INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

I'm doing an experiment today. I'm freezing some eggs to see how frozen eggs turn out.

@JanetMarie inspired the idea, so I came home from a visit and decided to look at the various ways that people freeze them and try it out.

I have did 6 whole in muffin cups (lined with paper). Those will get popped out and paper removed, then put into a vacuum sealed bag (as Janet does).

Then I did 6 that I lightly beat, put into a silicone ice cube tray with the large cube size. These I did one at a time (one egg to a compartment) then sprinkled on a little salt. They will also get popped out and put into a sealed bag.


Janet said that the ones you do whole change after frozen so that the yolks are firmer and will only be good to use as fried eggs. The slightly beaten ones with the addition of salt should work for baking, etc.

So...
I'm going to try each kind and see how they work. I may decide to freeze some for the winter months at the end of the season. Right now I have lots of eggs since 12 of my girls were hatched in June. But next winter I expect the normal time off.

Sounds like a fun (& hopefully tasty) experiment!

My sister saved eggs using the scrambled ice cube tray method .... then popped them into Ziplock Bags to save space. She used the frozen eggs for scrambled or baking.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Nyla
Separating the whites from the yolks was one of the several methods that I read about. Where I read was saying that they separated so that they'd have some ready for making meringues or for recipes that need yolks only. I didn't try that this time.

Do you know why your grandpa separated them?

 

[Faraday40]

We've all just experienced some severe weather & several people may be dealing with frostbite on combs. I decided to take some pics during the healing process. I'm not applying balms because I read they can do more damage if applied after frostbite occurs.

Here are some pics of my roosters' combs after the polar vortex. My coop is not heated but well ventilated. The nightly lows were around -28'F (but felt like-50'F) and the daytime highs were only -15'F.

Lav orp cockerel got it the worst. His poor wattles! He decided to try eating snow.

Mr Wonderful got some frostbite on the very tips. (This is his 2nd winter, but last winter was not as severe.)

"Puppy" has more comb marks from agitated hens than frostbite issues. This surprised me because his comb is rather tall. Only the tallest point might have a touch.
BTW- What are your opinions on his lacing? He's definitely NOT as pretty as Mr Wonderful, but he's getting better with age. (Now 6 mo) I don't think I'm going to breed him.....

Not a rooster, but poor Tillie got some frostbite as well. There's just not a lot we can do when it's that COLD.

All the other hens had no issues. "Trouble" was unhappy about the temps and grumpy. Sebrights are not really made for cold, so I made sure she slept between 2 fat orpingtons.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

I had some frostbite on my big RIR rooster. He’s doing fine since I just left it alone. He might have been made an exception to the dinner rule. No General Tso for dinner.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Faraday40
I agree with not disturbing frostbite. I've seen way too many birds made much worse with owners meddling with it. There are plenty of threads here (on byc) where you can see the damage they've done....


Anyhow, one winter (probably 2013) my SFH roo got frostbite on his wattles. I had given them wet feed into which his wattles dragged while he was eating (lesson learned). That episode was documented here on this thread (you could probably search and find it). I left it alone. Only thing I did was not give them wet feed again and was sure that my waterers were restricted opening so they weren't getting wattles in the water dish.

He healed beautifully and you'd never know he had any frostbite at all.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Update on the egg freezing experiment.

We tried one of each type this morning. The egg that was frozen whole was as @JanetMarie said....yolk changed to a thickened/more solid texture. Fried it. Tasted great and the texture was even enjoyable.

The ones I whisked and added salt were pretty much the same as if I'd done a fresh egg. Texture was normal whisked egg texture and I wouldn't have known it was frozen. We also fried that like scrambled egg.

I'm of the opinion that I could use the whisked ones in baking, fritata, etc. just by observing the texture.

 

[Nyla]

No idea why he did it. He did do a lot of baking so that may just be the reason why. I never asked him about it.

@Nyla
Separating the whites from the yolks was one of the several methods that I read about. Where I read was saying that they separated so that they'd have some ready for making meringues or for recipes that need yolks only. I didn't try that this time.

Do you know why your grandpa separated them?

 

[JanetMarie]

Update on the egg freezing experiment.

We tried one of each type this morning. The egg that was frozen whole was as @JanetMarie said....yolk changed to a thickened/more solid texture. Fried it. Tasted great and the texture was even enjoyable.

The ones I whisked and added salt were pretty much the same as if I'd done a fresh egg. Texture was normal whisked egg texture and I wouldn't have known it was frozen. We also fried that like scrambled egg.

I'm of the opinion that I could use the whisked ones in baking, fritata, etc. just by observing the texture.

I also like the thicker yolk after frozen, thawed, then cooked. It could be a cheese replacement with butter added to it.

I am going to scramble some to freeze for next winter.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I've always just frozen eggs whole in ice cube trays. (no shell of course) Then I transfer to food saver bags by the dozen. We are flooded with eggs spring to late fall, then everyone but the Leghorns stop laying. I try to get all the duck eggs I can too for baked goods.

I wound up with 9 Leghorn chicks with my hatch! 3 Copper Maran and one OE. Final hatch was the 9th, They do appear to be BCM also. Thank you to who sent them! 3 so far out of 8, waiting a couple more days on 2 of the eggs.

DH's favorite is goose eggs. My 2 girls rarely lay now, so we've ordered Brown Chinese gosling for spring. I've got 1 gander named Nibbles. 1 too many and he is awful! Very mean and aggressive even towards the cows. He is likely going to my vet's home this spring. I've pinned that gander several times, carried him around.. still wants to attack everyone. Gee, my 7 year old white Chinese won't allow him anywhere near us. He will goose him (bite) or flog him if he approaches me. Gee is more a lap goose, and the brown Chinese Big Boy is social too but not allowed lap time according to Gee. Neither of my hens are lap geese but are social. We do not eat our geese, I don't care for it compared to wild goose. Its also why I don't raise rabbit. I used to hunt and loved rabbit and squirrel. The domestic animal isn't the same.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Frostbite ugh! Jr, Foghorns son, oh boy. I will try to remember pictures. He has a huge comb and is in our rooster coop. Plenty of ventilation and a very restrained waterer. He's the only one to have issues this year so far.