Kitchen Garden Forum

What is the life span of hens eggs?, I saw large eggs for sale in a shop on Monday, best before 2012 no use by date on them, when I was a child we kept hens, sometimes they laid their eggs in the hedge rows instead of the nests in the henhouse it might be a week before we found them, we didn't like to use them as we thought they weren't fresh.

Bren

Hi Bren, I think it mght vary depending on the weather / conditions
How I check if an egg is fresh -
Fill a fairly deep bowl with water and carefully lower the egg into the water.
A very fresh egg will immediately sink to the bottom and lie flat on its side. This is because the air cell within the egg is very small. The egg should also feel quite heavy. As the egg starts to lose its freshness and more air enters the egg, it will begin to float and stand upright. The smaller end will lie on the bottom of the bowl, whilst the broader end will point towards the surface. The egg will still be good enough to consume, however, if the egg fully floats in the water and does not touch the bottom of the bowl at all, it should be discarded, as it will most likely be bad. If I feel eggs might be past their best but not bad then I will crack into a cup one at a time to check by smell and use for cake baking. If egg is bad I bury in the compost
heap, no waste then.

Dear Bren, i can't help with the egg question i'm afraid but, good to see a posting from you, i was starting to get worried about you.

Bren wrote: I saw large eggs for sale in a shop on Monday, best before 2012 no use by date on them

Hi Bren

2012?? Surely not! Eggs that will last for more than another year - they should be entered for the olympics

On a more serious note, the regulations regarding the date-stamping of eggs are quite clear - quotes from DEFRA website.

Individual eggs do not need to be dated:

There is no legal requirement for the Best Before Date to be stamped on the egg. Some producers (packers) do stamp this information on their eggs.

However packs must show a best before date:

The legal requirement is for packs or labelling to show the Best Before Date - which may not exceed 28 days from date of lay.

What Nature's Babe says is correct, but, as another who used hen and duck eggs from out own birds, we don't use (or sell) any eggs more than a week old. Older than that they are safe but stale.

Hope this helps

Alan

Somehow I get the feeling that 20th December is being misinterpreted as a year.

I was brought up on a poultry farm, with my parents selling free range eggs door to door in Surrey. I remember that "New Laid" were up to 3 days old and "Fresh" were up to 1 week old. Older than that we kept for ourselves!
The pic is of me c1938 with Rhode Island Reds and Light Sussex. Hope it doesn't transmit too big!
John N

Thank you all for replies, I was just curious when I saw the date on the carton, I won't risk buying them I will stick with the suprermarket at least they have a use by date.

OH. nice to know that I am missed I do pop in every now and then but haven't had a quiery of my own to ask. I haven't been out of the house since last Monday when I stocked up on food that I might need during the bad weather. We didn't have much snow here like other parts of the country but the pavements are frozen, I have a phobia of ice afraid of falling as I suffer with brittle bones and can't afford breaking any.

Bren