cleaning eggs

[5th lake chick]

Do I need to wash eggs before storing in refrigerator?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Nope - eggs store best unwashed. When the hen lays an egg, she covers the egg with a "bloom". This protects the egg from bacteria. When you wash an egg, you wash off that protection.

 

[Ehirning]

I don't wash my eggs for this very reason. If I am giving eggs away, I will wash them (other people don't like to see poo on their eggs)

 

[joebcarr]

i used to not wash them, but my hens tend to leave them a mess. i store them unwashed until i plan on giving them away. then i use warm water. and a scotchbrite pad. it seems that people are more concerned with the messy eggs than with the potential for bacteria. i tried to educate a few people on the "bloom", but they just looked at me weird. i do not wash the eggs that i save for myself.

 

[HenFriend]

I agree, I don't usually wash them unless I am giving them away or just before I use them if they are really mucky, otherwise bits of poo might drop into my cake mix when I crack the shells!

. Don't often refridgerate them either, they keep fine as they are.

 

[Happy Chooks]

It's a very rare occasion when I get a poopy egg. Sometimes in the winter, when it's really been raining, they get a bit muddy from hens crawling in and out of the nest. I just try to collect them a bit more often. Keeping your hens from sleeping in the boxes and refreshing the nest material often and you get clean eggs 99% of the time.

 

[5th lake chick]

thanks for confirming what I have read. My eggs have been very clean so far. It's funny my mom used store our farm fresh eggs in a basket on the cupboard too. Most of us have become too citified. (I think that's a word) Raising chickens is bringing me back to my roots. A very good feeling.