Wednesday, September 1, 2010

No Room at the Inn


I wonder if two nests just aren't quite enough for the 7 hens. Came out to the coop the other day and found this pile-up//gd

Thursday, August 26, 2010

How long will fresh chicken eggs keep in the fridge?

I got this information from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_will_fresh_chicken_eggs_keep_in_the_refrigerator

Length of Time Chicken Eggs Are GoodVarious answers by our contributors:

Eggs can remain edible for even longer than a month, but freshness (egg yolk that sits firm and high, and a thick viscous egg white) will be noticeably less after two weeks. If eggs start out as Grade AA, they remain AA for only two weeks if properly refrigerated. After that, they'll be Grade A for another 2 weeks.

Here is a true test of freshness: Get a bowl of cold water. Put the whole egg in the water. If it sinks, it's fresh; if it floats to the top, it is old. It will kind of lay almost on its side. You can see the age of it by how much it floats. It's a good idea to do this test before selling any eggs if you suspect they are older than two weeks. However, by putting the eggs in water, you wash away the bloom from the egg, a protective layering that prevents bacteria from entering the egg. Therefore, unless you are not expecting to keep the eggs for very long, you should not put them in water. If you must wash the eggs, use HOT running water.

Farmers have 30 days from the day an egg is laid to get it to stores. Then, the stores have another 30 days to sell the eggs. The USDA recommends a maximum of 5 weeks in your refrigerator before you discard your eggs. What does this all boil down to? On April 1, you could be eating an egg that was laid on Christmas.

Many eggs in the U.S. get to market within a few days of laying. If there is a USDA shield on the carton, it must have at least a Julian pack date. A use-by is not required, but if used, it must not be more than 45 days from packing. If the eggs are not distributed interstate, state laws will apply and are variable.

Keep in mind that farmers generally get their eggs to stores within a week, and both the "pack date" and "sell by" date are stamped onto the carton. The numbers run from 1-365, depending on the day of the year. Lastly, there is a big difference in taste between farm fresh eggs and week-old eggs. If you want the freshest eggs, you can buy from a local farmer.

There is an expiration date on the carton. If in doubt, put the egg in water. If it floats, do not use it.

Eggs last about 4-5 weeks in your refrigerator. If you don't know how long the egg has been in the refrigerator, fill a cup with water (enough to cover the egg), and put the egg in the cup. If the egg sinks to the bottom, it is still good to eat; if the egg floats, however, it is bad and should be discarded.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Reaching your full potential or 7 eggs = no Roosters!



We have gathered 7 eggs on a couple different occasions now, which tells me, finally, that I've got no roosters in the group! Elder Cody Denton wanted some shots of the hen house since I lettered it. While I was out there I noticed hens in each of the boxes, so I took a shot of that too!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Happiness is....

Getting 6 eggs in one day...like today! It's been fun giving out some of the eggs and getting feedback that they taste great!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Cooking and eating the first egg!

Here's a picture of my smaller "home made" egg on the left with the darker yolk compared to a Costco XL egg. My chicken egg had a much harder shell to crack than the much softer Costco egg. I couldn't tell a difference in taste, but I always take a bite of egg and then a bite of toast at the same time because eating egg all by itself like that is not my favorite thing to do.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

The first dozen




Here are pictures of the first dozen eggs that we've got. You'll notice that on one day (7/28) we did get 3 eggs, but it has been 1 or 2 the rest of the time. The eggs to the back are XL eggs from Costco. The three egg comparison is from our first egg on 7/25, an egg I got this morning on 8/1, and then one of the Costco eggs. We're going to offer up the first dozen to the Allmen family to see if they would want them since they gave us the chickens. (We've got about 3 dozen eggs we still need to use up around the house.) You can click on the pictures to see a larger image.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Got Eggs?

Over the past 3 days we have got 1 egg/day. The size is about 1/3 that of an XL egg that we get from the store. The hen that is laying is not the most "mature looking" hen out in the hen house, surprisingly enough. By looking at how big their combs and wobbles are, I think I should have at least 3 of them laying by now, with the others sneaking up right behind them.

I've been writing the date that the egg was laid right on the egg in pencil. I'm going to save a few up and then take a picture of them all together to see how long it takes for the hen to produce the larger eggs I know she's capable of. Maybe we'll then take and have a big pan of scrambled eggs for breakfast with them.