eggs in the grocery store are 9 to 12 weeks old. Yup up to 3 months old.
NY chicken lover!!!!
- Thread starter peggym
- Start date
Mother Earth News did a "study" on the best way to store eggs. They put some in dry sand, wet sand, coated with oil, coated with lard, some in the fridge and fertile eggs in the fridge. Might have done a couple other ways but those are the ways I remember. They did up a whole 5 gallon bucket of each kind. Then each week they took one out of each bucket and cracked it to check for freshness. I forget the loser, the one that had the first bad egg, but I remember the winner very well. After 6 months the fertile eggs kept in the fridge were still eidable. Since so many of the other ways were rotten or not eidable they stopped the study and got on with their lives. Somewhere in that article I got the impression that fertile eggs stored in the fridge for 6 - 9 months were still good to eat. I have personally eatten store bought eggs that were over a month past their "expiration date". I am pretty sure the Mother Earth site is seachable, if you want to read the article yourselves....it wasn't long, just interesting.
In conclusion I don't feel my eggs are "old" until they hit the 4 month mark....but I try not to sell any more than 14 days old. I do donate eggs regularly to my sister in law (8 kids in the house right now) and the local food pantry....who can't give them out, but can put them on a table and tell people to help themselves.
- Apr 13, 2010
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Morning all. Looked at the calendar today and actually counted the days to realize that today is lockdown day for my silkie eggs. Ahhhrrrggg! I would have missed it if I hadnt counted. This is my brinsea so I have 20 eggs locking down tonight. This means in three days my genises goes into lockdown. I candled last night and pulled 6 heritage eggs. I have 6 left and keeping my fingers crossed that they make it. Also have 4 silkie eggs in there as well, going strong. Went out this morning to feed, water and release the beasts and had another surprise. Seems my broody silkie girls have gone from one egg each to 7! I have no idea as to when they have been accumulating them but they have been sitting for the last 2 and a half weeks. Sneaky little girls they are. So I will let nature take its course but it looks like if all of them make it I will have a bumper crop of bearded blue silkie chicks for easter!!!! Now I really have to get the dog cage all set up and ready to roll as a brooder today! Chicken momma is gonna be one busy woman!
Anybody have midget white turkey eggs for sale? I have a friend inquiring about getting hatching eggs.
Looks like we may have to cull Hane. Dh is pretty sure he is the culprit breaking and eating some of the eggs in the terrorist coop. Olaf has established he is the top roo and Hane has been hiding inside the coop in the nest boxes. We shall see what happens today but if that is the case, camp crock pot is always open.
Okay---off to get the brooder set up.
Anybody have midget white turkey eggs for sale? I have a friend inquiring about getting hatching eggs.
Looks like we may have to cull Hane. Dh is pretty sure he is the culprit breaking and eating some of the eggs in the terrorist coop. Olaf has established he is the top roo and Hane has been hiding inside the coop in the nest boxes. We shall see what happens today but if that is the case, camp crock pot is always open.
Okay---off to get the brooder set up.
I read the mother earth 'study' as well..IIRC on the discussion about it, it wasn't so much that the eggs were fertile, but that the fertile eggs were 'farm eggs' and unwashed. And yep, they lasted a loooooong time. (so don't wash your eggs - and if you do, wait until just before you use them! 
)
Like Cass, I sell eggs under two weeks old to 'customers' but I might stretch that by a week or two for eggs I bring in bulk to the auction or to the food pantry. Older than a month - if I have plenty of eggs I start freezing the egg whites (I use a lot of whites) or feeding some back to the chickens or baking a lot. But if I am low on eggs I'll keep them for months and they are fine.
)Like Cass, I sell eggs under two weeks old to 'customers' but I might stretch that by a week or two for eggs I bring in bulk to the auction or to the food pantry. Older than a month - if I have plenty of eggs I start freezing the egg whites (I use a lot of whites) or feeding some back to the chickens or baking a lot. But if I am low on eggs I'll keep them for months and they are fine.
I do this ALL the time since I have a brinsea also. It's idiot proof for everyone but me - makes it TOO easy.
