can "old" eggs be composted?

[poultryand bees]

Since many of us saw this forum while on the Back Yard Chicken, perhaps someone has dealt with this....

When there are eggs that didn't hatch in the incubator, they can be nasty to get rid of. Can they be buried in the garden or added to an existing compost pile to "recycle" them? Would you need to break the egg's shell first so the bacteria can more easily start breaking down the contents?

Would the answer be different if there are partially formed chicks inside?

 

[patandchickens]

I would not personally put rotting eggs into a compost pile (unless, *perhaps* if I was dead-sure the compost pile was cooking to 160-170 degrees... but I still dunno). I would be concerned about adding an unnecessarily large amount of pathogens to the soil that might not necessarily all get cooked out. (Whereas if you added a fresh but unwanted -- say, cracked -- egg, I'd say no problemo, it's just like any other organic material).

Probably not everyone would worry about this the same way, tho.

Pat

 

[ams3651]

no proteins in the compost, so no eggs but yes to egg shells

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I think burial might be the best choice.