When it comes to raising backyard chickens, one of the most rewarding moments is collecting fresh eggs. Someone often asks me, “How often should I pick up the eggs?” This makes me think of another question: “How long can the eggs safely stay in the coop before I pick them up?”
Collecting eggs is always fun, but let’s be real—there are days when life gets in the way and I can’t make it out to the coop. So, how long can eggs stay in the coop and still be safe to eat?.
Collecting eggs from your backyard chicken flock is an important daily task. While it may seem harmless to occasionally skip a day, consistently failing to collect eggs can have serious consequences for your chickens’ health and egg production. In this article, we’ll explore what happens when you neglect egg collection and how it impacts your flock.
The Immediate Mess
The most obvious result of not collecting eggs is that they simply pile up in the nest boxes. Left exposed to the elements and the chickens themselves, these eggs will eventually break. One broken egg will lead to another as chickens trample over the mess.
These broken eggs quickly become smelly and rotten, attracting flies, rodents, and predators The stench may also lure larger animals like foxes, raccoons, opossums, and snakes. Allowing eggs to accumulate creates an unsanitary and potentially dangerous environment for your flock
Increased Risk of Predators
That unpleasant rotten egg smell travels far and wide signaling to predators that there is a free and easy meal to be had in your coop. Animals like raccoons are clever enough to figure out how to break into a coop to access accumulated eggs.
Even if these predators don’t directly threaten your chickens, their presence stresses the flock Stressed chickens are more likely to stop laying eggs and become ill.
Egg Eating Behavior
Chickens are naturally curious creatures and opportunistic eaters. If eggs are left sitting in the nests, your hens may start pecking at them. They quickly learn that eggs are an excellent source of protein.
This bad habit of eating eggs can quickly spread through your flock. It’s very hard to get chickens to stop eating their own eggs once they get used to it. There will be fewer eggs laid and maybe some broken ones all over the coop.
Increased Risk of Broodiness
Leaving eggs in the nest boxes can also trigger broodiness in your hens. Broodiness is the natural maternal instinct to incubate a clutch of eggs. While a broody hen will protect eggs, she’ll also stop laying and refuse to leave the nest.
Having hens that are broody might seem like a good way to get chicks, but if you don’t control it, the flock will produce fewer eggs overall. It also makes chickens not care about their own health and food. To stop broodiness, you have to take hens out of the flock until the behavior stops.
Health Risks from Egg Accumulation
Broken and old eggs that are piled up in the coop make it easy for parasites and bacteria like Salmonella to grow. Chickens that dig through the trash can eat germs and get sick. In severe cases, these illnesses may be fatal.
Respiratory infections, parasitic infestations, and diarrhea are just some of the health issues chickens exposed to spoiled eggs and unsanitary coop conditions can develop. A clean coop is essential to keeping backyard chickens healthy.
Diminished Egg Quality
Even intact eggs left sitting for days or weeks suffer a loss of quality. The protective outer bloom on the eggshell deteriorates. This allows bacteria to more easily penetrate the shell and contaminate the contents.
Extended exposure to temperature fluctuations causes the eggs’ inner membranes to weaken. Old eggs have thinner whites and flatter, watery yolks. Their nutritional value, flavor, and freshness rapidly decline the longer they sit. Eating rotten eggs poses serious food poisoning risks for both you and your flock.
Decreased Egg Production
All these issues stemming from poor egg collection add up to chickens laying fewer and fewer eggs. Stress, illness, broodiness, and egg eating all inhibit hens from reaching their maximum egg laying potential.
In the quest for farm-fresh eggs, maintaining consistent daily collection is essential. While an occasional missed day won’t spell disaster, ongoing neglect will degrade your chickens’ health, egg quality, and ability to produce. Don’t let your precious eggs go to waste!
