Water Glassing eggs

Being new to raising chickens for eggs, we got eight girls (dual purpose) on March 5th, 2022 from Tractor Supply. Girls were a week old or less. This is to give a perspective as the water glassed eggs are six months or less. I decided to try some this morning as a test.

Fried eggs - I did not like them but dogs ate them. Might be our dog food till we use them up as we can keep up with the eggs through the winter production.
Scrambled - not bad, especially with some ketchup and bacon. I would eat these again.
I did have two out of ten eggs that I immediately discarded due to texture, etc before even cooking.
I have not tried them in baking. Since we do very little baking requiring eggs, we would use our fresh eggs.

Water glassing appeared to be the most reasonable to us based upon my research, viewing Youtube, etc. We probably have ten dozen or so glassed. If I had the money, freeze dried would probably be the best solution.

Figured I would give my actual experience since so many are thinking about getting chickens. If anyone has some better methods that they have actually tried, please let us know. Youtube videos can be a bit biased.

Ron

I just started using the eggs I put away in September and had the same experience as you. It took a few tries to open one without the yolk breaking. The eggs are runnier and some have an off odor. Out of a couple dozen so far I only threw one away that was questionable. Eggs are a large part of my diet so a steady supply is important. Water glassing was more of an experiment as my hens produce year round, just slower in the winter.

Eggs keep a long time at room temp, especially if you don't wash them, even longer refrigerated. Scrambled, into a zip lock bag, and then frozen would be my plan. I've got several months before mine start laying. That water glass thing looks too risky for me.

https://backyardpoultry.iamcountrysi...-term-storage/

Interesting, I had to look up 'water glassing' as I'm no farmer. Learn something every day.

Slim

I have 16 girls currently. Also two roosters for replenishing the flock. During times of excess, I scramble (uncooked) the eggs and dole out meal sized portions into zip lock bags, then freeze. I've never tried waterglassing, but have read up a bit on it. Store those eggs in the coolest part of your house, as storage temperature has a lot to do with length of time they can be stored.

My wife vacuum packs them and freezes them

Water glassing leaves a danger of botulism from the pickling lime. Used in pickles the acidity kills botulism... not so when water glassing.

Frozen works better and is safer. With my chamber sealer I can crack 3 eggs into the smallest bag and vacuum seal it. I have ate year old eggs from the freezer!

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Originally Posted by MrWolf

Being new to raising chickens for eggs, we got eight girls (dual purpose) on March 5th, 2022 from Tractor Supply. Girls were a week old or less. This is to give a perspective as the water glassed eggs are six months or less. I decided to try some this morning as a test.

Fried eggs - I did not like them but dogs ate them. Might be our dog food till we use them up as we can keep up with the eggs through the winter production.
Scrambled - not bad, especially with some ketchup and bacon. I would eat these again.
I did have two out of ten eggs that I immediately discarded due to texture, etc before even cooking.
I have not tried them in baking. Since we do very little baking requiring eggs, we would use our fresh eggs.

Water glassing appeared to be the most reasonable to us based upon my research, viewing Youtube, etc. We probably have ten dozen or so glassed. If I had the money, freeze dried would probably be the best solution.

Figured I would give my actual experience since so many are thinking about getting chickens. If anyone has some better methods that they have actually tried, please let us know. Youtube videos can be a bit biased.

Ron

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When younger and had chickens, we would break eggs into ice cube trays and freeze, then put cubes into a container in freezer. Now individual porasions for use.

Float your eggs to check the before you use them.

Freezing in ice cube trays? The daughter has tried this and says it works fine.

A clean unwashed egg lasts about as long as any of the oiling them,dipping in wax,Water glassing.Years ago a college did it test and the natural film the chicken puts on the egg is as good as any.

Very interesting subject. Thanks, MrWolf for bringing it up, and thanks slim1836 for the link. Lots of stuff I didn't know. We had chickens when I was a boy, but a family of four could pretty well keep up with the chickens' laying ability. About 30 years ago I bought a couple dozen Buff Orpington chickens. Amazing layers. I was selling eggs for $1 a dozen, all large and brown. Everybody loved them and I had an established client list that kept right up with the production. I've always wondered how one might store them if necessary. Good to know information. It gets pretty cold here, and the only neighbor that I know to have chickens only keeps about 6 of them and has a heat lamp on 24 hrs. per day in their small coop's house. I'm pretty sure that if the bulb burned out and they didn't notice she'd have frozen chicken dinners for a week or two!

DG

Water glassing....I just learned something. Pickling sounds like a much better option.

I don't have chickens or ducks now.

You don't wash eggs until you are ready to use them. When you destroy the protective cuticle of the egg the quality of the egg starts to decline immediately. In the USA, city eggs are required to be washed and sanitized. This is why the USDA requires eggs be refrigerated, to prevent salmonella and extend freshness, because the protective layer has been removed. When you leave the protective cuticle no refrigeration is necessary and is actually detrimental to preservation, in my opinion.
I would store them in a dark place, stable temp 65-70 degrees.

For you folks that do nothing to the eggs, how long will they last? I have had no problems with my eggs (not washed) going several weeks with zero issues. How long will they last like this if kept in a cool, dry place? Thanks

Ron

I've eaten eggs as old as a few months, maybe 3 months or so. Never had to store long term as we had enough chickens to still have eggs through most of the winter. There were always a few girls that would produce through the winter. I attributed that to the fermented oats my wife fed, but who knows, in New Mexico the winters aren't too harsh.

It's all about the daylight hours they get. More daylight equals longer laying season

Fresh unwashed and never chilled eggs will last over a month, but you need to turn them over once a week. I’ve heard of keeping them much longer if they have been coated with lard or Vaseline. They used to be very popular with people sailing across oceans, before refrigeration was practical.

https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/...r-chapter-two/

Got Subway's version of a bacon and egg sandwich last week - they use fried eggs that have been frozen . Tasted fine. Grew up with 1400 chickens, Gramps sold 'em by the gross to local restaurants . Ours hung in the "old kitchen" in a wire egg basket at room temperature - we just filled the basket and ate 'em until it needed filling again. My job was feeding/watering chickens, collecting/cleaning /grading eggs at a nickel a bucketful . Had to be a violation of child labor law in there somewhere !
Ate eggs every morning, usually with fatback . Off bus from school, straight to fridge for Grandma's egg custard ! Sure wish I knew how to duplicate that custard.

Know what ? This is making me hungry - I'm going to fix me a fried egg and bacon biscuit now !

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Originally Posted by wildwilly501

A clean unwashed egg lasts about as long as any of the oiling them,dipping in wax,Water glassing.Years ago a college did it test and the natural film the chicken puts on the egg is as good as any.

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This^^^^^^