5-Month-Old Non-refrigerated Eggs for Breakfast!

And we lived to tell the tale!

On February 15th we took raw eggs from our hens and set them back to see how long they would keep. Today we took them out and made breakfast with them. Two were suspect, so we did not use them, but the others looked great, smelled and tasted just as good!

Storing eggs from the summer/fall is a great way to even out your production from your home flock to make up for the expected drop in egg numbers during the winter.

The ones we ate Sunday were stored on 2/15/2012

Here's how to do it (but it is certainly not the only way to preserve eggs).

• Take fresh, raw eggs and cover them in food-grade mineral oil. Be sure to get a good coat on it. The idea is to fill all the pores of the egg shell so no air can get in to spoil the egg.

• Lay down some plastic wrap in an egg carton just to keep things tidy. Pack the eggs into the carton and wrap the plastic over the top of the eggs.

• Label the carton and store in a cool, dry place and they should be good for 4-8 months.
• That's it, very simple and easy.

A couple of good links on egg preservation:

• http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lane/sites/default/files/images/lc105.pdf
• http://preparednesspro.com/safely-preserving-eggs/

Into the Nursery!

Alright, the new hens are doing fine now in the "nursery" (plastic bin in the garage) and are eating and drinking like crazy. There was one that looked like she was going to die but we hand-fed her water with electrolyte additive and she is doing fine now, seems she was very dehydrated from the trip from the hatchery.

The Ladies Have Arrived!

I picked up the new hens this week. They arrived at our local post office all healthy and cheeping merrily after their long journey.

Loss of Flock Due to Predation

Recently, we lost our entire flock due to a raccoon attack. I won't elaborate as there is not too much more to say but we ordered more hens and are rebuilding the flock.