Frozen Eggs

I've had chickens now for 4 years and I have never had to deal with frozen eggs.  We have had a particularly cold winter season lately and I have now had about 4 frozen eggs.  The egg freezes, expands, and cracks.  They aren't edible at this point due to potential contaminants.

I generally try to collect the eggs more often in very cold weather, but we had several days of zero to negative temps and I just didn't get out as often as I should.  I also used to have my hens keep the eggs warm in between collection but these days we are a little overcrowded and the excessive rooster population keeps the hens hopping and not settling for too long.  Poor girls, hope to remedy that real soon!

On a happier note, I am excited that some of our new layers have started to lay.  The egg box looks so pretty again with the various colors of brown, white and now the blue-green egg from the Easter Eggers.

Also with the longer daylight hours, they are continuing to lay more.  I'm still only getting an average of 6 eggs a day, but that should probably quadruple before long!

What does your egg basket look like these days?  Are your ladies starting to lay again?  Looking forward to warmer, sunnier days!