# eggs, eggs, and more eggs



## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

I thought three chickens would be nice for the two of us... She thought 6. then we acquired a 7th, and as of yesterday, we're up to 8. WTH are we going to do with FOURTY+ eggs per week? 

They are still young, we're about 6 weeks away from eggs. Looking forward to it, but DAMN!

How long do eggs keep? I've been reading that as long as you don't wash the eggs, they are good for several weeks on the counter top.

No rooster


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## OHprepper (Feb 21, 2012)

i had some in the fridge for about 6-8 weeks. but they werent washed, they were straight from the chicken. they tasted fine to me


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

We always have a lot eggs during the laying season and never enough for the remainder of the year. When laying is at peak we eat at least one meal a week that is mainly eggs (frittata or omelette etc), we feed a lot to our animals and we freeze a lot. Like farm milk there really isn't such a thing as too many here because we just make them part of the livestock feed.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

I've been drying a lot of eggs lately but here are a few ideas if you're not comfortable making your own powdered egg.

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f36/eggs-21/


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

I'm jealous. 
Start selling them for a coupla bucks a dozen.
Cook and dehydrate them.
Give em to local food bank if theyll take em.


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## JSank80 (Apr 30, 2013)

Farmer's market, or local church/food bank. Or really big omelets


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Immolatus said:


> Give em to local food bank if theyll take em.


Ours will not take them or any home grown veggies...


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

*Andi said:


> Ours will not take them or any home grown veggies...


Of course not! Stuff for the food bank needs to come from the store not some dirty, smelly farm.  Everyone knows that.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Maybe offer some to your neighbors that don't have chickens. Or if you have family local that would appreciate the gift of fresh eggs.


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## txgirl (May 2, 2013)

We give eggs to our neighbors, when they end up with too many veggies from their garden they bring us whatever they have. We also give eggs to my hubs barber and he gives him a freebie haircut now and then. All we really ask for in return is for a few cartons from everyone when they can.


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## txgirl (May 2, 2013)

partdeux said:


> I thought three chickens would be nice for the two of us... She thought 6. then we acquired a 7th, and as of yesterday, we're up to 8. WTH are we going to do with FOURTY+ eggs per week?
> 
> They are still young, we're about 6 weeks away from eggs. Looking forward to it, but DAMN!
> 
> ...


Ive heard that if you wash and then coat in mineral oil they keep for months. The mineral oil mimics the natural coating from the chicken. Never tried it though!


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

Im jealous, too. You can make all the egg noodles you want! Feed the dogs an egg a day apiece (wow, will their coats shine)!


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

We have a neighbor Lady that bakes bread, we trade her eggs for bread.

I take them to work $2 a dozen.

The very times I have extra go to extended family.

I'm almost breaking even on feed costs.


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## farmers (Jul 28, 2012)

You can take a dry cloth and wipe them off. But vegetable oil on them,


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## farmers (Jul 28, 2012)

Place in cool dark place. Like a basement, root caller. They will last up to 9 months. This does work. To check for bad eggs, that you want to use. Place in water, bad eggs float, good eggs stay at bottom.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

txgirl said:


> Ive heard that if you wash and then coat in mineral oil they keep for months.


By the Mother Earth News editors
November/December 1977
http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/fresh-eggs.aspx
... but, under survival conditions, we could have lived on the completely unprotected 90-day-old eggs if we'd have had to.

CONCLUSIONS

At the end of seven months (all of our experiment that was finished and processed at the time this issue went to press), then, we had drawn these conclusions about our egg preservation experiment:

[1] Unwashed, fertile homestead eggs seem to store much better than washed, unfertile agribiz eggs. Why? Probably for the simple reason that they're unwashed ... and not because they're fertile. Hen fruit, as it comes from the chicken, is coated with a light layer of a natural sealing agent called "bloom". And, while a good wash may make a batch of eggs look more attractive, it also removes this natural protective coating ... leaving the eggs more subject to aging and attack by the air and bacteria in the air.

[2] The very best way we've found to stash eggs away for long-term storage is in a sealed container at a temperature of 35° to 40°F. Their whites may become somewhat runny looking over a period of time, buteven after seven months-the cackleberries stored in this manner smell good, taste good, have a good texture, and-in short-seem "almost fresh".

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/595919/mineral-oil-on-eggs
read the thread "keeping eggs" by mklmrphy956. an article in Mother Earth News where they did an experiment to see what worked. Eggs keep several months and seem to better without coating them. This article stopped at 7 months.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

TheLazyL said:


> I take them to work $2 a dozen. I'm almost breaking even on feed costs.


I am maybe close... I can't free-range them as much since they get into the garden and eat all the baby plants.