Tips for Proper Egg Collection
- Collect eggs at least once daily, twice is preferable in hot weather
- Remove eggs gently to avoid cracks
- Discard any dirty, broken, or odd-looking eggs
- Provide a calcium supplement for strong shells
- Use clean nest box bedding like straw or pine shavings
- Deter egg-eating by removing broken eggs immediately
- Discourage broodiness by limiting light exposure
- Refrigerate collected eggs promptly in clean cartons
- Wash hands after gathering to prevent bacteria spread
- Plan ahead for vacations – have a helper collect eggs
Consistently gathering eggs from your flock is essential for their health and productivity. While an occasional missed day won’t cause long-term issues, ongoing neglect jeopardizes your chickens’ wellbeing and egg production. Follow these egg collection best practices to enjoy a steady supply of fresh eggs from your backyard flock.
When Do Chickens Lay Eggs?
While it’s often said that chickens lay their eggs early in the morning, mine seem to be on their own schedule! Haha! Some of my hens lay early, while others like to lay later in the day, which keeps collecting eggs an adventure. Most hens will produce five to seven eggs per week, depending on their breed and age. Regular egg collection is important to prevent problems like spoilage, egg-eating among the flock and attracting pests.
Unwashed vs. Washed Eggs: Which Lasts Longer?
Did you know that unwashed eggs can stay fresh longer than washed ones? I like to collect our eggs and, if they’re clean, I leave them unwashed on the counter where they stay good for weeks. The float test is a simple way to tell if an egg is fresh. Put the egg in water. If it sinks, it’s still fresh. If it stands up or floats, it’s time to throw it away.
What Happens If You Don’t Collect Eggs Daily? (Surprising Results)
FAQ
What happens if you don’t collect your chicken eggs?
You might fail to collect your chicken eggs, especially if you are too busy to collect the eggs. Your eggs may become stale if you pick them days after chickens laid the eggs. Collect your eggs at least twice or thrice a day. Preferably, collect your eggs early in the morning and late in the evening.
What happens if you don’t collect eggs a day?
Another problem that can occur if you don’t collect eggs at least once a day is broodiness. Once a hen gathers up a clutch of eggs, she’s likely to sit on them. The number varies depending on the chicken – she may be happy with 3 or 4 or she may want to collect at least a dozen.
What happens if you leave chicken eggs in a coop?
Chickens aren’t very careful, so if you leave your eggs in the coop for a long time, they could get stepped on, sat on, or crushed. Someone who is interested in another hen’s egg might peck it, especially if it has a spot of dirt or discoloration on it. This could damage the egg and make it useless.
Are fresh eggs safe to eat?
Fresh eggs is one of the reasons why people raise backyard chickens. But if you don’t collect, clean, and store your fresh eggs properly, they might not be safe to eat. As you may already know, chicken coop is not exactly the cleanest place on earth. It’s full of dirt, poop, and things your eyes can’t see: bacteria.
Can hens eat eggs if Coop is dirty?
Your hens and their coop. If the layers themselves are dirty, their eggs will be most likely dirty too. With that in mind, it’s important to keep your hens healthy and cleaning a chicken coop is an important part of that, so your can eat your eggs safely. You don’t have to store your fresh eggs in a fridge.
What happens if a hen eats another hen’s egg?
A curious hen might give another hen’s egg a peck (especially if it has a speck of dirt or discoloration on it), leaving it cracked and dented and unusable. So collect your eggs morning and evening to reduce the likelihood of eggs being accidentally broken.
What happens if I don’t collect my chicken’s eggs?
However, if you can’t collect them daily, eggs can still be safe for a limited time if kept under the right conditions. Freshly laid eggs can typically stay in the coop for about 7 to 10 days as long as they’re kept dry and at a stable temperature. I’ve done this many times and the eggs have been just fine.
How long can you go without collecting chicken eggs?
Temperature, humidity, and ventilation all play a role in how long chicken eggs can last in a chicken coop. I generally find chicken eggs stay fresh for up to two weeks if stored properly in cool temperatures and low humidity.
What happens if I don’t turn the chicken eggs?
Early death: Insufficient turning can cause embryo death between days 3 and 6 of the incubation period for chickens.
What happens if you don’t wash farm eggs?
Because of this, fresh eggs are often covered in contaminants like dirt, feathers, poop and salmonella. If the shell of the egg isn’t washed properly, these contaminants can end up in your food and spread on cooking surfaces and equipment.