Do you wash your eggs?

If my eggs are really dirty (things are a muddy mess right now) I rinse them off before storing them. A friend of mine told me the other day that rinsing them off will ruin them. Any opinions on this?

Washing them off will remove the natural protective bloom that gets applied as the chicken lays the egg. That being said... I don't wash the clean eggs but I DO wash all the dirty eggs with plain water and a sponge then refrigerate. I've had and used them as old as 6 months and have had absolutely no issues or health problems because of it. As the eggs get older the albumen gets naturally more watery but that's it.

i wash (make that scrub) EVERY egg i collect for myself under cold city (chlorinated) water with a scotch-brite pad regardless if it's going in the incubator or the fridge for eating (and i recently even hatched some that were washed and put in the fridge for 4 weeks with an over 90% hatch rate). the only ones i don't wash are ones intended to be shipped or given to someone else for hatching.

with that said, if you plan to keep them stored at room temp then you do not want to wash them, washed eggs must be dried and then go directly into refrigeration or incubation.

JetCat said:

i wash (make that scrub) EVERY egg i collect for myself under cold city (chlorinated) water with a scotch-brite pad regardless if it's going in the incubator or the fridge for eating (and i recently even hatched some that were washed and put in the fridge for 4 weeks with an over 90% hatch rate). the only ones i don't wash are ones intended to be shipped or given to someone else for hatching.

with that said, if you plan to keep them stored at room temp then you do not want to wash them, washed eggs must be dried and then go directly into refrigeration or incubation.

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Why scrub and wash every egg??

I will only wash any that have a lot of poop on them.

your coop and nesting boxes are not sterilized areas so no egg you collect is 'clean' and they have bacteria all over them, the warm and moist environment inside an incubator is the ideal breeding grounds for bacteria and my family prefers to eat clean eggs

JetCat said:

your coop and nesting boxes are not sterilized areas so no egg you collect is 'clean' and they have bacteria all over them, the warm and moist environment inside an incubator is the ideal breeding grounds for bacteria and my family prefers to eat clean eggs   

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if they were bacterial breeding grounds and the eggs were getting infected, the eggs would never keep...even when refrigerated...the bloom is nature's way of disinfecting the shell and protecting the embryo from bacteria...the shell is porous so the chick can "breathe" as it develops...scrubbing every egg can force surface bacteria into the porous shell and contaminant the eggs...I only clean soiled eggs with cool water and a paper towel..don't scrub...just clean off the dirt. Then refrigerate them immediately.

Never, well nearly never, guess I would then use immediately (put to front of egg queue) if it got totally covered in poop but mostly mine look clean. Strangely years and years of this and none of us are sick or dead.

I sometimes think by killing every germ we can we just reduce our immunity to them making us more susceptible to getting sick from them.

JetCat said:

your coop and nesting boxes are not sterilized areas so no egg you collect is 'clean' and they have bacteria all over them, the warm and moist environment inside an incubator is the ideal breeding grounds for bacteria and my family prefers to eat clean eggs

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You might want to spend some time doing research about eggs, the bloom, how a chick is hatched, about how your own immune system works, and just how "clean" your clean store bought eggs really are...aren't.

If you are sterilizing your eggs, you must be eating each and every one hard boiled as sterilization needs to be done in an autoclave to insure all bacteria are killed. For the amount of time you would have to autoclave your eggs they would also be burst out of the shells. I can't imagine spending that kind of money to insure my family were eating sterilized eggs, but each to his own, I guess.

Beekissed said:

You might want to spend some time doing research about eggs, the bloom, how a chick is hatched, about how your own immune system works, and just how "clean" your clean store bought eggs really are...aren't.

If you are sterilizing your eggs, you must be eating each and every one hard boiled as sterilization needs to be done in an autoclave to insure all bacteria are killed. For the amount of time you would have to autoclave your eggs they would also be burst out of the shells. I can't imagine spending that kind of money to insure my family were eating sterilized eggs, but each to his own, I guess.

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Exactly...

I can't believe how scared some people seem to be about bacteria... bacteria are everywhere.. even in the air we breath. Normal healthy people have little chance of getting sick from everyday germs.... only people who are immune suppressed will be at risk.

They did a study and found that there were more harmful bacteria on the average chopping board than there were on a toilet seat!!

I have never heard of anyone getting sick from eating an egg that was not washed.

I often pet my chickens or stroke me dogs and don't scrub my hands straight away with disinfectant... and sometimes my dog give me sneaky kisses when I am dozing off on the sofa.. and I have not got sick from that. Often I will pick and eat the fruit and vegetable growing in my garden.. just brush off any soil of dust... and eat it there and then in the open air... not even washing them.. Never got sick from doing that either.

Beekissed said:

You might want to spend some time doing research about eggs, the bloom, how a chick is hatched, about how your own immune system works, and just how "clean" your clean store bought eggs really are...aren't.

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maybe you want to spend some time learning to not be such a smart mouth with your condescending comments. the bloom has NOTHING to do with whats on the outside of the egg and nobody said you had to wash yours so loose the attitude.

If you don't want to wash your eggs that's great and fine but it's a fact, washing and disinfecting eggs prior to incubation prevents bacteria problems in the incubator and increases hatch rate (why do you think hatcherys do the same to their eggs?) the bloom is there to protect the egg in it's natural environment not your kitchen or incubator.