What do YOU use to collect your eggs?

[BriColie]

[COLOR=2F4F4F]Been collecting eggs from the nest from the time I could walk and that's been a LONG time ago, but I never cease to be thrilled each time I look in a nest box and see clean, lovely eggs in there. I guess it goes back to Easter egg hunts and such, but finding those eggs feels so very good to me. I love the way they look, the way they feel and even the shape of them...it's just poetry to me. Sometimes I'll rub them across my cheek and smell them, feeling their lovely shape and smoothness, greeting them like an old friend. [/COLOR] [COLOR=2F4F4F]Think of how many people, who have always bought eggs from a store, see eggs as perfect snow white things lined up neatly in a carton...bland, uniform in shape and size, pale insipid tasting yolks and watery whites inside. They have no idea what it's like to go out of an evening and pick them out of a nest on their own land, warm or cool to the touch, silky smooth or slightly textured, speckled or oddly striped at times, different colors and shades, some very round and some comically tubular and occasionally the "fill your whole hand" goose egg when you don't own a goose. [/COLOR] [COLOR=2F4F4F]What a delight it is to discover these perfect little protein packages in all their varied beauty, lying there in a golden nest just waiting on you. Like a very personal thank you from the flock for all the feed and care you give them...each one as unique as the next, nothing uniform about them at all. Richly, deeply golden orange yolks that stand up and smile at you when you crack them into the pan, whites that are thick and gelatinous as they should be and a flavor that's like a kiss of goodness. [/COLOR] [COLOR=2F4F4F]Don't know why, but I just felt like singing an egg song of praise about the loveliness of our eggs! [/COLOR] [COLOR=2F4F4F] [/COLOR]

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You have a way with words, my dear, that touches my heart - & i can totally relate to!! You are a fine poet & writer (& if you say you're not...then, i tell you, you are!! ) I love your pictures & reading every word

 

[BriColie]

First I bought this basket at a garage sale to collect eggs in. But it was so pretty, I preferred to keep it on the counter to display the eggs. We're not getting very many eggs right now, so it's currently a fruit basket:

Then I bought this at Hobby Lobby:

But like others, I would forget to grab it on my way out. So one day I used this, from a plant that came potted in it from the grocery store. (The plant was outside, I already had on my "chicken poop" shoes, didn't want to go back in.)

I like this one so well, that I retired the other ones. I just keep it near the door, and if I forget it, I can reach in and grab it without having to step inside.

But, if I find eggs while I am out giving the chickens their scratch grains, then I just put them in the empty grain scoop:

I also do not wash eggs unless they are dirty. I keep them on the counter in the baskets and in this skelter:

If they are just a little dirty, I wipe the dirt with a damp paper towel and leave them out. If they are more dirty and need vigorous rinsing or wiping, I put those straight into the fridge, in cartons. And if they are hanging around on the counter longer than a week, I move those to the fridge too. Depends on how many slackers I have out there.

Beautiful! I simply love your ideas!!

 

[BriColie]

I too feel so happy when I see a pile of eggs ,
They do look like an Easter basket

I take my basket each morning with my jar of fermented feed in it , usually carry back 4 or 5 eggs then go back in the afternoon to collect 4 or 5 again!!
I have a tea towel in my wire basket , the eggs are strong but I don't want to waste them.

I had my first " pocket omelette " last week , I stood in the coop laughing so hard the girls thought I'd finally lost it!!!

Haha, too funny! I make fermented foods for my chickens too. Usually from my sourdough starter or i just make them some aged sourdough bread, crumble, let it dry out & they love it!

 

[Spartan22]

@Beekissed thanks for sharing your thought, I felt like a kindergartener again holding on to every words you utter. LOL, that was very grateful praise and was beautiful.

 

[aart]

A friend of mine at work found this at a garage sale. Another friend knotted a small round doily to go in the bottom to prevent cracking eggs. We smile every time we use it!

 

[BantyChooks]

Hello everyone! We are super excited at the BriColie Homestead today as we have new layers from our first flock & pullets.

We have 3 buff Orpington (Claire, Katie aka Freckles, & Marida - though, i can't tell them apart except for Freckles because she has little black markings on her tail feathers, so i call the other 2 mama most of the time), 1 barred rock (Blue), 2 rir (one called Red & the other Ginger - you can only now tell them apart from their back feathers, so if we see them together it's usually, "there go the red sisters." lol), & 1 silkie rooster (originally suppose to be a hen until he started crowing...his name was Honey, but now is Roger - as in, "hi, welcome to the neighborhood"-Roger off the old kids show bc he reminded us of an old man lol...& man is it funny to watch him trying to mate the oringtons that are about twice his size!)

