what do you do with your eggs?

As many of y'all know, I recently re-aquired chickens. I used to have them before the house burned and we moved. But havent had them in years. But when we got hogs, BR also built me a coop. I got 24 one-week old chickens. Then I ordered 10 more banties and had them shipped to me. Yes ,they do ship them to the post office.

I brought them home, raised them up IN the house, in a brooder. you have to keep them at 95* for a few weeks, and then lower the temp a littel each week till they feather out.

I finally got them outside, and ended up loosing down to 9. Between hawks and the pigs, they were killed. BR and I fixed the places that the idiots were getting out, and had good luck for about a month.

Then yesterday 2 that my sister in law had brought over got in the hog pen. Brett wasnt quick enough to save one, but did get the other out. They had found a hole. Till it flew back in. when he went in to save it, kicking and hollering at the pigs, he was tripped and stepped on it, killing it. He had ran in and out a door, jumped over fences, and was trying to do right, it just wasnt in the cards.

Poor thing. He was devestated.
We fixed the hole tonight. And brett is doing much better.

anyway, I have an incubator that I had gotten years ago, but never used. We brought it in, cleaned it up, and I got some eggs from 2 freinds. One brought me 23 eggs. the other brought me 18.

The 23 eggs have been in 5 days, the 18 have been in 4.

now, incubating is not an easy task. You have to keep the temp at around 99.5. and the humidity has to be in the 30-40% range. They have to be 'turned over' at least 3 times a day, it has to be an odd number, it cant be an even one. Dont ask me why, its just the way it is. Maybe Chickens have OCD.

I have already had a few boo-boos. One, the water pan that I had in there devoloped a leak. Well, the wood it was setting on is plywood. It soaked up a gallon of water. This has given me a humidity spike. But it hasnt been too awful high, just higher than I wanted.

Tonight I candled them (you use a flashlight to 'look' inside the egg and see if there is a viable reason to keep it. ) If you have bad eggs and leave them in, you take the chance of them oozing out nasty rotten egg. Or worse, literly exploding in the bator. And if this happens, you will loose the entire hatch in most cases.

Well, out of the first 23 I saw viens and a blob in 20 of them. 3 were clear, not even showing a yolk, I reckon they were not fertalized.
out of the 18 - all of them had veins and the blob.

I dont belive that all will make it, I just hope that some will.

Anyway, if my 7 live, they will start laying in about 2 1/2 months. If I am lucky, and get some to hatch, I will have some more chickens to add to the flock, and butcher for meat. (you really dont need alot of roosters and I have 2 already.. so any of these that turn into roos will be dinner. )

I am just so excited to see the viens. I cant wait until I candle again at day 10 or 12.

oh and I need quite a few laying hens. On Sunday, when BR fixes breakfast, it takes my little family, at least 15 eggs, a pan of biscuts , 13-15 pancakes, 3 pounds of bacon, and a gallon of milk.

So, if I had a milk cow, and could butcher them dang hogs, my sunday morning breakfast would be MUCH cheaper. LOL

I am just glad that I dont have to cook breakfast every morning. It would break me.. LOL

Plus, I use quite a few eggs in my cooking each week. And I have lots of family that will take eggs. Some of them refuse to eat the eggs, but will bake with them, LOL

I am not a big fan of eggs to just eat them, but if I had to eat eggs, fresh farm egs are the best. My neighbors brother brings her all kinds of farm eggs, and of coarse she can't eat them all. She gives mom some who in turn gives me some.
We aren't big on eggs around here though. I do use them to cook with, and will on occasion fix some to eat.

I will only touch them hard boiled. I do not really like eggs, or bacon for that matter. Or pancakes, waffles, or milk ... I don't like breakfast foods. LOL

I love breakfast foods, just not big on eggs. Don't get me wrong, I'll eat one once in a while, just not a fan. Bacon is my down fall...I love it especially done in the microwave.

Poor Brett. That would kill my kids to step on one.

Tara, you are nuts. Breakfast is the bomb.

Here are my egg ideas. If I'm just eating them, I like them scrambled best (with cream cheese added to it to make it super smooth), or used to make fried rice. But if I'm trying to get rid of a bunch at once, I'll buy bread and milk and Caly and I will make french toast. I have a big griddle in my stove so I can fry 6 slices at once. I make an entire loaf, or even 2 or 3 loaves, then I freezed them in the bags the bread came in. Then the kids can stick them in the toaster in the morning and I don't have to cook or mess up the kitchen. You have to toast it twice because it's so dense that the middle will still be cold, but it's as easy as a bowl of cereal.

Caly really likes egg drop soup, or rather chicken noodle soup that has egg dropped in it. Sounds like you'll soon have all the makings.

You can also crack the eggs and freeze them. You can freezed them in an ice cube tray and once they've set up hard put the cubes in a big ziploc. Then you can defrost a egg worth at a time when you need them.

But I think you should sell them. Farm fresh eggs are much nicer than store eggs that get shipped in from who knows where. I bet you could do good at a farmer's market.

I like the idea about the french toast.

But, I cant imagine not eatin breakfast. Abut once a month we eat breakfast for dinner.

I personally eat 4 fried eggs when ever I get the chance. LOL and I want the yolk runny. LOL

I honestly dont think I will be over ran with them. And if i get too many, I'll just incubate them. lol

Because with my luck, I will end up with more roosters than hens, and that just means more food in the freezer.

I have heard about freezeing them, but honestly, cant imagine that tasting very good. I HATE store bought eggs. They are SOOO old, and taste like cardboard.
and I am afraid that freezing them would make them tatse like a store bought egg.

I just hope that I get some to hatch out..

Hmmm. You should try freezing a few eggs as an experiment so we know if it works. And I'm now thinking seriously about where I can get farm fresh eggs now. You're making me crave them.

When I was a kid we had chickens and a chicken coop. It was a lot of fun going out a couple times a day to check for eggs. We even had fun cleaning the coop. The only thing I didn't care for is the roosters. We had about 35 chickens and 2 roosters. The roosters had spurs on their feet and if you weren't careful you ended up feeling one of those spurs
We had fried eggs, scrambled eggs, french toast,boiled eggs, egg salad sandwiches, potato salad with eggs in it, deviled eggs, mom used to use egg whites to make angel food cake and meringue for pie. The yolks she would use for numerous recipes, beaten with a little water you can brush them on pie crust for a nice shiny golden brown crust. She used to make bread pudding and custard (both which use eggs). We used to take the rotten ones and have rotten egg fights, needless to say that we had to go down to the brook to clean up after that because mom would not let us in the house!

I make Quiche, or "Omelets" ( 1 egg, 2 whites), once in a blue moon I will scramble them. We never have eggs for breaky, only when we are camping.
I do deviled eggs too, and in Tuna Salad.....thats it

thebigscott wrote:Hmmm. You should try freezing a few eggs as an experiment so we know if it works. And I'm now thinking seriously about where I can get farm fresh eggs now. You're making me crave them.

Freeze them in Ziploc bags, NOT in the shell. I do it all the time, I freeze 1 egg, 2 whites. 2 eggs, or 3 eggs all together, and mark them.