New eggs!!!

[CraziChickLady]

Hey y'all I'm new to owning chickens and they just started laying I have 3 hens only one started to lay.. Anyways my husband and I both work early and get home around 4 and we live in North Carolina where the summers get very hot how long can the eggs be left out untill they go bad? I plan on collecting everyday but wasn't sure if they lay in the morning how long can they be outside?

 

[sumi]

If they don't sit around in a hot coop for longer than a few hours they'll be O.K. I lived in an extremely hot part of the world for a few years and I often weren't around during the day to collect eggs. Never had a problem.

 

[MommaV]

I am fairly new to having chickens as well. Buy my first four chickens started laying mid summer. They usually lay their eggs between 10 and 2 pm daily. I am always there to collect on weekends. But during the week, the eggs stay in the coup until I get home at 6pm. I live in Louisiana, summers can be quite warm here. But also note that my coup is positioned in the shady corner of the yard. I haven't had a spoiled egg yet.

 

[CraziChickLady]

Thank you for the comments also how long do they last in the fridge?

 

[sumi]

They will stay quite edible in the fridge for weeks, but store them in an egg carton to minimise moisture loss and don't wash them if you can help it.

 

[wyan5]

How about when it's cool outside? The weather here has been in the 50s in the day (although it got close to 70 over the weekend). At night it's gotten down to the 30s or 40s. I just discovered a hidden nest under a wheelbarrow with 3 eggs. I'm guessing they are from this week. One hen had been making a lot of noise over there. I checked the area last week and there was nothing. Do you think the eggs are still good if they were laid this week when it was cool?

 

[sumi]

With the temperatures that low they should be fine. You can check if eggs are o.k. without cracking them. Fill a bowl with water then carefully drop the eggs in there one by one. If they sink and lie flat under the water they are O.K. and if they stand up or float they are stale/rotten.

 

[MommaV]

How about when it's cool outside? The weather here has been in the 50s in the day (although it got close to 70 over the weekend). At night it's gotten down to the 30s or 40s. I just discovered a hidden nest under a wheelbarrow with 3 eggs. I'm guessing they are from this week. One hen had been making a lot of noise over there. I checked the area last week and there was nothing. Do you think the eggs are still good if they were laid this week when it was cool?

I am not completely sure, but I do know that some people keep eggs at room temp. So I would think they would be fine. Here is a link that may be helpful:

http://www.thekitchn.com/is-refrigerating-eggs-necessary-176617

 

[Ridgerunner]

I define an egg going bad as bacteria getting inside and causing it to rot. That’s where the rotten egg smell comes from. If bacteria does not get inside, the egg won’t rot. It’s that simple.

A hen can lay eggs in a hidden nest for over two weeks, then set on them for three weeks until they hatch. That’s over five weeks without the eggs getting rotten. It doesn’t matter if the egg is fertile or not, developing or not. If bacteria gets inside it will rot. If bacteria does not get inside it will not rot.

If you gather your eggs once a day they are fine, totally absolutely perfectly fine.

If a fertile egg is kept warm it can start to develop. Temperatures in the mid-80’s Fahrenheit are warm enough for an egg to develop some. But it takes time for the egg to develop. If a hen lays an egg under a broody hen first thing in the morning and the broody sets on it all day, that egg is totally absolutely perfectly fine as long as you gather it that evening. Just don’t leave it overnight.

How long will an egg last in the refrigerator? Months.

Temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s are really good for egg storage. They can last weeks or months at that temperature.

The float test does not necessarily tell you if an egg is rotten or not. As an egg gets older, it loses moisture through the porous shell. Eventually it will lose enough moisture that it will stand in end if you put it in a bowl of water, with the air cell end on top. If it loses even more moisture it will eventually float. The float test tells you which eggs are older, thus more suspicious. But if bacteria gets inside the egg, the bacteria will give off a gas which will cause the egg to float. So be very suspicious of an egg that floats. I’ll toss any that float because the eggs are not that precious to me.

 

[mommy213]

The summer of 2011 in north texas I was unaware my chicks were laying already and I found 2 nests of eggs in my yard. One nest had 22 eggs and the other had 17. That summer the temps were in the highs of 120s and lows of 90s. I did the float test and lost about 10 eggs. Not sure if its really super safe but we ate what wasn't rotten and they were good. I just crack each egg in a bowl first to be sure. From my experience of almost month old eggs in scorching texas heat, I think your eggs should be just fine. Those chickens were soon murdered by a dog and we got new chicks last July and are just now getting eggs again. This is my first winter with chicken and have wondered about frozen eggs. I don't warm my coop.