I love having chickens! I love watching them free-range around the farm–helping breakdown cow patties in the pasture, eating bugs out of the dirt, and taking dust baths in the heat of the day. I love the farm fresh eggs!
But, one downside of having free ranging birds is that they don’t always lay in the coop. My birds seem to go through cycles of laying in the coop or not. I’ve tentatively linked it to the weather, though it’s not always the case.
No matter what causes them to lay outside, it does leave me with a problem. Not always having eggs, even though I have plenty of chickens.
The kids now go on egg hunts daily, and I even pay them–10 cents per egg they find. They’ve been out searching, and bring me in eggs.
I’m left with the task of deciding whether the eggs are still good or not. In the past, I’ve solely relied on the float test. If the egg floats in water, it’s bad.
However, this failed me recently. I had a large batch of eggs to process, and they all sunk. I thought that meant they were all good. But, they weren’t.
Here are three new ways I’ve since used to tell if my farm fresh eggs are good or bad.
1. Give Them a Shake
When you shake a fresh egg, you shouldn’t feel much movement. But, when you shake an older egg, you’ll notice some definite sloshing.
I’ve learned that the sloshing when you shake an egg is an indication that it’s bad.
2. Look at the Yolk
When you crack a farm fresh egg into a separate bowl, you can easily exam it before dumping a bad egg into the dish you’re preparing. I highly recommend this!
After you’ve cracked the egg, look at the yolk. A good egg’s yolk will be mostly intact.
Conversely, a bad egg’s yolk will be completely runny.
You don’t want a runny yolk upon cracking.
3. Use Your Nose
The nose knows which eggs are past their prime. Before I add any egg to a dish, I give it a quick sniff.
You’ll recognize a bad egg instantly. It stinks!
On a side note, I also do this with my farm fresh milk. If it smells bad, I don’t use it.
You can use your nose to sniff out many kinds of bad food!
Do You Use Farm Fresh Eggs?
How do you determine if they’re good or bad? Did I miss any reliable tests?
[…] It doesn’t take much space to raise rabbits for meat. Or to have a few chickens for eggs. […]