[blulagoo]

I know this may sound silly but is it ok to eat the eggs when a cockerel is in with the hens - how will I know they are ok to  eat (everyone just keeps saying that they will be)

Thanks

Bev

[babe]

there are perfectly fine to eat. they only turn into a baby hen, if a broody sits on them or you put them in an incubator.

you've probably eaten loads of them before without knowing

[blulagoo]

Thanks! So if I put them in the fridge how long can I keep them?

Sorry new to keeping chickens but hooked already!

[babe]

you may get lots of different answers to that one.

i never put fresh eggs in the fridge, and i always say to anyone to use within 3 wks of lay day.

but thats just me

[blulagoo]

:oops: So they def won't turn into chickens on my kitchen side (I don't usually put eggs in the fridge)!!

[babe]

well they may do, all the big supermarkets have to open all their egg boxes every moring and remove all the new chicks that have hatched overnight and replace with new eggs


   

[blulagoo]

Ho Ho HO! Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo funny! I just thought 3 weeks was a long time and they might have bits in them.

How warm does the mum keep them then?

[blulagoo]

Is that what the supermarkets make into chicke nuggets then - as they are so small?

[NormandyMary]

well they may do, all the big supermarkets have to open all their egg boxes every moring and remove all the new chicks that have hatched overnight and replace with new eggs


   

Wouldnt it be nice to know that any eggs bought in a supermarket have been laid by a chook that's had access to a great big cock....sorry I mean cockerel!

[GrannieAnnie]

Is that what the supermarkets make into chicke nuggets then - as they are so small?

Don't be silly, they'd have bones in then!!!!!      

Your eggs are going to be far fresher than anything in the supermarket, so if you think that the eggs can be 2 weeks old before the supermarket gets them, then the use by date can be 3 weeks down the line, that makes it 5 weeks old!!!!!  We have used eggs older than that, but not often as ours don't last very long as we love our eggs.

Saying that, we had a hen once that laid a rotten egg, so don't know what happened there, but it was really nasty!!!!  to test for freshness, just drop an egg into a big glass of water.  If it lays on the bottom, its very fresh, if it floats, get rid of it quick!!!!!  But as an egg gets older, it will gradually lift up until its vertical, then it floats!

[babe]

Is that what the supermarkets make into chicke nuggets then - as they are so small?

have you not seen the nuggets on a chicken.... theres one under each wing

[blulagoo]

Oh thank goodness for that - i thought they might have to kill chickens for the nuggets! But it does make me wonder - where does the chicken soup come from!!!!

[babe]

well you hold em upside down over a saucepan and squeeze, just dont squish em round the neck..... for some reason they dont like that and die  :roll:

[mdueal]

How warm does the mum keep them then?

It is surprisingly warm - 37-38oC! I believe the embryo won't start to develop for a couple of days at that temperature either. There is no way you kitchen counter could produce a chick!

We have cockerels in with all our different pens of chickens and you really can't tell the difference. Some people say the white stringy bit you sometimes see coming off yolk means it is fertilised but this is not true. That is the chalaza and is normal in all eggs to hold the yolk in a good position. Seeing it just means egg is fresh (and you havent broken it when you cracked the egg!)