How to : Freezing raw eggs

I finally started taking all the eggs off my silkie hens at least twice a day! You cannot leave an egg in with silkies because it takes about 6 hours before one of them decides she's broody and she's gonna hatch that egg! *rolls eyes* I mean, sometimes a silkie hen will even decide to try to hatch the floor, but it's less likely for her to go broody if there are no eggs sitting in the coop.

Quite frankly I have had it with chicks this year! I just took the last 20 to auction and I do not want anymore. So I decided to start taking their eggs everyday and very quickly found myself with several dozen little silkie eggs.

Related reading: How often should you collect eggs?

I currently have nine silkie hens, so the eggs add up fast! I also have six Marans hens, so I really don't need this many eggs. At least not right now. I decided I better preserve some and what easier way to preserve fresh chicken eggs then by freezing them?

Freezing silkie eggs is super easy because they're smaller than a standard hens egg (you know, because they're banties) and being that small they fit perfectly into the compartments of an ice cube tray!

How to freeze raw eggs

This is probably the world's shortest tutorial post, because all you really do is crack an egg into each ice cube slot and freeze them. The eggs should be frozen in about 6 hours.

Once frozen, I pop them out of the ice cube tray and drop them into a freezer bag. Put the bag of frozen egg cubes in the freezer and try to use them within 6 months for best flavor. Don't forget to write the date on the freezer bag! If they don't pop out easily run some warm water over the bottom of the tray for a few seconds.

It's super important to bag them up in freezer bags within 24 hours! Eggs will pick up flavor from other foods in the fridge/freezer. I didn't realize this the first time and my eggs tasted weird. 

The first time I did this I thought they were going to be weird and gritty. I really thought that freezing would change the texture once thawed. Luckily it does not.

Related reading: How to salt cure egg yolks.

If you have standard size hens and you want to freeze their eggs use a mini muffin tin. Unless you have really big duck eggs or something then you'll need a regular muffin tin!

When you're ready to use your frozen eggs, take the number of cubes you want out of the freezer bag and set them in a covered bowl in the refrigerator to thaw.

To tell the truth I don't actually know if it's imperative they be thawed in the refrigerator instead of on a counter, but since it's recommended that meat be thawed in the refrigerator and not on the counter, I assumed eggs would be the same.

It's the way I've always done it and they've turned out great!

I have used these eggs for scrambled eggs, French toast, egg bakes, cakes, egg wash for breading and quiche and they've tasted just fine.

I know some people add a tiny pinch of salt or sugar to each egg and break the yolk before freezing. I haven't found this necessary. However, if your egg yolks are getting more gel like after thawing and not mixing in properly, then give it a try.

Just make sure to label them with salt or sugar so you know how to cook with them. Salted eggs might not be good in a cake.

My aunt likes to scramble the raw eggs and freeze them in a Ziploc bag. Lay flat to freeze so you can break off how much you want to thaw. I don't use this method because it's hard for me to determine how much egg I'm breaking off till after it thaws.

I suppose you could do this in quantities of 2 or 3 and label them like that. Just pick whatever quantity you use the most.

Other methods or preserving eggs

As mentioned earlier this is my favorite method for preserving eggs because it's so simple! Lots of people prefer to freeze dry eggs, dehydrate them or even use a method called water glassing eggs, but I just love the simplicity of this method! 

Now that you have a whole pile of eggshells, here is How I dry and prepare them for the chickens instead of oyster shell! Frugal and effective!
~L

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