Well, now we have 1 mystery layer, laying every other day, & Freckles with her...today we got 2 more new layers...our noisest layer so far, Claire (maybe Marida??), & Blue, our quiet one.

So, my question is to you...what do YOU use to collect your little nuggets of gold?? Today i just used a box with some hay, i tried to keep them all separated right now because my hubby knows how excited i get about eggs & i wanted to show him.

Hold 'em in my hands, or in the winter, pockets. I have carried over a dozen eggs inside before and still managed to open the door... But it took practise!

After they're inside, I store them in a wire egg basket.

 

[Nardo]

Nothing cute or fancy here. I have a rolling bowl system. A bowl sets on the kitchen counter for scraps. When it gets full it goes to the coop. The next day, I collect the empty bowl and put the eggs in it. I have 2-3 stainless steel bowls I use for this.

Otherwise, the shirt is great. I'm leery of pockets, though...too many pocket omelettes have been made here

I like this idea, if I can get my timing down. We have a lidded tupperware bowl that sits on the kitchen counter for compost.
If I can work out a system to leave it out so that I can bring eggs inside...I have had to scrape icky busted egg out of my front jeans pockets,
It's almost impossible

 

[FlyWheel]

Been collecting eggs from the nest from the time I could walk and that's been a LONG time ago, but I never cease to be thrilled each time I look in a nest box and see clean, lovely eggs in there. I guess it goes back to Easter egg hunts and such, but finding those eggs feels so very good to me. I love the way they look, the way they feel and even the shape of them...it's just poetry to me. Sometimes I'll rub them across my cheek and smell them, feeling their lovely shape and smoothness, greeting them like an old friend.

Think of how many people, who have always bought eggs from a store, see eggs as perfect snow white things lined up neatly in a carton...bland, uniform in shape and size, pale insipid tasting yolks and watery whites inside. They have no idea what it's like to go out of an evening and pick them out of a nest on their own land, warm or cool to the touch, silky smooth or slightly textured, speckled or oddly striped at times, different colors and shades, some very round and some comically tubular and occasionally the "fill your whole hand" goose egg when you don't own a goose.

What a delight it is to discover these perfect little protein packages in all their varied beauty, lying there in a golden nest just waiting on you. Like a very personal thank you from the flock for all the feed and care you give them...each one as unique as the next, nothing uniform about them at all. Richly, deeply golden orange yolks that stand up and smile at you when you crack them into the pan, whites that are thick and gelatinous as they should be and a flavor that's like a kiss of goodness.

Don't know why, but I just felt like singing an egg song of praise about the loveliness of our eggs!

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You can tell a person owns chickens when they wax poetic about an egg! Very beautiful, and spot on!

When I found the food crocks @ Goodwill that I use for fermenting their feed I also saw a small wood basket for $0.50 that looked just large enough to hold 10 eggs. Seeing as I have ten hens, most of them Easter Eggers, it seemed appropriate. What I like best about it is I can hold it by a finger through the handle. I also scoop out their poop trays in the evening and being able to carry both the coffee can filled with poop and the egg basket in one hand leaving the other free to open the gate (or fend off the Roo should he forget his place) is nice. I would like to find a nice colored one this Easter if I can.

 

[lazy gardener]

I loved all of your pics. Sometimes I take a basket out to the coop with me. I buy the painted wire baskets from the dollar store. I have 4 of them. Don't wash eggs till POS, so may have 2 or 3 baskets brimming full of eggs by the time I wash them at the end of each week. Then, they go in fridge. I have one customer who is now asking for unwashed eggs. Gotta love that! I can carry 5 eggs in one hand, jacket pockets can hold 2 - 3 each. Sometimes I forget, and find myself doing garden chores that include shoveling, and digging. Sometimes, that ends with a pocket omlet. But, if I break an egg in my pocket it's usually b/c I forget and toss the jacket onto a kitchen chair.

 

[BantyChooks]

I loved all of your pics. Sometimes I take a basket out to the coop with me. I buy the painted wire baskets from the dollar store. I have 4 of them. Don't wash eggs till POS, so may have 2 or 3 baskets brimming full of eggs by the time I wash them at the end of each week. Then, they go in fridge. I have one customer who is now asking for unwashed eggs. Gotta love that! I can carry 5 eggs in one hand, jacket pockets can hold 2 - 3 each. Sometimes I forget, and find myself doing garden chores that include shoveling, and digging. Sometimes, that ends with a pocket omlet. But, if I break an egg in my pocket it's usually b/c I forget and toss the jacket onto a kitchen chair.

Ditto. Or, if you're even more forgetful (like me,) you toss your coat into the dryer after you go out to shovel and forget you had eggs in them thar pockets.... Yeah, that was fun.