You might be aware that old eggs are sold in the grocery store.
How old? It's anyone's guess, but they didn't start putting sale dates on the cartons for no reason at all - they got complaints about "cackle berries" that weren't fresh.
Whether you raise your own chickens or buy your eggs in the grocery store, here are five ways to roughly determine the freshness of what you have:

1. Put your eggs in several inches of water.
   Older ones float or show more buoyancy, while fresh ones readily sink to the bottom.
   
2. Judge the weight of the egg.
   You know how much a certain size should weigh.
   If it feels lighter than normal, then it isn't fresh.
   
3. Crack it open into a frying pan.
   If the white part is runny with some of it being even a bit watery, then you're dealing with a fresh product.
   
4. When cracking it open, note how much resistance is offered by the membrane just inside the shell.
   If you need to force the shell open because a thick membrane is holding it together, and the shell tends to splinter and chip because of the effort involved, then you're dealing with something that is not fresh..
   
5. Note the size of the air pocket inside the shell.
   No air pocket indicates it's fresh.
   An air pocket the size of a teaspoon indicates that it is perhaps two to three months old.
   

We're often led to believe that our eggs are "farm fresh.
" Now, you're armed with techniques that can help you determine just how fresh they really are.