How do you clean your eggs?

JeffOeuf said:

Well, I must be really disgusting, because I don't wash them at all.  My four pullets don't foul their nest, and the eggs are perfectly clean coming out of the nest, so they go straight to the refrigerator.

I suppose if I were to ramp up and start selling eggs, I would have to find some sort of cleaning method, but for personal consumption, I have no intention of washing away nature's protection.

 

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same here, mine are clean, no poo what so every. I just pop in the fridge!

I get a speckled egg occasionally. Yesterday, my son said that those eggs were dirty and needed to be washed. I tried it, sure enough, the specks wash off if I scrub on it, but my gut feeling is that this is wrong. I've seen pictures of speckled eggs in the wild and have thought that they were beautiful, not dirty. Thank you to all that have confirmed to this newbie that the eggs don't need to be washed unless there is some poo or other material on them.

I'm a newbie - don't even have my chicks yet. For those of you who don't need to wash due to the eggs being clean, what type of bedding do you use? I was thinking of using rice hulls and/or pine shavings.

If rice hulls are cheap and available, I don't think you can find anything better for the floor of your coop, but my girls kick too much in the nest boxes to use them there. I use wheat straw in the nests and rice hulls in the coop. That gives them a distinction, too.

peep-a-boo said:

I'm a newbie - don't even have my chicks yet. For those of you who don't need to wash due to the eggs being clean, what type of bedding do you use? I was thinking of using rice hulls and/or pine shavings.

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Rice hulls are great, if you can get them. We use pine shavings on the floor and wheat or oat straw in the nest boxes. The straw keeps the eggs MUCH cleaner than shavings do. We've done it both ways. Also, I have fewer hens lay on the floor when we don't use the same material for nesting and bedding.

I'm in the "if it ain't poopy, leave it be" group. Probably 95% of ours go straight in the fridge. Most of the others have stuff stuck on 'em that can be picked (bedding, down) off so it gets picked and goes in the fridge. If there's some poo that's fresh, I give it a rinse and rub under cool water. If we're not able to gather during the day and we end up with dried on goo, I soak them in room temp water and use a nail brush to scrub 'em off.

mickey328 said:

I'm in the "if it ain't poopy, leave it be" group. Probably 95% of ours go straight in the fridge. Most of the others have stuff stuck on 'em that can be picked (bedding, down) off so it gets picked and goes in the fridge. If there's some poo that's fresh, I give it a rinse and rub under cool water. If we're not able to gather during the day and we end up with dried on goo, I soak them in room temp water and use a nail brush to scrub 'em off.

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You need to use hot water, as hot as you can stand. Using water that's cooler than the egg will force bacteria into the egg's pores. Using hot water will cause some air to bubble out of the pores, which will also remove some bacteria. Here's a link to a U of Nebraska Extension Bulletin. Cruddy long link, sorry. It will open a .pdf document. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...sg=AFQjCNHSpsCdg5id25C4crmEP_HJm9Hd1g&cad=rja

Thanks! Usually the only time I need to scrub is when they've not been gathered for a while and generally by that time, they're cold. I almost never have to do more than wipe with a paper towel if they're still warm. Definitely gonna check out that link though...appreciate it!

wow very interesting and good to know. I am a culinary arts instructor and also teach serv safe sanitation a national recognized sanitation course for food service workers. I wondered about this, I had used soap and water, and than switched to plain white vinegar.
My concern as a chef/instructor is the surface area the egg gets cracked on becomes even more a possibility for cross contamination and samonella.