weather is really hot or she has been sitting on them, and they are fertile they may start developing.

I would float test them all, and then with the ones you decide to use, crack them into a saucer or cup for inspection before mixing them with the rest of your food.

 

[Chicken support]

Tried the warm water and they all sank like rocks!She has been gettin out for 3 1/2 weeks now and there are 30 eggs is it possible that they are all good? Is it possible she is just laying more than 2 a day? Should I just mark them and check each one before I use them, and haow do you tell if they are bad when you crack them...do they stink to high heaven or have just real ugly color? An inquiring mind wants to know..
Thanks for all the help

 

[Sunny Side Up]

They can stay edible for a surprisingly long time. Do the float test first, discard any floaters. Then crack them in a separate saucer or bowl before adding to a cooking pan or mixing bowl. If they're fresh enough to sink they shouldn't smell when cracked.

But sometimes I've found sinkers that I didn't want to eat after opening them, they may have had a bit of development in them (some blood vessel webbing) or just fragile yolks that broke when the egg was opened.

Most of the eggs I've found stashed in hidden nests have been just fine. And it's always a good idea, especially with back yard eggs, to crack them in a separate dish before adding to your food.

 

[Chicken support]

well i cracked one and it stunk to high heaven. I so will be careful with the rest.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
I'm curious, did you do the float/sink test with this egg first? And if so, was it a floater or a sinker?

When I find a hidden nest I'll first do the float test with them & immediately discard any floaters. And if I have a lot of other eggs to use I may even discard the standers too. But most of the eggs I find are sinkers. I'll put them in the refrigerator and try to use them asap. And I'll be extra certain to crack them into something separate, because sometimes they'll still be inedible because they started to develop, or just have broken runny yolks.

But happily, most of them turn out to be just fine.

The smell of a rotten egg is certainly memorable. Sometimes I'll have old eggs in the compost pile that will pop with a loud sound and give off that awful sulfur-y smell. The other night I was checking a nest a duck has been making under a bush, there were 4 good eggs but 1 felt really light & looked old. I tossed it into the compost bin but didn't have time to bury it in. The next day my little boy came in after playing under the nearby tree, he said he just heard a loud BANG and then smelled something really AWFUL! He wondered if it was a skunk that had farted...

 

[Chicken support]

The one that stank sank like a rock