All About Eggs
This egg is floating which is a sure sign it is not good to eat.
The brown egg in front was laid yesterday. It is fresh and is seen flat on the bottom of the bowl of water. The green hued egg behind it is 4 months old. It is sitting upright because the air bubble in it is enlarging. While it is still edible, it is past its prime. The white will be watery and the yolk will break easily. The light blue/whitish egg on the left is three days old but cracked. It is obviously breaking down quickly. We wouldn't eat it because it was broken at the coop.
How long do eggs last?
Unwashed eggs last for months, especially if refrigerated. There are many ways to store them, including in a salt brine which was what they did before refrigeration. This could keep eggs fresh and, amazingly not salty, for a year or more! Most eggs that show up in the grocery store are at least a month old. In our own home, we are eating eggs from December (It is March right now). There is a quality difference (the white is runnier), but they are still tasty!
Once an egg is washed, the protective bloom goes away and the quality of the egg deteriorates more quickly. That is why we take care to wipe our eggs only if needed. If there is debris on our eggs, it is important to remove it, as it is more detrimental to leave it on than to take it off. All of our eggs are individually dated when they are removed from the coop, so you know when they are collected. This is done in pencil and can be scrubbed off with a vegetable brush or eraser if needed. Once the eggs are wiped, they are given our stamp with food dye. The eggs should last for several months if stored in your refrigerator in a closed carton.
https://organicfeeds.com/how-long-can-fresh-backyard-chicken-eggs-last/, Retrieved 24 Mar 22
No, these are not natural! These were our HITW eggs pressure dyed for Easter.
Why are eggs different colors?
HITW eggs come in a variety of colors! Right now, we have girls who lay white, cream, beige, brown, dark brown, speckled, blue, and green eggs. It all depends on their breed. Most people think a chicken is a chicken, but there is a wide variety of chickens that have been bred for a wide variety of purposes. Some, like the leghorn (think Foghorn Leghorn from the cartoon) has been bred to lay a lot of white eggs very quickly. They deposit no color on their eggs so the eggs move through their system quickly. Others, such as our Barnvelders, lay much darker brown eggs, so they deposit a lot of color on their eggs; the eggs move slowly through their system. A leghorn typically lays an egg a day whereas a Barnvelder will lay 3-5 eggs a week. Then there are the blue and green eggs! People like color, so they bred this genetic trait into their flocks. We even have a "Super Blue:" chick coming this year that is to lay a bright blue egg very frequently. It is from a specific hatchery and is a secret genetic formula.
The egg in the center is a fairy egg. It contains no yolk. starting at the bottom and moving clockwise there is a peewee egg, medium, large, extra large, and jumbo egg. We've only had one small egg laid on the farm recently.
Egg Sizes
The USDA writes the rules on egg sizes. We do not sell our eggs by size. I tried to do that at one point but found it difficult as often there was not enough of one size to make a dozen. So now, we just put the eggs in a carton and go with it. We are working on carton labels that have a chart with how much an egg weighs for baking conversion.
In terms of size, the general rule is the bigger the bird, the bigger the egg. When the girls first start laying, they will lay small eggs. These get larger as they get larger and older until they hit a peak size around a year old. There are exceptions to this as there are some slow-growing breeds such as the New Jersey Giant and the Brahma. We have two black Jersey Giants in our flock, Kuma and Betty, who lay extra-large brown eggs. We also have a light Brahma but if Charlie starts laying eggs I'm going to be concerned! (He should have a few ladies who will join him this spring.) We also keep bantam (banty) chickens. These are the pocket pets of the chicken world. They lay small eggs, but not as small as quail eggs. They also do not require special tools to open like quail eggs.