So I put "LOCK DOWN EGGS" in my google calendar for the right day when I set eggs. Then I get reminders on my desktop, my phone, my kindle, etc. LOL. Can't miss it then. Looks like I *might* get 15 out of 16 chicks from CB's floofball eggs - there is one DIS that I already tossed but the others appear to be progressing.
Morning all, I hope all is well with everyone, I know some have been through some hard times and my prayers are with you. I had surgery on tuesday and I'm sore but alright. I got back to work tuesday sadly I won't be able to go running for quite some time ugh. Some good things have happened my privacy fence was started it's a custom build, 2 of 3 of my 5 month old birds layed their first eggs and they were yummy. My younger birds are almost all feathered out, so I really gotta try and finish the second coop.
Well tried calling someone last night about some female EE's got voicemail. Post on Craig's list was mar11 but. Wasn't suppose to come in till 21 st. They prob don't have any now. Called someone else today posted yesterday and voice mail again. Trying to get 2 chicks while my chicks are chicks so they can gro together but no luck. Wife is wanting blue/green eggs. Guess I get to sit online looking up Craig's list and other sites hoping something gets posted. If anyone knows someone around western ny area looking to sell two female chicks would you mind pming me. Wife is willing to drive like 2 hrs from http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&s...a=X&ei=jAxPUd6pFoi50AGYkYCoAg&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAA that's forestville ny
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My Ameraucanas are finally laying (Well, some of them are) and I just set some in the incubator last night, they'd be straight run though, I don't know how to sex day old chicks.
I need to go thru last years fall hatch and decide which pullets are staying, I'm hoping they fill out and grow some once it warms up, I won't overwinter chicks again!
I didn't even think of that! Yesterday was sunny, and today is not bad, and I sold 2 doz yesterday and so far 1 doz today. I'm sure it'll pick up again.
Wow! I guess I shouldn't freak anymore. Thanks for all the responses. I was thinking 1 week old wasn't really considered farm "fresh" anymore. I've always liked to sell eggs within a few days of laying. Making more room in my fridge! I have 12 red sex link chicks, 1 amberlink chick and 2 tetra tint chicks which should all start laying around early July. Might need to buy a second fridge for the garage! lol
I had those other 2 chicks from the hospital tank at TSC that turned out to be cornish rocks. It was SO SAD to watch them. Only 2.5 weeks old and already 3x's the size of the amberlink the same age. Easily 4x's the weight. I called them "Cyclops" just because of the size of their feet and legs. A guy down the road came and picked them up this morning. He raises his own meat birds and does all the processing himself. He's bringing me one of his processed birds. I told him, "as long as it's not still warm!". I'm sure I'll be fine with that as long as I haven't seen it alive. lol Maybe he and I can work out some kind of deal. It's not worth it for me to raise meat birds, but maybe he'd be willing to sell us some processed birds.
Does anyone know...
The other chicks I have right now are 2 to 2.5 weeks old. I have had them inside with the light. Is it still too cold to put them in a brooder in the garage? I have a huge red light (250W?) to keep them warm. But getting into the 20's still at night, is it still too cold? At what age can I put them in the garage? I'm sure the temp would be fluctuating quite a bit even with the light.
Thoughts?
My thoughts, since you asked and they are probably worth what you paid for them. LOL I put my day old chicks in a custom built brooder box in my enclosed back porch. There are a LOT of windows in that porch and it gets pretty darn cold...probably equivelent to a garage....with a 250 watt red heat lamp. Day olds, mind you. The earliest I have put them out there is around April 15th....it gets pretty warm in the day time and cold in the night. I have the heat lamp pretty low for the first few weeks so they have a nice warm place to go and a large space in the rest of the brooder box to roam around when they have warmed up. When they are 4 weeks old I start turning off the light during the day...which is about May 15th and with the windows it gets warm enough for them to live and thrive. By 6 weeks old they are out with the flock. Live or die, they are outta here. Man are chicks dusty and I just don't need the extra work of cleaning a brooder box almost daily, cuz by 6 weeks it is almost daily that it has to be cleaned.
So, in closing, I say "put them out in the garage now" cuz they are only going to start making bigger and bigger messes in the house.
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