Dirty egg help

[Charlie Chicken]

ChickyGal, any time you bring up the subject of dirty eggs on this forum you are guaranteed to get feedback about refrigeration, not washing them, not sanding them, bacteria, not removing the "bloom" etc., etc., etc. Its a shame that the bloom theory has received as much recognition as it has because it is not that important. A dirty egg can contain harmful bacteria that could penetrate the shell under storage, bloom or no bloom.

Let me tell you a little secret, just between you and me. Go ahead and wash them and then put them in the refrigerator and provide both you and your egg customers with a clean, safe, attractive product. Every commercial egg plant washes every egg that is sold. It does no harm and it removes any bacteria that may be present on the shell. They will keep for a month and beyond.

 

[egglady]

My understanding from my commercial-egg farmer friend is that eggs will keep for quite some time (10 days or so) at moderate temperatures without refrigeration - BUT once you refrigerate them, keep them refrigerated. Fresh eggs will keep in the fridge for a month or more. (In fact, if you are going to hard boil them, you want them to be at least 3 weeks old or the shells are almost impossible to peel.)

At his recommendation, I use Borax in cold water to wash my eggs before I refrigerate them. About a teaspoon of Borax to a gallon of water. I put them in a bowl and let them soak in the Borax solution for about 5 minutes, then gently swish them around, put them in a large colander, rinse 'em off & let 'em air dry. Really dirty ones may need to soak longer or get a 2nd wash. I use clean water for each batch.

There are also commercial egg washes available, but Borax is readily available at the local grocery store.

Any that are obviously cracked don't go in the water, because I don't want to wash bacteria into the egg. These I just clean off with a damp rag and keep for my own use (badly cracked eggs are given to the dogs). The good, cleaned eggs are given away or sold to friends & family.

I don't worry about the bloom. Most people use the eggs up pretty fast, and eggs are stored in sanitary conditions. I think it's more important to provide clean eggs.

Of course, I'm talking only about eggs for eating, not hatching!

 

[Katy]

One good way to help keep the eggs from getting muddy is to keep a fairly good layer of sand in your run. Helps cut down on the muddy feet which in turn lead to dirty nests and muddy eggs.