It would take 20 years of egg sales to pay for what I have in our coop!


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

TheLazyL said:


> We have a neighbor Lady that bakes bread, we trade her eggs for bread.
> 
> I take them to work $2 a dozen.
> 
> ...


How much do you pay for free range commercial eggs in your area and how does $2.00 compare?
Here I'm lucky to get $2 - $3 dollars a dozen for my eggs and free range eggs from the supermarket are $6 - $7 a dozen....
It amazes me that people will gladly pay 6 or 7 dollars for commercial 'free range' eggs (which here in Australia are not free range at all) abut complain if a want more for mine when they can see that they are free range and get the best feed we can mix.


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## lilmissy0740 (Mar 7, 2011)

I give to my neighbor. I do not wash my eggs until I am say to use them. I have had them for a month and they were fine. When I get a lot, I will make pound cake, cupcakes, anything that takes lots of eggs and freeze them. It is so nice to be invited to a picnic or have to make something to give to someone and you already have dessert made.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

LincTex said:


> I am maybe close... I can't free-range them as much since they get into the garden and eat all the baby plants.
> 
> It would take 20 years of egg sales to pay for what I have in our coop!


I was warned to not do chicken math


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

UncleJoe said:


> Of course not! Stuff for the food bank needs to come from the store not some dirty, smelly farm.  Everyone knows that.


too funny, the person that convinced swmbo to become a crazy chicken lady would not eat fresh farm eggs, because... "they don't taste right".


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## d_saum (Jan 17, 2012)

txgirl said:


> Ive heard that if you wash and then coat in mineral oil they keep for months. The mineral oil mimics the natural coating from the chicken. Never tried it though!


:ditto: What he said.. They'll keep for almost a year with a good coat of mineral oil and kept in a cool place.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Wellrounded said:


> How much do you pay for free range commercial eggs in your area and how does $2.00 compare?
> Here I'm lucky to get $2 - $3 dollars a dozen for my eggs and free range eggs from the supermarket are $6 - $7 a dozen....
> It amazes me that people will gladly pay 6 or 7 dollars for commercial 'free range' eggs (which here in Australia are not free range at all) abut complain if a want more for mine when they can see that they are free range and get the best feed we can mix.


Wellrounded, we are interested in mixing our own chicken feed but aren't sure what need to go into it. We have tons of corn and grain and a New Holland grinder/mixer but aren't sure what minerals/supplements to put in it. Any suggestions?

As for eggs, I sell them at work for $2.00 per dozen.


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

Jason said:


> Wellrounded, we are interested in mixing our own chicken feed but aren't sure what need to go into it. We have tons of corn and grain and a New Holland grinder/mixer but aren't sure what minerals/supplements to put in it. Any suggestions?
> 
> As for eggs, I sell them at work for $2.00 per dozen.


We use triticale (once through the grister) as our base as it's cheap here and has a reasonable protein level. Our mixed feed is basic, we add meat meal (not sure what your equivalent is in the US),enough to bring our protein level up (18 to 20 % for hens, 23 - 25 % for young birds), then we add molasses to dampen and keep the dust down. We mix ours in a concrete mixer, a weeks worth at most at a time. We have add lib supplements in every pen, diatomaceous earth, crushed limestone, some more meat meal, seaweed meal as well as a few scoops of organic crushed corn and we sometimes put apple cider vinegar or a very weak seaweed liquid in their water. We also feed them greens everyday, these greens are from the best soil on the place, our vege patch. In the warmer months we feed them fly maggots and worms from our insect farms/worm beds. This is in the pens (locked up breeders and growers). If they are free range (mostly hens) they get the supplements and a handful of whole grain and not much else. We also house growers in moveable pens so they can have good access to greens, they get all that the penned birds do but can scratch their own greens and bugs and build better muscle.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

For us wheat has always been the base, not feed wheat mind you, hard red spring. We typically grow wheat above 15% and the generations before me that was about all they put, they mixed in some things here and there but the vast majority was wheat. With corn you are starting with a much lower protein so you would have to find a significant source, distillers grain is a great one that animals love , canola meal up here works not sure what the best source would be in your area.
To be totally covered nutritionally though something like a layer concentrate or supplement may be the easiest, something like thishttp://feedstore.ca/product/tradition-38-growerlayer-supplement/
The one thing we bought as far back as I can remember is oyster shells, even when they were just eating wheat they had oyster shells for calcium if they wanted.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

We're big fans of oyster shell, too. We keep it available to the birds in an old sauce pot at all times, so they can just help themselves if they want it. 

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.


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## Hooch (Jul 22, 2011)

canning meatloaf takes up alot of eggs too..

I absolutly love my 4 hens...they are so funny. Course I love the eggs


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