Eating fresh eggs are delicious. Folks are discovering the benefits of home-grown eggs and keeping chickens at home. But how are you supposed to know if the eggs are edible or not?
Generally, free-range chicken eggs are fresh enough to eat if the chicken is sitting on them.
Often a hen lays her egg and then quickly leaves it in the coop. Other times a hen sits on her freshly laid egg until you remove the egg from underneath her. After washing this fresh egg, you can eat it immediately.
How can you tell if an egg is bad?
Smell test: If you crack an egg and it smells, it’s a bad egg. Don’t eat it.
Keeping the nests clean and the chickens’ area carefully composted and tended to increase the hens’ health and reduces any likelihood for egg contamination.