Le Couvent, Roujan B&B Bed & Breakfast Pezenas Languedoc France

This morning I went to feed the hens, one of whom seemed to be missing. I found her crouching under one of the hen-houses, sitting on a disappointing clutch of 24 previously unnoticed eggs. Disappointing? Yes, because if I break and sniff them all I can't possibly get through 2 dozen on my own, and how can I give them away when I don't know which are the freshest?

I'm going to crack enough to make the dogs an omelette each then ditch the rest. If you have any better ideas you have until the end of today to let me know - after that the eggs are for the chop.

Thanks for the advice
written by Liz Betts-Gosling, March 06, 2009

Hi Cynthia

Lovely to know you're still reading from Bellingham, USA. And thanks for the advice. I think I had heard that before but hadn't thought to look it up. Duh?!

The dogs loved their omelettes last night, so that saw off a few eggs. I still have the rest and I'll test them today.

Hope everything's OK with you both.

Testing eggs
written by Cynthia St. Clair, March 06, 2009

(From About.com) Get a big bowl, fill it with cold water and gently put the eggs in. Those that sink to the bottom and stay there are 3 to 6 days old; those that sink, but float at an angle, are more than a week old; those that sink but then stand on end are about two weeks old. Eggs that float are too old and should be discarded.

Eggs act this way in water because of the air sac present in all eggs. As the egg ages, the air sac gets larger because the egg shell is a semi-permeable membrane. The air sac, when large enough, makes the egg float.

I had the same experience in my chicken-raising days, and did this test -- being the super-cautious type, I used the eggs that sank in baked goods (great excuse, right?), as I knew they would be thoroughly cooked.