Many people think that once you have some chickens, you then have a constant and predictable supply of eggs. Once you have had some chickens for a while, you soon realise this is not always the case. Well, not in our experience anyway…
Chickens can be temperamental creatures and many things such as stress, the weather, age and hormones can all put a temporary stop on egg production. We often have periods of a month or so when egg production drops right off. There’s nothing worse than having to buy eggs when you have your own chickens! Conversely, when conditions are right, you can end up with more eggs than you know what to do with! It is not dissimilar to growing seasons when we end up with a glute of fruit and vegetables during the summer and fall, but very little during the winter and spring.
Similar to how we preserve fruit and vegetables during the summer months in preparation for the winter months, we can also preserve our eggs (without freezing or refrigeration) when they are coming thick and fast. Pioneers and homesteaders have been preserving eggs in this manner for well over 100 years. This and similar methods have probably been used much longer in other traditions.
The method for preserving the eggs requires the eggs to be stored in a container filled with lime water (a mixture of calcium hydroxide, hydrated lime, slaked lime or pickling lime and water). Rather than me detailing the method step by step, I decided to share this excellent video tutorial from the amazing YouTube channel PREPSTEADERS, which is just too good not to feature for the purpose of demonstrating this egg preserving method. Be sure to check out the video which is down below.
If you are interested in learning how to store and preserve eggs for up to two years or so, this twenty-minute video tutorial will be twenty minutes extremely well spent!
