Have the chickens / Hens you bought starting to lay eggs yet? Wondering what to do once they've laid their eggs? How do you ensure the eggs are as clean as possible once the hens have laid them? Then read on for more info;

Gathering the eggs

Before you can do anything with the eggs you need to gather them. There are a couple of things you can do to ensure the eggs are as clean as possible.

Ensure the hens nesting box is properly feathered. Make sure there are plenty of shavings or straw lining them and this is clean at all times. When collecting your eggs if you notice that a chicken / hen has pooped clean it up and replace the shavings, likewise if the chicken has broken an egg, ensure you thoroughly clean it.

Make sure you gather your eggs early and on a regular basis, twice a day preferably. A big reason eggs get broken or pooped on by the hens is because they are left overnight in the nest boxes. If your hens are like mine they seem to prefer to sleep on the edge of their nest box, or sometimes even in them! This is where they they poop or accidentally step on the eggs breaking them. Another reason for collecting twice a day is that it discourages the chickens eating the eggs.

Once you have collected the eggs from the hen house you then need to clean them.

Once your eggs are clean and dry its recommended to package them in egg cartons and label the date that they were collected. Top tip, if you store your eggs in the fridge they will last longer than if you just leave them on the side. Refrigerating them will keep the eggs good for about a month, although i never sell any eggs that are this old.

A neat little trick to see if the egg is still fresh is the float test. Fill a bowl of water and place the egg in it. If the egg floats it means that there is too big of an air pocket inside the shell, the contents have evaporated too much and the egg is likely to be ruined. If the egg sinks, its a good indication that its still fresh and will be tasty to eat.