Farm Fresh eggs?

[VAfoodie]

A coworker of mine sells eggs from her chickens. The eggs have never been refrigerated, and her claim is that if they've never been refrigerated, they are fine. Just once you refrigerate them, you have to keep them refrigerated. Plenty of people at work buy, eat, and rave about these eggs (the yolks are bigger, yellower etc.), but I'm just a little worried. Should I be?

[xanadude]

They'll last longer in the refrigerator, but they're fine.

[VAfoodie]

Jury's still out on these eggs. DD and I ate them yesterday, and the yolks were indeed larger and yellower (what does that mean exactly), but mine had a very odd taste. Now that may have been the cheese I added. Will do a plain egg today to see. It's all very interesting to this city girl.

[gordeaux]

Nope.
You've been conditioned to think that eggs are evil. Unless you are planning on eating them raw, you'll be fine. Your farm fresh eggies can be kept on the counter for a few weeks. My source for them says a month is fine. I generally just put them in the fridge though. Ask yourself this: WHY are you a little worried?

[Cinnamon]

There is the point that chickens sit on them to keep them warm, I suppose.

[Kate is always hungry]

Before the hen lays the egg, it's at body temperature. No built-in refrigerators in chickens so how cold do they need to be?

[gordeaux]

I don't worry about any of that stuff. I keep mine in the fridge at 38 degrees. I get them from a guy who gives them to me within a day or two of them being laid. I take them home, and put them in the fridge.

[Harters]

Why worry? These are almost certainly going to be fresher than anything you buy in the supermarket.

I'm not sure I understand the worry about refridgeration. Eggs in my local supermarkets aren't refridgerated and I wouldn't dream of putting them in the fridge once they were home.

[DockPotato]

Well, wait a minute. Some of those that I buy come from uncaged flocks. They may still be viable? They wouldn't reach term or rot necessarily, But the egg itself would transform, no? It's rare, but i also get the odd bad one that's been missed in collecton. Into the fridge.