How Long Before Eggs Go Off?

[mattdaniels]

We seem to not be eating many eggs at the moment. Currently we've accrued 21, the oldest was laid on 12th Jan.

They're stored in a cool kitchen. How many days can you keep eggs for before you shouldn't use them?

[anonymous-user]

Months, and if it doesn't smell when you open it, I judge it safe to eat.

[tenex]

I have my own hens.
The eggs are certainly ok 5-6 weeks old. They are not kept in the fridge.
However at that age they are not great for poaching as the whites get a bit watery.

[Coneyhurst Blue]

Anything over two weeks old I crack into a separate dish before adding to the bowl/pan etc just to be safe.
You’ll soon know if they are off.
Normally it’s a month or so but you never know.
Eggs from your own hens can’t be beaten, we have 6 hens and they have just started laying again – weekend scrambled eggs bliss !

[warp9]

When I was a kid my dad used to breed ducks and geese. One easter as a school project we were told to bring in an egg to paint, my old man thought it would be fun to give me a goose egg to be a bit different. He told me to 'be careful with it' which I thought he meant because it was an egg.

I duly took it to school and painted it where it was put with all the others at the back of the class. One Monday morning soon after, on entering the school, you got hit with an overpowering stench of rotten eggs and fetid meat. This got stronger closer to my classroom, only to be almost unbearable actually in our classroom. The painted egg display had gone.

I mentioned this when I got home that night, for my dad to look a bit sheepish and go 'ahhh, I wondered what would happen to that one that didn't take in the incubator!'

(that stink was really rank and took weeks to go!)

[icetea]

Coneyhurst Blue said:

Eggs from your own hens can’t be beaten,

Thats a shame, I'd wanted to get my own hens to make scrambled eggs.

[Slink]

a rule my mum told me about was to stick the egg in a glass of water

if it floats its off, if it sinks its ok, and if it sinks but only one end of it touches the bottom its nearly off but ok for there and then.

[trickywoo]

mattdaniels said:

Currently we've accrued 21

Make a big meringue and some custard.

[Melman Giraffe]

Slink said:

a rule my mum told me about was to stick the egg in a glass of water

if it floats its off, if it sinks its ok, and if it sinks but only one end of it touches the bottom its nearly off but ok for there and then.

This

[y2blade]

Place the egg in a flat bottomed container of water...if it lays on the bottom then fresh, it is starts to lift it's not so fresh...if it floats or even begins to leave contact with the bottom of the container bin it.

[mattdaniels]

Coneyhurst Blue said:

we have 6 hens and they have just started laying again

We have four and they haven't stopped!! Hence the collection.

[y2blade]

mattdaniels said:

Coneyhurst Blue said:

we have 6 hens and they have just started laying again

We have four and they haven't stopped!! Hence the collection.

Same, our three haven't stopped at all this winter.

[jjones]

do you eat the rats as well?

[Coneyhurst Blue]

jjones said:

do you eat the rats as well?

Don't get me started on the rats, they have strted to eat the poison I put down for fun.
Chicken's live at the bottom of the garden but its still not nice.

[bint]

We owned chickens when I was a child - 6 weeks was the understood average for an egg lifetime. We did find a nest of 10 once hidden in a remote barn........ All rotten, great fun to throw!

[toastybase]

Put them in a glass of water, if they float they're off