should I throw them out?

[wahmommy]

Been gone for five days, pet sitter keeps saying there are no eggs. I told her, I have five hens, there have to be at least a few eggs... she says no, she's checked everywhere. So I came back last night to find one hen broody in one of our two nest boxes (which I'm pretty sure wouldn't have happened if she had been collecting eggs every day like I told her to). When I moved the hen out of the nest box I found twenty! eggs under the hen. The pet sitter hadn't even checked under the chicken who was in the nest box -just kept telling me that the hens weren't laying. ***arggh* Anyway, its been about 100 here daily, but the coop is in the shade..but can't tell when the chicken went broody but likely right after I left. So these 20 eggs have likely been kept in the high range by broody hen and warm temps. Please note they are unfertilized as we do not have roosters. I'm thinking I should probably throw them out, but its 20 eggs!!
so aggravated...

she also let my 8 year old son's corn that he's been growing for two months dry up so he was crying yesterday...

 

[TeaChick]

I didn't check the date on this post; I'm sorry. IDK if an answer would still be relevant, but here's what I think.
I haven't been keeping chickens long (I haven't even had any eggs yet), but I have two credentials: 1. I worked on my neighbor's farm when I was a teenager and he kept chickens (a few dozen and he hatched eggs), and 2. my dh worked in the grocery business; so I have the chicken raising and the food safety aspects covered. It takes a long time for chicken eggs to go bad. I would wash them thoroughly and then crack them, one at a time, into a clean small bowl. If it's good, put it in a larger bowl; if it's bad... throw out that egg and either get a clean bowl or clean that one. Even if most of them are rotten, you should be able to keep whichever ones were laid most recently (at least a quarter of them, probably more).
If I had to guess, I would say there are probably not more than a few bad ones, if that; IOW, I would be more surprised if half of them were bad than if none of them were.

Here's hoping for the best!!!

 

[chfite]

They should be good after such a short time. You can try the float test to check for problems.

Chris

 

[TeaChick]

They should be good after such a short time.  You can try the float test to check for problems.

Chris

Sorry to interrupt.
What is the float test?

 

[sbhkma]

The float test is simply putting eggs in a pan of cold water. If they float, they're older. But really-5 days isn't long at all for eggs to be out. I keep mine on the kitchen counter, unwashed.

 

[TeaChick]

The float test is simply putting eggs in a pan of cold water. If they float, they're older. But really-5 days isn't long at all for eggs to be out. I keep mine on the kitchen counter, unwashed.

Thanks for the info!
I haven't gotten any eggs from my hens, but when I was a kid, we knew the eggs kept MUCH longer than the ones we got from the store.
I would have to wash them, but I like the idea of keeping them on the counter. ;-) (to each his own)

 

[sbhkma]

Actually, washing them takes off the protective coating, decreasing shelf life. I wash mine in warm water just before using, unless they're dirty. If they're dirty, then I wash them and put them in my "use these first" group. I have one hen that likes to lay in the rose bushes and sometimes they get a tad dirty. But today and a couple days ago she used the nest box so here's hoping...