Storing eggs

[kathyd]

Hi. Can you advise me how I should be storing our eggs please? At the moment they just go in boxes in the barn, which is unheated. However, maybe I should be putting them in the fridge? And how long do they keep?

Thx

[petal]

Eating eggs or hatching?

[kathyd]

Ah, good question - for eating

[rustylady]

Found this link for you, hope it helps How to store eggs: fresh home-laid and shop-bought eggs | Farm In My Pocket

[RichmondHens]

Mine come into the house to be recorded (I keep a log of who lays what when - very anal but helps me keep track of hen performance) then they go outside into my egg fridge - a whole fridge devoted to eggs! Then they get boxed up and distributed according to the orders. We keep back cracked, dirty and eggs older than a week for our own consumption and I have happily eaten eggs over a month old with no problems - kept in the fridge they last for ages.

[roitelet]

Eggs will keep for three weeks stored pointed end down in boxes on a shelf. The supermarkets don't put them in the fridge.

[nellie-m]

Very nice link, rustylady, thank you!
As far as I know, the best way to store eggs is in a constantly cool and dry place. Trouble with most fridges is, the air inside isn't exactly dry, plus humidity and temperature change every time you open the door - not good.

So, it's better to keep them in the pantry, where conditions stay the same, than in the fridge. Plus, but that's perhaps just my personal opinion, I find that eggs taste better if they haven't been refridgerated.

[petal]

RH, do you refridgerate eggs before selling for consumption- to prevent sneaks from hatching them?

[nellie-m]

Depends on how cold your fridge is. I knew a lady who, whenever one of her bantam Wyandotte hens got broody, would simply go to her fridge and take a number of eggs out for the hen to hatch. She always got chicks.
So, not a bomb-proof way to prevent this ;-)

[nellie-m]

just found this:
ARCHIVE: Defra, UK - Food and Farming - Food - Food industry - Sectors - Eggs and poultry

[kathyd]

Lol, this is just like asking a question in the veggie forum! Everyone has different ideas... I tend to store eggs in the barn but move them into smaller boxes for the kitchen - where I stick them in the fridge! But this is convenience rather than a belief I 'need' to. As However, we only have 7 hens, and they're rarely all laying at the same time for various reasons, and by the time we've given some away and had a few eggy meals, we don't really store them for all that long... it's just my OH has been reading things online (always dangerous ) and wondered if we should be refridgerating them all, all the time, to avoid salmonella... So I'm sticking with what I do now, unless our egg production suddenly increases and then I'll think again. Thanks all, including RL for the link .

[RichmondHens]

RH, do you refridgerate eggs before selling for consumption- to prevent sneaks from hatching them?

That has occurred to me so yes, in part, although all my regulars are not the type to do that. I don't leave them out with an honesty box for people to help themselves as I live too far off the road - customers have to come up the drive and knock at the door or request delivery - but I do like to fridge the eggs as most are likely to be fertile and my fridge is cold enough I think (4 degrees) to kill the germ cell.

[kathyd]

Mine come into the house to be recorded (I keep a log of who lays what when - very anal but helps me keep track of hen performance) then they go outside into my egg fridge - a whole fridge devoted to eggs! Then they get boxed up and distributed according to the orders. We keep back cracked, dirty and eggs older than a week for our own consumption and I have happily eaten eggs over a month old with no problems - kept in the fridge they last for ages.

I don't think it's anal at all RH.. I do it too! Mainly because it helps me notice if anyone's behaviour changes, which might mean there's a problem. And as for keeping back all the rubbish ones for your own consumption - I'm way too selfish for that, lol . I give our spare eggs away to friends, I'm obviously not selling them, so they get their share of thin-shelled / strange-shaped eggs too, the only ones I keep back are the occasional one which may have got a bit dirty. If they're having more than half a dozen, I just tell them which box to eat first. Easy peasy .

[Peas'n'Kews]

Now I don't keep chickens (yet!) but my trusty Readers Digest "Food from you Garden" book says you can store eggs for up to 10 months....

Here's how...

Use sodium silicate (used for sizing walls before decorating and therefore obtainable from DIY shops). follow the instructions on the packet and fill a clean bucket or earthenware jar about 3/4 full. Place cooled eggs, pointed ends down, in the solution. Stack more eggs in the solution as they become available. Make sure they are always completely covered in solution. Store in a cool place and cover to prevent evaporation.

Use gloves when adding or removing eggs.
Use eggs for frying, poaching or cooking.
Do not wash eggs before preserving, as this makes the shells porus (use a brush or steel wool to clean the eggs).

Store container where there will be minimum movement to prevent hairline cracks in the eggs.

[kathyd]

Hi Ps&Qs - mmm, I've seen that advice too - must admit, I've not chosen to follow it! Mind you, if world technology fails and we have only our wits and our eggs to live on without the support of electricity and other Mystical Stuff, we might have to resort to The Old Ways I guess .