How do I Safely and Properly clean my Eggs?

GooseChicks143

Hatching
9 Years
Feb 22, 2010
4
1
9
Colorado
I have read a few different ways to clean eggs and I just want to be sure I'm doing the best job possible. I have heard that you should NOT soak them in cold water as it causes the shell to absorb ecoli
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and toxins into the egg, and that it Is good to use a Bleach solution on them after rinsing in warm water and allowing them to dry . I'm also having a problem with my girls laying in ONE box and pooping in the rest
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is it helpful to leave an egg in the clean boxes so they will use them too? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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You can put fake eggs or golf balls in nest boxes to encourage your girls to lay there, however sometimes there just is one particular box that everyone wants to lay in, anyway. Sometimes hens will actually wait for the "best" box to come available, or in the case of my own nest boxes, sometimes more than one hen will occupy the same box.
As far as cleaning eggs. Genreally I don't. You do not have to wash eggs before use, and I don't do it unless there is obviously poop or urates on it. In a caste of either of those, I usually use a damp paper towel to gently clean the dirt away. Usually about the temperature of the egg or slightly warmer, and then pat it dry. Occasionally someone will post here, that they use a fine grit of sandpaper to gently buff away the dirt. It's whatever you want to do. Personally, I would not use bleach, or any other chemical on eggs. Eggshells are porous, and there is a high likelihood of introducing chemicals into the egg itself.
 
Actually I do clean off my can tops before I open them, but that's not what I asked about- and I don't believe I said "Sterile"... I said -CLEAN- I don't think its very nice or HEALTHY to give someone a dozen DIRTY eggs that could possibly make them or their family sick
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and REALLY I asked for advice NOT JUDGMENT so unless you have something Helpful or at the least, POLITE, to say, how about not saying anything at ALL.

I hope that this is NOT representation for people on this sight, because if it is, maybe I have picked the WRONG sight to join.
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This is a great site, but there are a lot of different views so as with most things you will need to pick and choose what works for you. Your last post seemed like a pretty harsh response, but perhaps it is just a sore subject with you?

As far as washing eggs goes warm but not hot water works pretty well. I don't wash my eggs until I'm going to cook them and even then I only wash them if they have dirty spots on them. I like to leave the "bloom" on the egg and washing removes that. Eggs that are very dirty get fed to the dogs or are scrambled and fed back to the chooks.

The best way to keep eggs clean is to keep the nest boxes clean. This can be a bit of a challenge if your hens have gotten into the habbit of sleeping in the nest boxes instead of the roost. As long as their roost is higher then the nest boxes this can usually be resolved by going in after dark and moving them onto the roost. It can take several days or sometimes even a week or more, but it's worth the extra effort to not have to clean the nest boxes out daily.
 
Thank you Dora's Mom, my girls are young and because they are pooping in the boxes the eggs have been dirty. I read on another website about the bleach but did not think it was a good idea either. I figured asking here would get the best answer. As my girls all start regularly laying and get older, do they typically spread out in the boxes and stop pooping in them? I have never had young chickens before and my "experienced" ladies in the past always used all the boxes and didn't poop in them. Is this just the Potty training stage just like with all Children?
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Quote:
Calm down... hes a nice guy..
You just havent been on here enough to know that yet...
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relax..
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And to answer your question.. no i dont clean off my eggs unless they are dirty...
I dont want to wash off the protective bloom on the egg... and get my family sick..
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Thank you Kittymomma, my roosts are not Higher than the boxes, I didn't realize that was a factor, I will have to move them and see if that helps. As far as my response, it does frustrate me VERY much when people feel they must Judge you and post unwanted reply's instead of trying to help you with the question or concern you posted. Its just not necessary, and I'm sure its not what the originator of this site intended it for
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Thanks again for your advice
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Depends on how dirty the cans are and if there is a chance they'll fall into my food after the can is opened. Shells have a way of falling into the frying pan or cake batter.

First of all, we habitually wash our eggs in warm water and dry them with a paper towel before using them--even store-bought ones. Second, if the collected eggs are really dirty, I run warm water over them, use a vegetable brush we have just for that purpose to brush off the crud, rinse and let them dry on a towel. They then go immediately into the refrig if not used. I'd rather not but my wife has a thing about putting chicken poop in the refrig. This does one thing though, it ages the eggs faster if you intend to hard boil them.

I also have found it the nesting material is really deep--I use straw BTW--the eggs are less likely to get dirty. The chickens don't seem to like to poop in the nest if the material is close to their rear ends.
 

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