eggs

china

china

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how quickly should you use and egg after its been laid??
sorry for the random question but it occured to me i dont actually know!!
 
Hmm no idea tbh, however I get my eggs from my mum, most of them are between 1 day and 5 days 'old'....and I have kept them and used them (after floating as a tester) as long as 5 weeks after....

I often wonder how old the ones in the supermarket actually are when they are first put on the shelf...
 
I have taken this from a random website:


There are some specific rules that only apply to eggs. Eggs must be marked with a 'best before' date. This date may be up to a maximum of 28 days after the eggs are laid. Eggs must be sold to the consumer within 21 days after the eggs were laid, this means that they must be sold 7 days before the 'best before' date expires.

For example eggs marked 'best before 22 March' must be sold by 15 March. It is an offence to supply eggs if there are less than 7 days before the 'best before' date expires.



Obviously those apply to commercially farmed eggs and not backgarden eggs. We have four hens rescued from the BHWT and get on average three eggs a day. We tend to write on them in felt tip the date laid and usually eat them within about 10 days. We also tend to put them in the fridge.
 
Don't they emerge with a litle lion on them & a use by date?
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yes the ones from the supermarkets have dates on them, but we have bantams so dont need to buy eggs, but iv had some in the fridge for quite a while.

thanks for that info applecart.
 
Wow so technically you can be buying 3 week old eggs....nice...

Ours are kept in the fridge from the day they are laid (mother has an additional egg fridge) to the day they are eaten by us, maybe thats how I haven't killed us yet by eating gone off egg!!
 
We usually keep ours 5 days to a week! Another way to test is stick them in a bowl of cool water, if they are ok they will sink, on the turn and they will stand up on end or start to float about, floating at the top - they are rotten!
 
[ QUOTE ]
put them in a bowl of water.

if they float don't eat them
if they sink they are still fine.
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[/ QUOTE ]


so if they float they have gone off?
 
Thats okay. And to those 'naughty' people who are tempted to continue to eat 'caged' eggs, please look at www.bhwt.org and think again.
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If you only knew the joy these blinking chickens have given us then you wouldn't think twice. They are currently in training for the Olympics - you should see them run down the garden when my OH walks down with a shovel to dig them some tasty worms!
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of course if they are REALLY old eggs, you wont get as far as floating them, cos they will explode in your face if you touch them.....thats what happens when your ducks hide a nest and you find it months later
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yup, full descriptions on the wikihow, its because of the gas they start producing

I do this with shop boughts too, if after the BB date as don't like to throw them away.
 
hehe.- fount of useful knowledge me

I only know that because there was a b and b at the stables and the farmers wife used to keep them in a bowl while making breakfasts.
 
I used to have my own chickens, and could put a 17 day old (fertilised) egg into an incubator and still get it to hatch, so it must still be fresh enough to eat at that age.

Just keep them somewhere cool and dark, rather than in the fridge.
 
Eggs keep well beyond their 'best buy' dates. It isn't hard to tell if an egg has gone off, it smells! I don't faff around with floating them in water, I just crack them open. In multiple years of doing this, I have never come across a rotten one!
 
Don't laugh but I always thought if you shook them and the inside started to flop about then they were off and if it didn't they were fine. Has anyone else heard this?

Will go for the floating method now I think. Floating foul, sinking sweet!
 
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