Poultry Tips and Tricks
Do you have to refrigerate fresh eggs?
You do not have to refrigerate eggs unless they have the chemical coating on them that manufacturers use that make them spoil more quickly. If its straight from the chicken then there is no need to refrigerate; however once they have been refrigerated you should keep them refrigerated.
(From wiki.answers.com)
How can I tell if an egg is too old?
As eggs age the air cell gets bigger so you can shine a high powered light behind it and see the size of the air cell, or you can float them in water. A fresh egg will lie flat on the bottom, a slightly older egg will tilt upwards, an old egg will float off the bottom and a very old egg will bob on the surface. Easy to tell - they'll all be somewhere in between that.
My hens won't lay eggs in the nest boxes
You can try a couple of things:
- Remove most of the eggs and leave one or two, that your mark with a black marker so you know which they are, and let the bird(s) continue laying there, at least you know to look in that spot, then check those that you remove.
- Confine them to the coop for 2-3 days so they'd get the idea that that's where they are to lay their gifts. Make sure the nests are cleaned regularly, and there are enough boxes to choose from. It may be helpful to leave a golf ball in the nests so the hens think it hasn't been disturbed. Chickens are interesting, not clever.
Why Your Backyard Chickens Won't Give
You The Avian (Bird) Flu
Click here for About.Com's Top 10 Reasons
Find great books about raising chickens at the
Chickensense Bookstore.
Click to view our Farm Animal Photos
Find answers to other poultry questions at PoultryOne.com's Community Forum.
Go to Top of Page
