# chickens in winter part 2



## caledonchicken (Jul 31, 2013)

Hi all,
I posted a while back about looking after chickens in winter and the concern of frozen eggs. We have moved the chicken coup into the garage so there is added shelter from the cold. It has just started to get cold in the evenings and I have had 2 frozen eggs thus far. We try to collect as soon as we can....Our girls do not lay in the evenings, they lay in the morning. 

The coup is not insulated, however, we have it sitting on insulation to keep the cold from the ground. As well, it is quite a small coup and has 4 residents. I have bedded the nesting boxes with lots of extra bedding. (I am using shavings - would straw be better?) Any other suggestions would be welcome!

thanks 
Janet
Ontario, Canada


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## Jim (Sep 26, 2012)

No help here, I am in south Texas, where freezing is not a normal thing.


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## fox (Nov 30, 2013)

Lol. Yeah I'm in south texas too. Never thought of having frozen eggs. But I would look into some type of heat lamp and or electric heater to put somewhere on the outside of the nesting boxes?


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

we are in new hampshire & frozen eggs can/has been a problem
we just try to collect them a couple times in the morning
when it gets to 10f we start loosing them to freezing
we take the frozen ones , cook them up shell & all
& feed them back to the hens


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## dcfrenkel (Nov 1, 2012)

I thaw and cook the frozen ones. Doesn't do them any harm. If I am not going to eat them right away, I put them in a ziplock in the freezer and thaw them when I am ready. You can eat them, bake with them...
Also eggs that have frozen and thawed have extra emulsifying power (learned this from a cookbook written by a biochemist) and make great mayonnaise. Apparently commercial mayo producers freeze their eggs so that they can use fewer eggs to more oil which cuts cost.

If you are really concerned you can put a lamp shining on the nests to prevent freezing eggs. But this does add to your electric bill.


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