We have a super broody hen and have been informed by friends with an organic farm that want to buy her from us, that brooding behavior has almost been bred out of chickens because of incubater use. Chickens are losing the ability to hatch there own. Weird. I think we better keep her....even if we need to wear motorcycle gloves to get the eggs now. Full on attack chicken. Combat high heels or not, I just cant be seen getting my ass kicked by a chicken.

In regards to the broody chicken, I started and wrote out a 90 percent of a reply that then got lost, so I did it in word, it got so long I finally made it a full length post, I put it up in the farming, livestock area..

http://internationalpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=1530&p=16257#p16203

Keeping eggs, my folks did the waterglass method only one winter that I can remember and then we went back to the method that her parents did, I would have been ten or so at the time, so I have a vague memory of it, but have never done it myself as a adult.

Having said that, I do save whole eggs for winter use, I tend to have a some cracked scrambled with either salt or sugar and frozen, some I cook, then dry and store in good amounts, but I also store whole eggs, In which case, I just store them in the cellar, in cartons, unwashed with bloom on, I have had go as much as four months this way with no issues.. the key for me is that the egg should be as clean as possable, I will clean the nest box's out in total weekly and put a handful of fresh straw down each day, I want a super clean egg, If its a dirty egg, I won't store it, it gets used right away.

If I want to store it longer then three months, rare but it does happen but to be honest, its more likely my friends have not given me enough cartons, I go back to the method I was trained in as a child that both my grandparents and my parents used, which is store them in a wood barrel in layers of salt, I am not as fond of it because the salt is more a pain to dig though then just using the cartons but it does work well and you can reuse it time and again, I once forgot a layer of eggs for around six months, I checked them and they were old but not bad at at any more percents then the 3 or 4 month old ones where.

I have never gone past that time as there has never been a need to do so, most of the time, 3 months extra put away is lots to cover the slow down cycle within my flock over the winter months..

Keeping eggs, my folks did the waterglass method only one winter that I can remember and then we went back to the method that her parents did, I would have been ten or so at the time, so I have a vague memory of it, but have never done it myself as a adult.

Having said that, I do save whole eggs for winter use, I tend to have a some cracked scrambled with either salt or sugar and frozen, some I cook, then dry and store in good amounts, but I also store whole eggs, In which case, I just store them in the cellar, in cartons, unwashed with bloom on, I have had go as much as four months this way with no issues.. the key for me is that the egg should be as clean as possable, I will clean the nest box's out in total weekly and put a handful of fresh straw down each day, I want a super clean egg, If its a dirty egg, I won't store it, it gets used right away.

If I want to store it longer then three months, rare but it does happen but to be honest, its more likely my friends have not given me enough cartons, I go back to the method I was trained in as a child that both my grandparents and my parents used, which is store them in a wood barrel in layers of salt, I am not as fond of it because the salt is more a pain to dig though then just using the cartons but it does work well and you can reuse it time and again, I once forgot a layer of eggs for around six months, I checked them and they were old but not bad at at any more percents then the 3 or 4 month old ones where.

I have never gone past that time as there has never been a need to do so, most of the time, 3 months extra put away is lots to cover the slow down cycle within my flock over the winter months..

Thanks for sharing. lgsbrooks, ranger and youself seem to all be mentioning a style of coating the eggs. I had planned on the soaking in it method. Its funny, the day after posting, at random, I was watching a YT vid on food during the rationing period in England during ww2. An older woman was sharing about her cooking almost inedible cheap foodstuffs and hens came up. She leaned over a pot of the liquid and pulled out a wet basket of eggs. This little angelic glow encircled the eggs (Well, maby only in my own mind) as I realised that I was actually seeing it for real for the first time by an elder that was actually still using it. That helped re enforce that the technique was real and not just some old story that was told second hand and now was transformed to an indisputable prepping fact. Coating might be alot easier though

I think , that we have decided , that to be having the appearance of having things , makes you way too easy a target , so we go with a stealthy approach. no one can see our prep supplies even if they were in front of it. Nor will anyone suspect us of knowing anything about anything, and where we would go. and thats the way we like it.
this is to reply to earlier posts regarding
having openly shown public your plan.( I know the threads can be confusing.)

Its now a few days form the 2012 solstice and it looks like many people have read this post so I think It deserves an update. No, I havent fitted myself for a tinfoil hat...but I have to admit, when I found out the a few meteors came dambed close last week a part of my brain went...Oh, youve got to be friggin kidding me, cernunnos. Perhaps I should be prepping for shape shifting lizard people and an iminent attack from the blue aliens after all. LOL.
But, No. I should give you an egg update. We finaly dipped into the eggs we started to put into waterglass solution in the early summer. They taisted fine but Mrs cernunnos mentioned that the yokes diddnt hold together well. Such was expected. Incase you are wondering, we did the 'Soaking in it" methode. We also put them in several smaller plastic honey containers instead of one big one so we could easilly identify wich ones we put in fist and use them first. What we did notice was that the mixed solution has gelled some so imagine the eggs from the movie, Aliens. Well no aliens hatched but we had read that this would happen. Jelling, not aliens, that is. I'll try to give another update as the winter egg eating progress continues. Happy Solstice and end of the world parties.

Wow. Random timing. I just finished posting then went onto Youtube where someone far more respected than me just posted this on waterglass. enjoy
http://youtu.be/XlTOShUYlOg

OOOPS! I just posted the same link... 😳

Hi All
I just joined the forum a few days ago and have learned so much. Waterglass, Fanstastic. Thanks. I've been watching Doomsday Preppers and have been shaking my head more than a few times. There was one husband and wife with 60 or 70 firearms. These folks have more money than brains.

Oh, Man. Im sorry to tell you all That the eggs exploded. The gas must have built up. I took a shard in the eye. I think its infected.
April fool. I couldnt resist. SJs comment made me think I should give you an update. All the stored eggs from last summer are just fine. Same thing to report, the yolks are alittle soft so better for for scramble. The trueth is, we are awash in eggs and its a chore to eat them. The chickens are long since pumping then out again. 10 chickens for 2 people are to much. the dogs get egg on their dogfood regularly. They go to our friends for 4$ a dozen (Organic price). This year we will let them hatch a batch to get the next generation going

Oh, Man. Im sorry to tell you all That the eggs exploded. The gas must have built up. I took a shard in the eye. I think its infected.
April fool. I couldnt resist. SJs comment made me think I should give you an update. All the stored eggs from last summer are just fine. Same thing to report, the yolks are alittle soft so better for for scramble. The trueth is, we are awash in eggs and its a chore to eat them. The chickens are long since pumping then out again. 10 chickens for 2 people are to much. the dogs get egg on their dogfood regularly. They go to our friends for 4$ a dozen (Organic price). This year we will let them hatch a batch to get the next generation going

Now, if you were serious about the April Fool's thing, we'd have a picture of the camo pantyhose and corset being modelled. 😆

On second thought, possibly not a good idea. You might hurt someone with an image like that. 😯

Glad to hear the eggs made it throught the winter. Thanks for the update.

Update time. Its now July 9th . Just had some more eggs from last summer and still good. I keep forgetting about them at this point. Ill keep posting till I get a bad egg.

Well, Here we are at the end. We just finished the end of last years eggs...so I cant tell you how much longer they last for. Its October 16. Test complete.

Next test...how well do this years eggs do, reusing the old solution without bothering to boil it.

Interesting trial, thank you for sharing that experiment.