young hen not sitting on her first egg...what to do?

[redoak]

Congrats on your first egg

 

[Chirpy]

BeakSanctuary - no worries. Hens were made to lay eggs pretty much everyday, I truly don't believe they look for the eggs unless they are broody. Hens often just like to scratch around in their nest boxes to rearrange things.

Take their eggs and enjoy them! Thank your girls when you see them for the wonderful, fresh eggs.

 

[BeakSanctuary]

Thanks, Chirpy. I'll use that to make a more-positive opinion of myself when I almost, otherwise, feel like I'd be stealing something of value to them to take the eggs. I probably need to take what I've got and make them some scrambled eggs to get back to zero stashed eggs out there. Otherwise, I can't tell what's fresh enough to use - or yet, there is that water-floating test I kind of remember? If it floats, it's bad or vice versa?

 

[d.k]

* If it floats, oh yeah, it's bad.

 

[BeakSanctuary]

Think it can be bad enough to hurt 'ya even if it doesn't float, or is that a reasonable test? I won't hold you to this - I just know I have quite a few ungathered eggs to handle, that's all. I wonder how long they can sit outside and not float, hehe? Maybe I'll do some tests tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks for the reply.

 

[dancingbear]

If they tip up on one end, or even stand upright, they're still ok to eat. It just means the egg has lost moisture, and the air cell is bigger. By the time they actually float like a cork, they're too old. If you aren't sure, you can always break them into a bowl, one at a time, when you're ready to use them. If an egg is bad enough to hurt you, it won't look normal when you break it open. It won't smell normal, either. You can see for sure whether they're ok before you dump them into the skillet or whatever you're cooking.

In many years of doing this, I've never had a fresh egg float, but a fresh egg with little cracks in it will sometime tip up on one end. I use those anyway. (I wash all my eggs, so they all get water tested) I've had ONE bad egg not float. It wasn't actually spoiled, it didn't stink, but it was one my dog brought up to the house from who knows where. It sank, but wanted to only lay one way. If I rolled the other side up, it would slide right back over again. I broke it into a cup to see what was happening. The egg had apparently sat out in a sunny spot, (it was during VERY hot weather) the yolk looked partially cooked, and was stuck to the shell on that side. One of the weirdest things I've seen in an egg. Of course I threw that one out.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I agree with "MissPrissy".

 

[BeakSanctuary]

Thanks, dancingbear. I'm back to square one now so I know how old the eggs in the coop are. They all looked fairly OK in the bowl except one or two - some red, more than a spot of red, and one really cloudy yolk. I cooked up a bunch of scrambled eggs for them (this was 25 or 30!) and they liked it, but not immediately. Such a beautiful pan of eggs I've rarely seen. I guess I thought they'd LOVE them, but they were just OK with them and eventually all were eaten, plus the shells.

PS I still believe that a couple of hens wondered where these eggs went, but they're too young to care, maybe, or maybe they never will. They're turkens, so I know they can become broody at a certain age.