How many eggs can I pile up before they start to crack?

At what point do I need to worry about the weight of the eggs crushing the ones on the bottom? This is an example of taking something way too far.

As I get closer to getting some property of my own once again, I am dreaming of the things I will do. One of those things is to get even more egg laying chickens than I had before. The amount of eggs I used to get, filled up the basket I was using. Should I get a second basket or a bigger one? And if I get a bigger one, how big could I go? How do the large farms handle that many eggs? 5 gallon buckets? Lots of smaller baskets?

Does anyone deal with large volumes of eggs?

How many are you prepared to loose when you trip over the ______ (chicken, cat, mini-human - or simply slip on the mud)?

We have just less than 100 layers and collect a little less than 7 dozen eggs a day. Our chickens are in small groups of 15 to 20 birds with the different groups being of different ages. The June girls have been laying since June 2023 and despite good conditions, tend to lay larger, weaker shelled eggs. I wouldn't want them on the bottom of a large basket.  Young birds tend to lay tougher eggs, but there often seems to be someone in a group that lays a poorer egg and I watch for that and put that egg on top of the pile.

We use a different plastic jug for each shelter, and the jugs fit into an oversized milk crate (designed to fit 6 rather than 4 jugs). This still didn't save them all the day I went down hard on mud, but generally it helps reduce the risk and I suspect if they were all in a single basket, the loss would have been greater.

Cool. So each group has its own container inside the crate? And each container (based on the size of your groups) probably has 10-15 eggs each?

Hi Matt;
Your question reminded me of the, Guess how many jelly beans are in the jar!
Sounds like Jay has this figured out, barring the slip on mud scenario.
Just remember that old saying, "don't put all your eggs in one basket..."

thomas rubino wrote:Hi Matt;
Just remember that old saying, "don't put all your eggs in one basket..."

A very good thing to keep in mind :)

Matt McSpadden wrote:Cool. So each group has its own container inside the crate? And each container (based on the size of your groups) probably has 10-15 eggs each?

 
Hubby usually starts with 20 Point of Lay girls in a shelter, so 20 is the max. However, those are his Industrial birds and it's rare not to loose 1 or more over time for various reasons.

However, our policy when possible is that if a girl goes broody, she gets to try and hatch and raise chicks. We have found that any particular Industrial bird, only goes broody once, so she ends up with her girls in a "mini-flock" of mixed birds that are often different ages.

No system is perfect. Industrial chickens lay most prolifically for a relatively short lifespan, but still lay well for much longer. As a relatively small producer, Hubby has a system which works for him, but it is really too time consuming for serious farming. It has significantly improved soil in the field he uses.

However, we also have ducks in the same area, and at the moment, 1 of the containers only has duck and goose eggs in it. The fact that the birds are a long way from the house is also a consideration. Depending on the time of year and the location of the shelters (they all move every day or 2 except if the weather prevents it) the eggs are carried close to 1/4 mile to the house.

Jay Angler wrote:... an oversized milk crate (designed to fit 6 rather than 4 jugs).  

Here's where I mention China again, lol; seems I've been remembering and learning a lot from my time there lately! The farmers who'd come into the city to sell things every day would bring eggs in the milk crates mentioned above. The rectangular ones, not the square ones. They were loose, just willy-nilly in those crates, full to the tops, or just under the tops so they could be stacked. Yes, stacks of milk crates full of loose eggs!

If you think about it, they're round-ish, and round things hold up pretty well. Also, if they're will-nilly, it's not like there's weight going directly down on any one egg; the weight is distributed all over the place; diagonally, partly on one egg and partly on another, weight goes onto walls of crate as well, etc. I imagine making neat stacks of eggs directly on top of one another might have a different result.


Added fun note: We bought them by the kilo, putting them in bags to be weighed, like produce, and they did not wash them. Looked like they lightly sprayed them with a hose, but they didn't scrub them. I kept them out in a bowl for weeks unrefrigerated.

Kim Wills wrote: Yes, stacks of milk crates full of loose eggs!

Did they put a layer of straw at the bottom? Or did you ever notice if the eggs were just against the plastic at the bottom?

When time is more valuable than an individual egg, one can take more chances!

Jay Angler wrote:Did they put a layer of straw at the bottom? Or did you ever notice if the eggs were just against the plastic at the bottom?

When time is more valuable than an individual egg, one can take more chances!

Hmm, I don't recall seeing anything at the bottom, but I may not have been paying enough attention. It sounds like a good idea, if it's not too much trouble or expense. Maybe it's a good chance to reuse packing materials, fabrics, or paper, or of course straw like you said. And now that I think about it, though I'm not sure how the egg guys specifically got there, in general, the farmers came in either on little pickup trucks, or sometimes a horse & wagon! It must have been a bumpy ride!

If we are going on only possibilities and not practicality, I find eggshells to be incredibly strong when completely static. It is sudden kinetic force (dropping) that breaks the shell most of the time. Hypothetically, if you gently stack them in a container you might be able to get half a dozen layers without breakage based on personal experience.

I feel like we need a REALLY tall graduated cylinder, a scale, and a bunch of eggs to test this experiment.

Timothy Norton wrote:If we are going on only possibilities and not practicality, I find eggshells to be incredibly strong when completely static.

In other words, storing them in your cold cellar in a low earthquake risk zone? But maybe not during the collection process?

It is sudden kinetic force (dropping) that breaks the shell most of the time.  

 
Like when I slip on the mud or fall into a chicken trap and the whole crate drops 3 feet?

I feel like we need a REALLY tall graduated cylinder, a scale, and a bunch of eggs to test this experiment.

Isn't there some old saying about the difference between theory and practice?
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."

