Egg washing method

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that's the truth...

Yes, different opinions everywhere. I'd just like to note that NPIP rules require hatching eggs to be washed before traveling between "farms". I use a very, very diluted bleach solution on my hatching eggs.
 
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This is exactly why I said in my original post that I already knew about the bloom and all of the arguments against washing eggs.......you are going to get so many different opinions that you wind up still not knowing what to do. My decision to wash certain eggs is a personal one, and as for how it effects the eggs, you can rest assured that every egg you will buy at the grocery store has been washed. All I asked for was some constructive criticism about my method, and what I get of course is all of the reasons I shouldn't wash eggs at all, and even why it won't work for some people because it takes too long and they have too many chickens. Fine....what do you do with an egg that has poop on it if you have a gazillion chickens? NOT wash it? Throw it away? Sell it with poop on it? If you say "wipe it off" I can assure you that my method is not only quicker but more thorough and the result is a beautiful, shiny, perfect egg.

It actually takes about twenty seconds per egg. I have nine hens and pick up anywhere from five to eight eggs a day, so it fits my circumstances very well.

My method is taken from this guide on egg-washing from the Nebraska Agricultural Extension Service, and it is very specific. http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1724/build/g1724.pdf

This
bulletin mentions a disinfecting "dip" of one tablespoon (three teaspoons) of bleach to a gallon (16 cups) of water. My solution is a little bit weaker at 1tsp/6cups, and it stays on the egg surface no more than a few seconds during the process. Add to the fact that positive pressure inside the egg has already been achieved by the hot running water during the scrubbing phase, then you can conclude that no bleach can get inside the egg, and that even if it could, the solution I use is not toxic and breaks down very quickly. If egg shells were so porous as to have the ability to draw the bleach solution into the egg in the course of maybe five seconds, and with positive pressure inside the egg, well, forget about it.........the poop is probably in the egg, too. Then there are those say they simply brush off the poop.....that's fine, but good luck brushing off e.coli...and those who don't wash their eggs until they are about to use them..again, that's your business but if you do have a contaminated egg and you put it in the basket you are now contaminating other eggs as well.

So, like I said...it's just my choice when I have poopy eggs, and I think it's a quick, convenient, and effective solution.

DD
 
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Sounds like you answered your own question
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Cheers!
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This is exactly why I said in my original post that I already knew about the bloom and all of the arguments against washing eggs.......you are going to get so many different opinions that you wind up still not knowing what to do. My decision to wash certain eggs is a personal one, and as for how it effects the eggs, you can rest assured that every egg you will buy at the grocery store has been washed. All I asked for was some constructive criticism about my method, and what I get of course is all of the reasons I shouldn't wash eggs at all, and even why it won't work for some people because it takes too long and they have too many chickens. Fine....what do you do with an egg that has poop on it if you have a gazillion chickens? NOT wash it? Throw it away? Sell it with poop on it? If you say "wipe it off" I can assure you that my method is not only quicker but more thorough and the result is a beautiful, shiny, perfect egg.

It actually takes about twenty seconds per egg. I have nine hens and pick up anywhere from five to eight eggs a day, so it fits my circumstances very well.

My method is taken from this guide on egg-washing from the Nebraska Agricultural Extension Service, and it is very specific. http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1724/build/g1724.pdf

This
bulletin mentions a disinfecting "dip" of one tablespoon (three teaspoons) of bleach to a gallon (16 cups) of water. My solution is a little bit weaker at 1tsp/6cups, and it stays on the egg surface no more than a few seconds during the process. Add to the fact that positive pressure inside the egg has already been achieved by the hot running water during the scrubbing phase, then you can conclude that no bleach can get inside the egg, and that even if it could, the solution I use is not toxic and breaks down very quickly. If egg shells were so porous as to have the ability to draw the bleach solution into the egg in the course of maybe five seconds, and with positive pressure inside the egg, well, forget about it.........the poop is probably in the egg, too. Then there are those say they simply brush off the poop.....that's fine, but good luck brushing off e.coli...and those who don't wash their eggs until they are about to use them..again, that's your business but if you do have a contaminated egg and you put it in the basket you are now contaminating other eggs as well.

So, like I said...it's just my choice when I have poopy eggs, and I think it's a quick, convenient, and effective solution.

DD
 
Just my opinion, but I wouldn't use bleach. That's powerful stuff.

I do rinse my eggs when I collect them, then dry them with a cloth and throw the cloth in the wash (just in case).

One thing I noticed was that the eggs laid in the hay nest boxes have a hay odor that isn't so pleasant and I can't get it off. When the girls started laying in the bushes this summer for a while, that smell was gone. It seems whatever material they lay in (shavings or hay) the eggs pick up the odor.
 
Thank you Nostalchic, for your response, I am happy to belong to this site. I am happy to have all your opinions, since I am so new to chicken raising. I think I will let mother nature work it's best and not wash my eggs. I refrigerated some and took them out to give a friend, didn't end up seeing her after 5 hours so I brought them back home and put them back in the fridg. are they still good to eat?

Thank you for taking the time with a newbee.
 
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They should be fine. The US is one of the few countries that DOES refrigerate eggs.

As far as a bleach wash? I know the big commercial egg producers do it. (it appears that it doesn't get rid of salmonella....
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) I don't use bleach at all, mostly because we are on a septic system and it will eventually kill it. Expensive fix!

As I said, I rinse right before using, I always break each into a little bowl for inspection (visual and smell) and the really awful ones get pitched.

With a forum community the size of this one you will always get LOTS of opinions. The best thing to do is what YOU feel right about.
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I think this aspect of this forum is my absolute favorite.
There is a widely varied pool of information based on the poster's experience.
Some folks have been doing this since god was a boy. Others are very new.
Some raise chooks in the city and others in very rural areas.
Some do it the way their Grandparents did it, and others have pioneered brand new concepts.
At first I found it somewhat confusing, as the responses could be so completely different and even conflicting. But now, I am grateful for the differences, which then allow me to explore what is appropriate for our situation.
Thanks to everyone, newbie, veteran, rural and urban, for sharing thier wealth of information with us all!

Brightest Blessings
 
I have been lucky my eggs ( 3 so far
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) have came out looking great! And I want to show these babies off, so I am not rinsing them because I keeping them on the counter for all to see!! The fresh eggs we have gotten from friends and neighbors have never been cleaned when we got them. Of course they will be rinsed before cracking them open, but thats about it.
I agree to each his own with this topic.
 

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