Do you personally wash your eggs?

['EGGS'CELLENT POULTRY! :)]

If mine have a LOT of dirt or poo on it I do wash it but if they are fertilized don't wash them
even if it's really dirty because the outer laying will soften and the embryo won't form properly!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

All of my eggs get washed under hot running water then put into a colander to drain then dried before going into the fridge.

 

[gritsar]

I don't wash the eggs I keep nor the ones I sell. The ones for sale go in the fridge immediately after coming to room temp. The ones I keep for us either go in a bowl on the counter or in the fridge., depending on how many I have. I keep the pullet and bantam sized eggs for us. Wash right before using.

The occasional dirty egg gets set aside to go on the dog's supper.

 

[Pele]

Good thread!

I personally don't wash my eggs because my hens are the most perfectest in the world (no bias here, I swear!

), and they have learned really well not to use the box for anything but laying. I get pristine eggs every time.

I do worry about selling them, but everything I've read and researched says that eggs are porous, and that anything put on the shell after removing the bloom will be pulled into the egg (ick to soapy eggs). The only time I'll ever egen put an egg under warm water is if an occassional little fluffy feather gets glued to the shell during the process of laying.

I've been eating unwashed farm eggs for most of my childhood, and now during my adult life, and I havn't croaked yet. So good sign!

 

[cat1994]

If an egg is REALLY dirty for some reason or another I just throw it away, if an egg is just dirty I wash it right after I collect it, but if it is just a spot I wipe it off with a wet paper towel. I really try to make sure the eggs I sell are spotless if I can, all the people I sell them to used to have chickens at one time or another so they understand if one is not clean, but I feel better when my eggs look nice.

 

[ThinkingChickens]

We don't wash our eggs. We keep the coop very clean and the next box full of clean shavings. The eggs come out fresh, clean and ready to eat. I don't refrigerate either.

 

[Nicole01]

I wonder if store boughten eggs are washed. I know they are not fresh. It sounds like everybody does pretty much the same thing after collecting their eggs.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Really? What harm is being done?

If under refrigeration they last quite a long time regardless. We, and our customers, pretty much eat eggs within a week or two so they needn't last for months on end.

We usually run hot water over ours and then wipe and dry them with a terry towel before packaging them up for sale. This ensures all traces of manure are removed, but we don't sanitize them. For our personal use I don't care either way.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I found a carton of eggs at the back of the refrigerator in our garage that was 10 weeks old. We stamp the pack and sell by dates on the cartons for our customers so I knew exactly how old they were. They weren't spoiled. They definitely weren't fresh. I boiled them up and ate them. The air cell was over 1/3 of the egg because they had lost so much moisture, but they weren't spoiled.

 

[chickenlovefever]

I honestly do. You see, I live down a mile driveway with a little country store at the end and about 10 other neighbors with families. I would call them up and walk down to deliver the eggs to them myslef with my dog by my side, just like they used to. I had a woman buying 8 dozen eggs from me at a time, and i couldnt sell nasty poop covered eggs. So I take a little cup cleaner, like the ones with the handle and the bristles on the end and at the top of the handle has a little itty bitty brust to scrub really hard. I take the brush and coat it with water and add just a drop of soft handsoap and scrub about a dozen of them, making sure that they aren't covered in soap or tha i scrub to hard- I am gentle with it. I have never eaten an egg that tasted like soap or anything like that except for the time my little sister decided that she could help and used just about a whole half bottle of dish DETERGENT. sh had washed about 5 blue eggs, and I ate breakfast the next day and ended up feeding the rest to the dog.