PIP'S TIP'S - How Old Are My Eggs?
Pips Tips
How do I know how old my eggs are really? This is a very common question I get from people when I am doing my talks and education...especially from the people that have chickens at home and find their hens stash of 30 eggs in one spot and they dont know how long they have been there. So I have put 3 eggs of differing ages in water...the first is a fresh egg laid two days ago, the second is an egg laid 22 days ago and the last is an egg I had to go find out in the paddock under a pinenut tree.... this egg is so light it almost feels empty, but Im not game to break it!!! So what it tell us is that the fresh egg, still has the bloom on the shell so there for no air is passing through, the air pocket inside the egg will be tiny so it is super fresh, hence it heavy and stays sunk.
The 2nd egg, the bloom would have almost gone (see last weeks post for info on the bloom) and air will be starting to pass through the shell, the air pocket getting bigger so therefor the egg will begin to float....and of course the last one....the egg is old and you should not crack or eat it.....it will be very smelly and not taste the best!
Just another point....there is always confusion over this as in the USA all eggs are washed due to their hens not been vaccinated for Salmonella at birth (Salmonella is huge over there) so the risk to human health is high and they must be washed. This is also why people believe eggs must be refrigerated immediately, to protect the egg from outside bacteria getting inside the shell..... wouldnt work in my fridge at times when I have science experiments growing lol
