Dirty Eggs?

[Juise]

So I have been looking around here, and it seems that most people only get dirty eggs on occasion. Mine are dirty pretty often, usually just a little poop smudgy, sometimes a bit worse.

I have 5 hens, and they have a fairly large coop for their number, the floor is dirt with some straw mixed in. They have totally ignored any nesting boxes I have presented them with, and lay in a little nest they made out of straw in the corner.

Now, it's not as though the coop is nasty, but, come on, chickens poop, and they step in it, and then they share the nest and step on the other eggs and dirty them up.

I generally give them a wash just before cooking them, or, in the event of a really gross egg, I clean it up and use it first, that day or the next. I don't refrigerate my eggs.

I didn't think anything of this at all until I was reading around and noticed that this doesn't seem to be the norm.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[NYRIR]

There are numerous threads on this subject if you do a search. The biggest thing is to be sure you wash the eggs in water warmer than the egg to prevent bacteria from going into the egg through the pores. Completely air dry before packaging...
I just posted on another thread about this very thing! I DO wash my eggs as I have almost always got young 'uns who insist on sleeping IN the nestboxes! With 95 chickens, ( and a life

) it's hard to keep the boxes perfectly clean.If mine are clean, I leave 'em, if they have dirt/poo/bedding stuck to them...I wash.

 

[Juise]

Ahh, okay, I was just kind of casually reading and avoiding housework

so I guess I should do a search on the subject, lol.

So, should I be washing the eggs that aren't clean when I collect them right away, then? I thought the "bloom" prevented any bacteria the poo may have from actually entering the egg.

I bet it is hard keeping up after that many chickens! Mine do actually keep their nest clean, I've never found that they pooped in the nest, so I think that it is just they are picking up some poop on their feet, then stepping on the other eggs when they get in to lay.

 

[NYRIR]

lol....

me too....

I just wash daily because if I don't...they pile up QUICK!!
Mine do poop in the nest ( the young ones that sleep in em) but the older hens just get it onto their feet.We clean the coops once a week.The nest boxes get cleaned twice a week.It's the best I can do with being so busy!

 

[dainerra]

I have young'uns that want to sleep in the nest as well. I shoosh them out every night at bedtime - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
I do a quick scoop of the nest boxes when I open up in the morning and that takes care of 99% of the problem.

Really poopy eggs with stuck-on lumps get a cleaning with a damp cloth or just added to the dogs' dinner Everything else just gets put in a carton and washed before using.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I don't have layers or youngsters that sleep in the boxes, but still. As you say, muddy, poopy feet and some hens seem to excrete a bit of poop or the egg picks up a bit of poop as they strain to lay. Sometimes the eggs are virtually spotless. Other times, they have some bits of poop here and there. Sometimes, it depends on what they've eaten, I suppose. I've never been too concerned about it.

Washing, not soaking, involves using water 20 degrees warmer than the egg, ie, make sure it feels warm to your 98.6 skin. 120-130 is recommended. We have fussy customers and they prefer washed eggs and that is what they get.

I also have a city mouse wife. She also prefers washed eggs. I sneak a bunch of clean ones by her, and she never notices.

Our eggs don't hang around long enough to ever get old anyhow. It matters not.

 

[sunnyllama]

What a subject! I am the same as the others, if it is spotless, I dont clean but sometimes the chickens will lay an egg with some dirt or poop on it and I never know what to do either

. My struggle lately is that my chickens keep throwing anything I put in their nest boxes out and lay eggs on the wood floor! Mine arent as good as yours, though, juise. I wish mine would make a nest somewhere instead of lay on the floor, sometimes they break

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I don't wash my eggs. If they are a little dirty I pop them in the egg carton and wash them before I use them. If they're really dirty they go into a separate container I keep for my chickens and dog. The only eggs I take the time to wash before use are the ones I sell. Good luck

 

[jnguyen805]

My chicken barely started laying and the eggs are never dirty. Is that normal??

 

[Pendragonz]

My chicken barely started laying and the eggs are never dirty. Is that normal??

The girls I have now just started laying 2 weeks ago, and my eggs have not been dirty either. Yes, I think that it is actually normal for them to be clean. Enjoy your birds, and your eggs!