My seven chickens, who all turned out to be girls yea!, are all laying now. They are six months old now. I know they will start slowing down soon so my question is this: how long are the eggs good kept in the frig? I have a small frig and freezer so long term storage that way could be a problem for too many eggs. However, now that I'm spolied with my eggs the thought of buying store bought is yucky. We are in northern New Mexico gets very cold here come winter and I have a nice shed my husband built, could I store them out there? Any ideas? Thanks

-- Tina (clia88@newmexico.com), October 06, 2000

Answers

Hi Tina, We've had a dozen or so chickens (not the same ones!) for 29 years and from time to time find ourselves with as many as 8 dozen eggs in the frig. I don't know what the health experts would say, but we have eaten eggs that are 6 months old and they were fine and we were fine, too. We don't wash our eggs so they retain their protective shield, but if they're really dirty we wash them and then use them right away. I have stored eggs in an unheated Indiana room that just dips to the freezing mark all winter with no appreciable effect to the eggs. When I have a lot of eggs, I give the freshest, cleanest ones to friends and neighbors who like them. It makes for a really nice friendly community feel to have something extra to share with others. I've heard that there are ways of liming and pickling eggs that I've not researched.

-- Carol (pogofile@bluemarble.net), October 06, 2000.

Tina, Hi I used to work in a small rural general store the owner used to keep eggs in the store room for up to three months and then sell them of course they were terrably runny but no one ever got sick. as eggs get older the white tends to run and thin out in the pan, fresh eggs stand up more the white is thicker when raw.

-- ronda (thejohnsons_doty@hotmail.com), October 06, 2000.

Dear Tina, I've sold eggs for 5 years now and have had 24 dozen at a time in my fridge, that got to be terribly (sp.?) inconvienent so I had to think of something else quick. What works for me is using a couple of Rubbermaid picnic coolers (they come in all sizes and are especially cheap at Wally World this time of year)and cooling them with a few of those reusable refreezable blue "ice" packs that are sold in the sporting goods department in the discount stores. To make the daily switch of the freezer packs easier I keep the egg coolers right next to the deep freeze. Remember, eggs don't have to be kept at as cold a temperature as most fridges are, anywhere below 50 or 45 degrees will keep eggs firm and fresh for up to 6 months. At 35 degrees, up to a year, I've experimented and tried it myself. If you're going to use them within 3 weeks you don't have to cool them at all, I leave a couple dozen eggs "age" for at least two weeks before I hard boil them just so I can peel them easily. Leave them out at room temperature to "age" and if the eggs are dirty, wash quickly with 90 degree water with a touch of dish soap in it, rinse with water just a bit hotter than you washed them in. That way you don't drive the dirt into the porous egg shell, the warmer water keeps it out, physics at work again! Eggs are way more durable than you think if stored and washed properly, good luck with your hens. Annie in SE Ohio.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), October 07, 2000.

Hi Tina. We live in northern NM also. I've had eggs in the fridge for at least 6 months with no problems. In fact, I've never had a spoiled egg, even when I couldn't remember how long it had been in there! It makes you wonder what in the world they do to store-bought eggs to make them so nasty. After a long while in the fridge, mine eventually lost moisture and the whites would become thicker, not thinner.

-- Lynne (Lynnie70@juno.com), October 07, 2000.

I have "heard" that the eggs you buy in the supermarkets are date stamped 6 months from their packing date as their expiration date. Never liking supermarket eggs to begin with, this helped make the decision to raise our own. We keep our eggs in the fridge for several weeks sometimes and they're always good. I do wash most of my eggs, personal preference, and this doesn't seem to affect their freshness. We always rotate the cartons as they fill to keep using the freshest. I have several customers and they're always happy with the eggs too. We also feed them regularly to our dogs, their coats are beautiful and it helps them endure the winter cold.

-- Rose Marie Wild (Wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), October 07, 2000.

Oops, I meant we rotate the cartons to use oldest eggs first, not the freshest!

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), October 08, 2000.

An old deep water sailor trick is to put eggs in the bilge water so they don't roll around. Will keep indefinitely that way. Apparently oil coats them and the salt water preserves them.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 08, 2000.

Thanks everyone for the responses, I almost made a mistake by selling some eggs, now I know I can keep them for winter. I will wait for spring to give/sell eggs.

-- Tina (clia88@newmexico.com), October 08, 2000.

My aunt cracks them into freezer trays and after they are frozen stores them in ziplock bags. They can be used for scrambling and baking or omelets.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 08, 2000.

Tina, depending on what kind of chickens you have, their egg production may not even slow down all that much. We've always had plenty of eggs through the winter with only a few hens (of course we eat more eggs now than we used to, so might need a few more hens), even when they were in an uninsulated barn with no lights in the coldest part of Alaska. We did have to get the eggs quickly before they froze, but there were always plenty!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 08, 2000.

There is also waterglass. You can use eggs a year old when stored in this product. It is available from a local hardware store or Lehman's. You also need a crock and a cool closet or cellar.

-- evelyn Bergdoll (evandjim@klink.net), October 09, 2000.

My pullets that start laying in the fall have always kept laying through the winter with no extra lights or heat. That's why I get a few pullets each year and sell a few year-old hens in the spring and summer to make room.

-- Laura Jensen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), October 10, 2000.

If you are concerned about an egg's freshness, just place it in a bowl of water. If it floats, throw it out. if it stands up right, it is getting old, but it is still fit to eat. A fresh egg will lay in the bottom of the bowl. I have heard that an egg will age the same amount on the counter in one day, as it will a week in the fridge.

My mother used to crack a bunch of eggs into milk jugs, and freeze them. She always donated them to the church for summer camp. I would imagine that one could always freeze eggs in a similar manner, unless you like them sunny side up.

-- Wayne (plefor@hotpop.com), October 12, 2000.