The secrets of shipping...

[little_grey_bantam]

So last night I was getting ready to package eggs for next week... we were trying out a few different methods.

We had a regular flat rate box and lined it with large bubble wrap and then put the eggs in foam paper lining (or a soft tissue paper) and then put them in foam egg cartons which are then wrapped in bubble wrap and made sure they fit snuggly into the box... more bubble wrap was placed if needed.

How did we test them?

My BF THREW the box across the room, into the microwave, at the wall AND ceiling and onto the table, where it flew off, hit the fridge and bounced down to the ground, all while I look like this

(OMG!!! THE EGGIES!!). My eyes were as ROUND as dinner plates... while he was "throwing" these eggs, he was saying, "Well, this is for the post office in Kansas it has to go through... and one for Colorado and then California... and here is another one OH and another one for extra measures!" He managed to bounce it off a metal box!! By now, I'm cringing and screaming bloody murder "OMG, you're killing the babies!!" (Why I was so emotional over refrigerated test eggs, I do not know LOL)

After this test, we opened it up, all eggs were safe... not a single crack!

Other than almost having a heart attack, lol, the experiment is pretty good

 

[Cornychick]

That's hilarious! Did you happen to check the if the airsacks became unattached?

 

[dovecanyon]

Sounds to me like you have hit on an excellent method of packing. Glad your hubby got to have a little fun as well...

 

[Katy]

Doesn't guarantee the air cells aren't ruptered. I've gotten plenty of eggs that looked just fine, not a crack on them, but the aircells were toast.

 

[little_grey_bantam]

I boiled 4 down and ate them - though I don't know what the egg sacs were suppose to look like when cooked, usually for me, if the airsac bursts, it does something weird to the cooked egg making it hard to take out of the shell.

I didn't think about it until I opened them lol

I only cracked 3 "random" eggs and the air sacs looked alright - strange though, the yolks were golden instead of yellow like the ones at the store, but I don't know why that is

Should have posted that too, the other 3-4, I blew the egg insides out of the shell, because I wanted to save the eggshells... can't really check the air sacs then, other than they blew out the same lol if that helps!

I guess I should go check the last remaining few!
I'll leave another post when I check em in a bit!

 

[muddyhorse]

I hope those wen"t MY eggs.

glad to know they will be well packed. can't wait for my Specked Sussexes. and westmulers/sss

 

[Katy]

You need to candle them, not break them open to really get an idea about the aircells.

 

[little_grey_bantam]

I suppose I will get a heart attack now...

Time to do the trial again

BF thought I should have jumped on it...

Oh btw, does anyone have an eggs that have really strong ... brain fart ... white membrane that surrounds the eggs on the inside?
Our Black Spanish as well as my friend's Black something eggs, when you break them, the hard shell falls off, but the egg is STILL in the membrane? You can drop it and it sometimes will bounce and settle down, unrboekn. And then it takes WORK to actually break them opened??????

No, we just use the cheapies... the ones that were in the fridge from our birds that we were going to eat. Surprisingly, the store bought egg shells appear thinner than homegrown - I've learned if store bought eggs wont break, you're doing pretty good. It seems they are fragile, at least the ones I purchase. My eggs you can clank them together and most times, no broken eggs.

 

[little_grey_bantam]

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm going to do the trial again and this time throw the eggs into an incubator and see what hatches out.
I will post updates on them; with that, I think I'll start freezing them too and seeing how far an egg can get along before they are unviable(word?). If anyone is interested in that, email me. Someone posted that an egg frozen will blow the airsac out and no longer be good? But if they are still "slushy" they will still work????

Good research paper.

 

[boxermom]

My eggs are like yours. Hard shell and very tough membrane. My turkey eggs are even worse. I think my chicken's eggs are getting a little less tough to open however, since the chickens are 8 mo old. Turks are the same age, but just started laying. I'm not sure if the length of time the hen has been laying is the reason or not. My birds are getting oyster shell now that they are locked in the barn. When the shells were stronger, they were free ranging with lots of lime stone on the ground.