Unfertilized Eggs, Broody hen are eggs safe to eat?

[wyoDreamer]

One of my hens went broody and I found her sitting on a clutch of eggs. She has not been sitting long, 2 days max. I went to gather eggs on Sunday and she was in the nest box so I didn't bother her - figured that i would gather them later, but forgot. Then Monday when I went to gather eggs I realized the flattened pancake was my chicken and she had been sitting on the eggs for 2 days.

Are the eggs still safe to eat or should I just toss them all?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Since they're for eating, you can do a float test. If they sink and don't come to the surface at all, they're good to eat

 

[hysop]

As you get ready to eat them just crack one at a time.
I would personally put then in the refrigerator to maybe stop any growth just in case.

 

[hysop]

Since they're for eating, you can do a float test. If they sink and don't come to the surface at all, they're good to eat

They’re 2 days old. They’ll sick no matter what. That’s more to check how large the air cell is than if the egg is good for consumption.

I once did a float test on my broodies’ clutch of eggs when I was a newbie and all the ones that sunk were developing and had veins. I didn’t know to incubate them at the time so I found out by cracking them and decided to just toss the bunch. Makes me sad thinking about all the chicks that would have lived had I bought an incubator back then.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Unfertile so no worry. Eat 'em.

 

[hysop]

just saw that it says infertile eggs. Just crack one at a time anyway just to be safe and look at the texture and if you’re fine with it go ahead and eat it

 

[JacinLarkwell]

They’re 2 days old. They’ll sick no matter what. That’s more to check how large the air cell is than if the egg is good for consumption.

I once did a float test on my broodies’ clutch of eggs when I was a newbie and all the ones that sunk were developing and had veins. I didn’t know to incubate them at the time so I found out by cracking them and decided to just toss the bunch. Makes me sad thinking about all the chicks that would have lived had I bought an incubator back then.

They're eating the egg. We always go by float tests to make sure they aren't bad. We've never had a bad egg pass a float tesr

 

[Flockincrazy]

One of my hens went broody and I found her sitting on a clutch of eggs. She has not been sitting long, 2 days max. I went to gather eggs on Sunday and she was in the nest box so I didn't bother her - figured that i would gather them later, but forgot. Then Monday when I went to gather eggs I realized the flattened pancake was my chicken and she had been sitting on the eggs for 2 days.

Are the eggs still safe to eat or should I just toss them all?

I would toss them especially if its been warm where you are

 

[aart]

Are the eggs still safe to eat or should I just toss them all?

Not sure I'd eat them.

When in doubt....
Open eggs one at a time in a separate dish before adding to pan or recipe,
use your eyes, nose, and common sense to decide if egg is OK to eat.


Floating an egg will only tell you how old it might be.
They float due to evaporation when older.
It will not tell you if an egg is 'good' or 'bad'.
Plus then you've wetted the egg so it should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Just an update - I gather the eggs in the morning and after work. Sometimes there is an egg in the morning, but usually they are all laid after 7 am and I gather them after work. On weekends I find that they usually all lay by noon.
I have been using the eggs. Breaking them individually into a bowl to check each one before use. They taste great, smell fine and look normal. The only thing I can tell is that the membrane that contains the yolk is slightly weakened and sometimes when I go to flip my eggs for over easy, the yolk will break. This will occasionally happens with fresh, good eggs, but it seems like it happens a little more often with the eggs that are kept warm by a broody for the day.