BACKYARD CHICKEN KEEPERS WORRYING ABOUT FROZEN EGGS THIS WINTER

HELLO & Welcome to Garden Daddy here at the urban farm! I have heard your murmurings and concerns about finding FROZEN eggs in your chicken houses and coops these extra cold days we are having this year. Funny thing about eggs though. Unless the shell is cracked due to the freezing, the contents are still perfectly fine. If the shell is cracked because it has frozen then this Garden Daddy will throw it out or feed it to the furry critters here...namely "Max" the Silky Terrier here at the urban farm, mixed in with his food. If it is frozen and NOT cracked, it can be put in a zip lock freezer bag with others you might collect during a certain period and then used for cooking, baking, etc. You CAN still eat as regular cooked eggs but the yolks might not stand as tall and the slight change in taste might be noticeable. But you can still use any frozen eggs you might collect. If you are selling them you might try just warming them a little at the time and be sure to mention they MIGHT have been frozen at some point to your customers.
I will also mention again that the only reason I have been using a heat lamp in my coop this year is that about one half of my 10-month old laying pullets are in an early molt situation. They re shedding their original adult feathers and getting in new ones. The only problem this creates is that a lot of bare skin is showing and the new feathers have not come in yet as quickly as they need to during this cold weather. The heat lamp just protects against some frostbite I think anyway and gives them at least the opportunity to try to warm their backs for a bit. And the extra heat in the coop helps keep the water fount thawed as well.
So I leave you today with our ongoing affirmation in mind: "URBAN FARMING: ONE EGG AT A TIME!"