Don't Ever Eat a Rotten Egg

Ever since we cut down the big Water Oak tree that died, we've had a big pile of wood that I have been meaning to cut up and use for firewood next year.  It doesn't really bother me, and I'll get to it when I get to it, but it has created a good place for chickens to hide.  Hens are notorious for finding new places to nest.  

I happened to be walking past the wood pile this weekend and something caught my eye.  It was a nest that contained 11 eggs.  They were dirty and there was no telling how long they had been there. 

Normally, when I find nests like this, we feed them to the dogs.  Both Big Boy and Promise make quick work of fresh, or not so fresh, eggs.  At this time of the year, our hens aren't laying too many eggs, and I don't like feeding the eggs to the dogs.  I for sure don't want to risk eating an old egg found in a hidden nest! However, fortunately there is a trick for determining if an egg is fresh or old.  Now, let me preface this by saying I would never give or sell eggs found in a hidden nest.  These are for personal consumption only.

Testing an egg for freshness doesn't require any expense or testing equipment.  All you need is a 5 gallon bucket filled with water.
 

Gently place the eggs that you found in a hidden nest into the bucket of water.  If any of the eggs float, they are rotten!  Throw them away - better yet, bury them in the garden, being careful not to bust it before it is in the hole.  If the egg stays on the bottom, but one end tilts up, it is a little old, but not rotten.  If it lays flat on the bottom, it is a fresh egg.

As you can notice in the photo below, ALL of the eggs are lying flat on the bottom.  These eggs are fresh and our family will eat them up.

The reason this test works is that there is a small air pocket in the egg when it is laid.  As an egg ages, the porous eggshell allows fluid inside the egg to evaporate while simultaneously allowing more air into the egg and the air pocket in the egg expands.  As the air pocket expands with age, the egg will float off of the bottom.

Even though all these eggs are fresh, we'll still eat them first as putting them in water washes off the protective "bloom" that the hen coats the egg with that protects the contents of the egg from bacteria.  If you wash this off, the life of the egg will be diminished. 

So... if the egg won't sink, you'd better re-think (eating that egg!)