Chicken Eggs...To Clean or Not To Clean

[boggybranch]

And I thought only plants had a "bloom".

http://www.chickenkeepingsecrets.com/chicken-eggs/washing-chicken-eggs-with-soap-water/

 

[journey11]

This is very close to how I do mine (goodness knows I hate it when I have to wash them, such a pain in the butt!). Except I've been using warm water and just a "drop" of dish soap on the scrubber. Soap will kill a lot of bacteria, so I figure it couldn't hurt. I figure it is rinsed away before it bothers the egg. I can't taste it, at any rate.

I'm working on building a roll out nest for mine right now because I have occasional trouble with egg eaters and also, the eggs will be cleaner if they're not all piled up in the middle when the next hen comes along.

Not having to wash any at all would be such a blessing!

The bloom is amazing how it works. I've had eggs that had to be discarded when I was deworming and I just piled them up in a corner of the barn and forgot about them for 3 months in fairly warm weather. I cracked a bunch open just out of curiousity, and not one of them was stinky or even dehydrated. They looked and smelled like they'd been recently laid (although I still wouldn't eat one... ) How cool is that?

 

[vfem]

I don't wash unless I have to... I'll leave the eggs out on the counter for days and days long as they're fresh and unwashed.

 

[hoodat]

My grandma use to use a dab of dry steel wool to clean off poo. Remember that an egg shell is porous and breathes so it will pick up odors from a refrigerator, especially if it's been washed.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I store mine on the counter if not washed and in the fridge if I wash them. Something to consider in the summer. A fertile chicken egg can develop some (not enough to hatch but enough to give you an unpleasant surprise) if it is left out in temperatures above the upper 70's or so. I still leave them on the counter but I always crack an egg into a bowl by itself, whether summer or winter.

The commercial operations wash their eggs in water a little bit warmer than the egg. That's one place I disagree with the article. If you wash it in cold water, the air sac can contract, creating a suction and pulling in the dirty wash water. Washing it in warm water will expand the air sac, keeping dirty water out. Then when the air sac contracts while cooling, it does not have dirty water to pull in.

Scrubbing it with sandpaper or steel wool will still remove the bloom. I'd still refrigerate it if I scrubbed it unless I was going to use it pretty soon.

 

[MsPony]

I dont wash, except right before eating because my girls smear. But that was interesting about the warm/cold water!!

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

I leave my eggs on the counter, the longest was 10 days. When I wash, I use hot water to keep the bacteria out . What I normally do is wipe off the egg right before cracking it open.

 

[i_am2bz]

I've left mine on the counter for a week or two. I have some much older in the fridge. I rinse off just before cracking. I've never used soap; if they're icky I use a nylon brush & scrub gently.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I keep mine on the counter. If I MUST wash one, I just use it right away, but I pretty much never wash them after collecting. If I think it needs it, I will wash before cracking, but even that is rare.

As far as timing ... I never sell or give away an egg that is more than a couple of days old. In fact, mine usually get eaten within a week. But in periods of high production, with lots of chickens, I have had them pile up before. There have been a number of times over the years that I would have stashes of eggs up to 3-4 months old. When I first started out, two months was my limit, but last fall I had good production then lost a lot of hens and the remainder slowed down. I needed the food, and I was eating eggs 3+ months old. I don't heat my house much, so my counters were cool. It might sound crazy, but other than thinning whites there wasn't a problem. Still I did bake with the older ones and eat fresher ones when I could.

Anything 4 months or older gets cooked for animal food.

I'm not recommending this to anyone ... Just kind of an FYI that it's possible. I think the bloom does a LOT to protect the egg.

LOL ... it would have to in the case of ducks! I wondered any of my duck eggs ever hatched! They were nasty an hour after they were laid.

 

[Ariel301]

I keep mine in a bowl on the counter and don't wash them unless they are really gross. They will last for weeks (if given the chance!) that way.