Okay to eat eggs if a hen has been sitting on them all day?

[hensintheghetto]

Two of my five hens have gone broody. I don't really have a good place to separate them from the other hens, so they've been kicking the other girls out of the nesting boxes and sitting on all the eggs all day long for the last few days. I'm actually not sure how the other hens are getting in there to lay eggs, but there are new eggs under them daily, so they must be somehow.

Anyway, my question is...Is it okay to eat the eggs that have been sitting under them all day? They are very, very warm when I am able to collect them in the afternoon, so I'm afraid they might not be very fresh if they go from warm to sitting in my fridge for a few days.

Any thoughts?

 

[Beekissed]

Absolutely! No worries! Eggs cannot go bad in a day...even on a hot day.

 

[bethandjoeync]

you might want to try and collect the eggs more often, and that might discourage them from going broody. also you can mess up the nests as well.

 

[Silkiefan]

so I've been told by a 94 year old man: you can leave eggs out on the counter un-refrigerated for several weeks and still eat them ------ as long as you DO NOT wash them.
Eggs come out with a natural coating of anti-bacterial stuff that dries instantly... it seals the eggs from incoming and outgoing germs...
EAT 'EM!

 

[Illia]

They're fine - I've never had a broody but one of my Wyandottes is a poser - She likes ot sit on eggs for hours every day. . .

And they're still good.

Also the saying of not washing them keeping them good and non-bacteria infested is true.

It's why hatching eggs can be stored, shipped, incubated etc without being washed.

 

[Chickiemama1010]

In high school I was a foreign ex. student and went to France. They left their eggs out on the counter. One day I was helping the mom with breakfast and I went to put the eggs back into the fridge (habit) and she flipped out. Never refrigerate eggs she said, or they don't "work" as well for baking, and they wont fluff up enough for omelettes etc. They had farm fresh eggs collected from their own hens. They sat on the counter all the time, no one ever got sick, no one ever cracked a rotten egg. All was well.

I collected eggs the other day, sat the basket down and got distracted. I forgot the basket on the patio table all day,all night and part of the next day till I was going to go out to the coop for that days eggs. Where was my basket? i wondered and then remembered yesterday I set it on the table. Those eggs sat in the sun a good part of the afternoon, and the next morning. We had french toast this morning for breakfast using the eggs in question. It was delicious

 

[Fenn]

Chickiemama- Were those eggs washed directly before using them or just put on the counter and crack when you need to?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

For a single day or two under a hen you wouldn't be able to tell a difference so eat them without worry.

Unless you are trying to find out how many weeks you can leave the eggs sitting on the counter before they rot this whole business about 'washing the bloom' off is way, way overblown. Wash them or don't, if you'll be eating them in less than two weeks they'll be fine if the shells were intact to begin with.

Room temperature does make a difference for some times of egg usage which is why the cook books advise allowing eggs to warm up before making merangue.

If you want to get the longest storage while retaining the highest quality though you'll refrigerate your eggs. You can always allow them to warm up again if you need to whip egg whites or whatever.

.....Alan.

 

[Fenn]

I wasn't trying to make a big deal about it. I was just curious. As a city person I have no experience with chickens/eggs and wasn't sure what the norm is, and I'm still not sure. I just wasn't sure if anything need to be washed off prior to cracking the egg.
Also, store bought eggs have problems with salmonella, I was wondering if it was because they clean the eggs off before shipping them. If the coating is a protective barrier then maybe they are causing it. Are there salmonella problems with the ones that go unwashed?

 

[Kim_NC]

Store bought eggs can have salmonella problems because of the factory farm conditions where the hens are housed. They are crammed in tight cages and/or overcrowded in floor space. Due to the conditions, the hens and eggs are exposed to poor air circulation, deep manure and salmonella (plus other 'stuff'). All their washing can't correct the problem.

In many other countries eggs are not refrigerated. That's fine...but they do age more quickly if unrefrigerated. Alan is right...to preserve best quality, refrigerate them....and bring to room temp for whipping and baking.

Of course, soiled eggs are best cleaned before cracking. If really dirty - feed them back to the hens, to dog/cat or other animals (pigs love them).