I'll stick to my bin system, as I'd be sure to drop and break the graduated cylinder. Then again... it would be very useful for measuring rainfall, so feel free to send it my way after you complete your experiment! You didn't say what diameter the cylinder would be. I would suggest it be wide enough that your hand fits in it easily.

Timothy Norton wrote:If we are going on only possibilities and not practicality, I find eggshells to be incredibly strong when completely static. It is sudden kinetic force (dropping) that breaks the shell most of the time. Hypothetically, if you gently stack them in a container you might be able to get half a dozen layers without breakage based on personal experience.

I feel like we need a REALLY tall graduated cylinder, a scale, and a bunch of eggs to test this experiment.

I have a really tall graduated cylinder! And you're all just in luck because I'm moving and I'll probably be digging down to that layer of my pantry soon! I don't recall how wide it is... it came with a long bottle brush, so I don't think my hand would fit. Maybe tongs. And would the egg fit "laying down", because stacking them tall-ways I bet they'd be stronger, but nearly impossible to arrange in a crate.
Hmm, and we should also keep in mind how much of the egg's weight will be leaning on the wall of the cylinder, or crate, etc. The more the better for reality, though the less the better for the experiment.
Thanks guys, like I need this question in my brain while trying to renovate and move!
And I don't even have chickens!!

Matt McSpadden wrote:At what point do I need to worry about the weight of the eggs crushing the ones on the bottom? This is an example of taking something way too far.
As I get closer to getting some property of my own once again, I am dreaming of the things I will do. One of those things is to get even more egg laying chickens than I had before. The amount of eggs I used to get, filled up the basket I was using. Should I get a second basket or a bigger one? And if I get a bigger one, how big could I go? How do the large farms handle that many eggs? 5 gallon buckets? Lots of smaller baskets?
Does anyone deal with large volumes of eggs?

Well, Matt, when I read your post, my first question was: "Why take a chance on broken eggs?"
I have a basket and it will hold 2 dozen eggs comfortably, but all it takes is one weak egg and you may have to wash a bunch of eggs!
Since you seem to be at the "dreaming" stage, you may want to do a bit more planning about what you will do with all these eggs and mount a very large monstruous [and costly] operation. What will the market sustain, even during this egg crisis. Do you have a way to get enough good grain for all your layers? To do a really big operation, you might want to check how large operations operate:
They all seem to have a rolling system with a well configured slope so that they do not break any eggs. Their egg collection trough is no longer accessible to the chickens once they are laid, so the eggs cannot go to the outside if you get freezing weather.
Also, these eggs will have to be manipulated when picked up: Some will be dirty, some will be unsaleable [weak shell, malformed to small, too big, some to incubate, perhaps?], so they have to be sorted.
The smartest way is to get that done is immediately, as you collect the eggs so you do not manipulate them several times.
If you sort them as you go, you might as well place them in trays at the same time. They sell large plastic trays like you will see in the following video. Each tray looks like it would hold many dozens, and they probably are set up so they nest into each other without crushing the eggs beneath. Here is a look at a good operation that is successful. [Might as well take advantage of what they've learned along the way, right?]

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:

Well, Matt, when I read your post, my first question was: "Why take a chance on broken eggs?"
I have a basket and it will hold 2 dozen eggs comfortably, but all it takes is one weak egg and you may have to wash a bunch of eggs!
Since you seem to be at the "dreaming" stage, you may want to do a bit more planning about what you will do with all these eggs and mount a very large monstruous [and costly] operation. What will the market sustain, even during this egg crisis. Do you have a way to get enough good grain for all your layers? To do a really big operation, you might want to check how large operations operate:
They all seem to have a rolling system with a well configured slope so that they do not break any eggs. Their egg collection trough is no longer accessible to the chickens once they are laid, so the eggs cannot go to the outside if you get freezing weather.
Also, these eggs will have to be manipulated when picked up: Some will be dirty, some will be unsaleable [weak shell, malformed to small, too big, some to incubate, perhaps?], so they have to be sorted.
The smartest way is to get that done is immediately, as you collect the eggs so you do not manipulate them several times.
If you sort them as you go, you might as well place them in trays at the same time. They sell large plastic trays like you will see in the following video. Each tray looks like it would hold many dozens, and they probably are set up so they nest into each other without crushing the eggs beneath. Here is a look at a good operation that is successful. [Might as well take advantage of what they've learned along the way, right?]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09bAdG_0Mqw

That is a good idea to do trays. I'd probably do either a metal mesh or the cardboard/paper ones instead of plastic.

I am dreaming, but it is dreaming of getting back into chickens. I had a flock of 31, and at peak was getting more than 2 dozen eggs a day. While this is not huge... it is bigger than your average back yard flock. I had to wash the dirty ones (and come up with ideas to keep them clean), store them, and sell them. I have a big family, and we can go through 14-16 eggs in one meal. While I haven't checked prices lately, there is a farmer's union store that sells organic soy free layer feed, which is what I was feeding them previously. The biggest hurdle is getting my own land again, so I can do this sort of thing.

I'm dreaming of two flocks of maybe 40-50 each. One of black australorp and one of buff orpingtons.

how tough are your eggs?  Feed quality, oyster shell and other calcium sources, age of birds, production rate and egg size just to list a few all matter.  We sometimes got to basically the full depth of a 5 gallon bucket but occasionally one breaks at that depth and we were raising fairly tough eggs but not generally super tough.  We had one hen you probably could have stacked her eggs 10 feet deep.  Those were the eggs that bounced when you hit the edge of the skillet to break them.  Sometimes you were on the 3rd or 4th progressively harder hit to barely crack them.