we ate our first eggs... question

[Florida_girl]

Our one EE just started laying 1 egg a day for the past week. We ate them on Saturday and we were excited and took pictures! My question is ... We noticed that the eggs are thick (in texture) and the shells are thick too. Is this normal? will they thin out over time?
Thanks!

 

[dsegel]

Yes, it is normal for the eggs to be thick (and a little cloudy, too), as well as the shell. Being thick is a GOOD thing. It is a sign that the eggs are fresh. It will take you longer to fry them because they sit so high up. (If you get an egg that when you crack it, it runs all over the pan, that means it is OLD.) You will also notice that the yolks are darker and oranger than a store bought . . . especially if you free range.

 

[CovenantCreek]

As I understand it, the shells from a healthy, well fed, hen/pullet getting lots of calcium in her diet will be thicker than those you find in store bought eggs. Over time they can get thinner if her calcium level gets depleted, but if you keep some form of calcium available your hens will get what they need to continue to produce strong shells. The texture of the egg is also going to be different due to the health & diet of your birds versus those in an egg factory.

 

[Florida_girl]

Thank you for answering my questions.

How long are eggs considered fresh?
Do they need to be kept in the fridge?
does it matter which way I put them in the carton.. point side up or down?

thanks again.

 

[SeaChick]

If eggs are never refrigerated, they last quite a while (weeks!) at room temperature. Once they are refrigerated once, though, they MUST be kept in the fridge or they go bad quickly.

That said, they will last the longest if refrigerated.

At our house, we go through eggs so fast that they're never sitting around longer than 5 or 6 days. We keep them in an egg basket, so they get turned over all the time when taking out/adding eggs.

if you plan to keep eggs for several weeks, especially if at room temperature, you should turn them end-for-end every few days (just trun the egg carton upside down). This prevents the yolk from settling against the membrane, as I understand it, and spoiling quicker. We kept fresh unrefrigerated eggs for many weeks like this when we lived on our sailboat in the tropics. Just turned them over every few days. When they got to be over 3 weeks old we would test them by dropping in a glass of water. If they float to the top they are BAD, toss them. If they sink to the bottom they are fresh. Bob in the middle, they're old but not bad yet.

Stacey

 

[MissPrissy]

You should also notice in your home grown eggs -

- the yolk sits higher on the white, the white is more compact and doesn't spill out like water when cracked into a pan. This 'thickness' is the freshness of the egg. It sits 'at attention' unright and tall.

- the white will also be cloudier due to the carbon dioxide trapped in there hasn't had time to disperse with gas exchange through the shell like a commercial egg (indicating yours is MUCH fresher).

- the yellow won't be sunshine yellow, they will begin to be more orangey due to the increase proteins your chickens will get over a commercial hen. The bugs and worms and other 'meat' they consume helps to make the yolk more nutritious for you. (My chickens get most of the meat scraps from my kitchen.)

- the hard shell indicates how well your chickens are eating and being provided good nutrition. Those things are like little metal casks. Which is good when you have a pocketful of freshly collected eggs and the goats decide that is when they want to rub up against you and be petted.

- you have a better egg than most people get from the store that is labled 'organic'.