Not those eggs ... I mean chicken eggs.
It's finally Spring so that means there's going to be a few changes in life. Your thighs are going to come out of hibernation, your neighbours will slowly emerge from their houses, blinking at the sun, and your dog will bound into the house full of joy, excitement and excrement after rolling around in all 472 piles of it in your backyard.
Spring. The season of surprises.
The other thing that comes with spring are eggs. A lot of eggs. Chickens need around 15 hours of daylight to lay eggs (the same way plants need a lot of light to produce flowers or fruit). In the winter, chickens don't have those hours of daylight so they pretty much stop laying and spend the winter eating food and looking at you sideways.
You can put a light on a timer in your coop to fake daylight in the winter which will sometimes prompt them to keep laying, but ... sometimes not. And it's nice to give them a bit of a rest anyway.
But when Winter ends and Spring rolls around, chickens get all hopped up on sunlight and bugs and start blasting out eggs like an out of control ferris wheel spits out wallets and sunglasses.
Then in a few months the chickens will all start to moult at exactly the same time and you're left with no eggs again. I either have eggs piling up all over the kitchen or I have one egg, held under glass for a special occasion. That special occasion usually turns out to be a trip to the grocery store after cracking open said egg and finding it rotten from saving it for so long.
So when the chickens started back on their crazy egg laying schedule I enacted ...
Because my family, as a whole, are terrified of 3 things in this world, cancer, rising cable rates and my chicken's eggs, I'm forced to use all my eggs myself. But sometimes no matter how big my souffle dish is, I just can't get through the 32 eggs on my counter.
So I started freezing my eggs.
I just crack them one at a time into a bowl, whisk them, then pour them into an ice cube tray.
Yes, backyard chicken eggs really are that deep orange colour.
And yes, colour really is spelled with a U.
One of my chicken eggs will fill up two ice cube tray compartments. So I know that two frozen rectangles equals one egg. Once the eggs are frozen just rest your ice cube tray in a shallow dish of warm water until you can easily twist them out. Then just pop them into a freezer bag and pop that into the freezer.
When your chickens have gone on strike you'll always have eggs at the ready. For a scrambled egg, just pull a couple out, put them into a non stick pan and heat them over very low heat until they're thawed and cook like normal. They're not as good as a fresh cracked egg, but they're fine.
What these frozen eggs are great for are things like adding to hamburgers, or quiche, or baking. You can also apparently freeze your whites and yolks separately but the yolks turn like a hard jelly unless you add some salt or sugar to them. I couldn't be bothered.
Kind of like you couldn't be bothered to go rooting around the backyard all winter cleaning up dog poop.
I have 21 hens and end up with 7 dozen eggs weekly in the summer. I do sell most of them to family and friends, but occasionally people go on vacation and I have a few dozen extra. I’m going to try freezing them now, thanks to you. I can’t believe your family doesn’t climb over one another to get your eggs, I don’t get it? Store eggs (or slave labor eggs as I call them) have no taste. My yolks are only that colour in summer, once the snow hits the grass is gone and no more pretty yolks. Do you add supplements your chickens feed to keep the orange colour?
Here's a belated response. I buy eggs at the market but use them only occasionally. I have a lot of plastic ziploc containers. I put a drop of oil in a container, spread it around with my finger, and crack the egg into it. I freeze it and when frozen I pop it out into a cheap zip baggie and put that baggie in a freezer baggie. When I need to use the egg I thaw it and beat it up. I have found that these eggs are good for everything in which eggs are first beaten. This is a very easy method, and the frozen eggs, because they flatten, take up very little freezer space. The image has three duck eggs in it -- these are large eggs I get at the market in the summer.
I loved the posting [March 2019[ about how to tell if an egg is fresh.
My challah uses five egg yolks. I only use one egg white to brush the tops. I freeze the egg whites and then put them in a ziploc. It is very handy to have egg whites at the ready. I've never tried beating them, so I don't know if they turn out like fresh egg whites. Anyone happen to know?
I never met a challah I didn't like. Ever. ~ karen!
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Verner Panton Style Classic 'S' Dining Lounge Side Chair White *Set of 2* to the back door. Getting it inside, unpacking,and unstacking took about 1 minute. It is one of the most comfortable chairs I have ever placed my butt on!! Really!!
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That's great, I'm glad to hear it. They're surprisingly comfortable aren't they? I'm sure I'll screw up the odd time with my recommendations if I haven't bought and used them myself, but here's hoping the screw ups aren't too bad. ;) ~ karen!
Not really interested in freezing eggs (mine or chickens). I confess, sometimes I'm just not that interested in a particular topic you're posting about. (Though many times I am.) But I read the posts anyway, because I might miss something very funny or some really good writing. The two will almost certainly be one in the same. And you did not let me down with this one. "... chickens get all hopped up on sunlight and bugs and start blasting out eggs like an out of control ferris wheel spits out wallets and sunglasses." Brilliant, just brilliant.
OK, done wondering/speculating - what do you mean 2 whites? I had my own chickens for years and never thought that they had 2 whites but did notice the stand up and deep yellow yolk and the way the whites didn't lay there all watery but sorta climbed up the side of the yolk bottom. I've also had 2 yolks many times in 1 egg but - 2 whites? Gotta splain that Lucy.
I thought eggs couldn't be frozen at all so thanks for the tip!
They say you learn something new every day. (whoever they are, they're right. this is the new thing I learned, this day. cool beans.)
Hilarious!!!!? This is something I have never tried but the next time I chicken sit I am gonna do this! Cheers!
Even though we don't use a "u" to spell color, we do "pick up" the yard all winter when there is no snow to hide all the uncharming piles. If we didn't, I shudder to think what the yard would look like! Your chicken eggs would sure be welcome here! Right now we are jockying into position to be put on the list of egg buyers from an acquaintance of ours! We used to have a duck that gave us huge, wonderful, fresh eggs! So happy egg gathering when they resume laying, Karen!
Karen,
What, if anything, have you to say about freezing hard-boiled eggs? Ever tried it?
Yes please, can you freeze hard boileds and will they
taste as good ?
Ok, first this comment ain't nothin' about no eggs.
I just thought today's post needed a little help number of reponses-wise since the previous one is up to 927!!! Hole Moley! That MUST be some kind of record?! Just goes to show ya how we all love a freebie . . . including me.
A great idea for Easter when I end up blowing eggs to decorate with my grandson. Thanks.