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Offline BjornBee

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chicken egg question.....
« on: September 04, 2010, 07:55:50 am »
Another thread suggested testing eggs with a float test. Is this for eggs harvested after perhaps sitting too long?

I hatched out eggs and bought some chicks in April. And although we feed and water every day, we were not really looking for eggs yet. But yesterday, we found 5 eggs from the 16 new hens. Four in the boxes and one on the ground. But we have no idea how old they were. I'm sure probably just a day or two.

Do you float eggs to test for age? or some other reason?

I know the book says to look for eggs every day if not both morning and night. But do you all do that every day?

It's been in the 90's here. So how fast do eggs go bad? Do you really need to check a couple times per day? And if you do, is the water test more for that occasional egg you might of missed, and then it being bad since it was there perhaps longer than normal?

Thank you.

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Offline winginit

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2010, 08:59:46 am »
Eggs will last a long time if you don't wash them. Some people leave them out a week and then sell them! Once you wash them, you have to refrigerate. Try not to wash them, but if you have to, do it right before you eat them. Takes some getting used to.

Soooo, CONGRATULATIONS. I can't believe your chickens are laying so soon. What kind do you have? Chickens are fun and the eggs are great. I like the additional compost, too. We also get to see more wildlife--unfortunatly, predators. All part of the fun.

Our chickens stop laying around Oct or Nov if we don't give them additional hours of light. So we have a light on a timer that turns on early in the morning. We found that if the light stayed on in the evening, the chickens went to sleep anyway and it didn't work. But turn it on at 4 am and presto, eggs. Not very green of us, but we are spoiled by those eggs.

Offline BjornBee

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2010, 09:23:08 am »
Thank you winginit.

They are Buff Orpingtons.

It was a suprise to us. We bought some couple day old chicks the second week of April and hatched out the others the third week of April. So we were not expecting anything till at least the beginning of October.

Now lets see....2,000 investment with shed and what seems like a three page list of "things", 5 eggs, 400 dollars per egg....  :shock:

I think I'll advertise these $400 eggs with those 5,000 dollar hives seen earlier.....  :lau:

You don't even want to ask what the chickens go for..... :-D
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Offline winginit

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2010, 09:47:55 am »
I think I'll advertise these $400 eggs with those 5,000 dollar hives seen earlier.....  :lau:

You don't even want to ask what the chickens go for..... :-D

Only $400?  X:X 

And if you find a buyer, ask him if he wants a $64 tomato. There's a hysterical book by that name, even if it hits way too close to home. The guy put up electric fencing to protect his garden from Superchuck. (How many volts could a woodchuck chuck? A LOT it turns out.)

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2010, 12:02:44 am »
Buff Orpingtons will start laying sooner than most other large breed chickens.
If you want good winter layers get Australorps, they were bred in Australia with Orpingtons as the base stock.  They are good winter layers and good sitters.  Same with Black Jersey Giants-every BJG hen I had decided to sit at one time or the other during the summer, last one just got off the nest a week ago.  I let one hen raise a batch of 11 chicks (2 roosters/9hens) the others I kept stealing the eggs out from under then as other hens laid in the same nest.  BJG and Australorps make a very good cross I'm finding, the Juvenile cross rooster is bigger than the BJG 2nd year roosters.

When I have chickens hidding eggs on me, and I find the nest, I always water test the eggs, any that don't sink all the way to the bottom get tossed.  The float method is much more reliable than candling when it comes to edibility.
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Offline VolunteerK9

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2010, 11:28:32 am »
I raise chickens to sell as well as eggs. With this recent egg recall, I don't have enough hens-they can't squeeze them out fast enough. The water float test is a good indicator of freshness. If it sinks quickly, it's good. Candling determines if there are any meat or blood spots inside the egg. A couple of days incubated egg will still sink so be careful if age is a question. Could make for some interesting scrambled eggs. During the summer months, I will gather eggs a couple of times a day. Spring, Fall and Winter usually just once.

Offline BjornBee

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2010, 08:23:24 am »
Thank you everyone.

We are getting 3-4 eggs per day at this point.  :-D

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Offline hardwood

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2010, 09:16:30 am »
Just yesterday while we were having breakfast, we heard what sounded like a gun shot going off on the porch. When I went to investigate the smell almost knocked me over. Seems one of the hens had laid an egg under a bush just outside of the porch and it had rotted enough to explode...wasn't pretty.

We haven't had laying hens for about 4 months now so it had to be quite ripe!

Scott
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Offline VolunteerK9

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2010, 09:56:50 am »
And that is a kind of stink that won't wash off with any amount of ajax either

Offline doak

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2010, 08:55:23 pm »
The April hatch is the main reason for Sept. eggs. May hatch will usually bring first eggs in Oct.

The more an egg floats the older it is. Regardless of refrigeration or washing, the egg white (evaporates)with time, slowly but surly.

You can cull your settings by candling the eggs after about 10 to 12 days. If it does not show dark it is not developing. Toss it.

Do not shake setting eggs to try to feel if the chick is there.

You have to be careful setting Quail eggs with Bantams, some have been known to eat them as soon as they hatch, in the chickens mind they are big insects.

The reason I know all of this is because----------- :roll:doak

Offline hardwood

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2010, 09:19:48 pm »
When I lived on a ship (44' schooner) without refrigeration, we would coat eggs with a thin film of Vaseline and could expect them keep for about 45 days. Anything past that you'd be taking your chances!

Scott
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

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Offline winginit

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2010, 11:34:42 pm »
Just yesterday while we were having breakfast, we heard what sounded like a gun shot going off on the porch. When I went to investigate the smell almost knocked me over. Seems one of the hens had laid an egg under a bush just outside of the porch and it had rotted enough to explode...wasn't pretty.

We haven't had laying hens for about 4 months now so it had to be quite ripe!

Scott

Thanks for this. I think of it every single day as I peer underneath the coop to make sure the young hens aren't laying under there!

Offline doak

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Re: chicken egg question.....
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2010, 11:56:18 pm »
It takes a little extra time. We use to put a wire on the nest to keep the other chickens out, then in late evening when all the others have went to roost pull the wire back and she will come out to eat and water.
Make sure to put the wire back in place an hour or so later. Or early the next morning before the others come off the roost.

Unless you can have one isolated before she takes the nest. 50%+/- of the time if you try to move one after she has taken the nest they will come out of the setting mood.

The natural is hard to beat but if you have some emergency power source the incubator will get the job done.

To bring one out of the setting mood, put her in a wire floured pen up off the ground for about a week to 10 days. Of-course games and bantams are harder to break. :)doak