Do you wash your eggs?

[marialane]

If your eggs don't appear soiled, do you wash them? Also, is there a right or wrong way?

Thanks for your time!

 

[happyhens44]

I wash the ones that appear to have any marks on them, I rinse the clean looking ones.

 

[DesertChickens]

If they don't appear soiled, no. I try to assess the egg as if I were a person that doesn't own chickens. If it would gross me out, I clean it. Otherwise, I try to protect the bloom for preservation sake.

Our cleaning consists of varying degrees from a swipe with a clean, damp paper towel, to a bristle brush (for the large stuff) and in the worse case, water spray (water warmer than the egg).

Immersion is a strict no-no for us.

Gathering often prevents most of our dirty egg issues. Hope this info helps.

 

[7L Farm]

Only the poop eggs.

 

[Ohhhdear]

You'll read from lots of people with differing opinions about if, how, and how much to clean eggs.

I look at my eggs as if I was Ms Consumer purchasing them at the grocery store. Would I want to open up a carton (checking to see if any are cracked) and see a soiled egg? NOPE. Would I want to see slight stains from grass, hay, newspaper shreddings, or other marks? NOPE. Would I ever buy eggs again from that store? NOPE.

Frankly, I don't have any fertile eggs (no roos), I don't like to keep eggs on the countertop or outside the fridge, so the "bloom" isn't important. I'd rather have clean, washed, cold eggs to sell, and so do my customers.

I took a poll of people who bought eggs from me the past 2 weeks (9 people... not a huge poll, but hey). Here's what I asked:

"When eggs are laid, they have a protective coating called the "bloom" which keeps bacteria and normal barnyard debris from getting into the inside of the egg. Washing eggs removes this coating, but have to be refrigerated. If you had a choice, would you prefer a) eggs that are washed, with the bloom coating removed, but clean, or b) unwashed, room temperature eggs with the bloom coating still on, but possibly having debris still on the shells?"

EVERY SINGLE ONE of my customers chose washed eggs.

I put a couple inches of very hot water in the sink, add a small squirt of Dawn dishwashing liquid and let the eggs soak for a moment, then hand rub each egg under hot running water, then air dry before cartoning them and putting them in the fridge.

 

[Illia]

If I'm going to eat them, no. They're actually safer if not washed. Except if they're really dirty.

If I'm going to sell them - Yes. Even if they're clean, I wash them.

If I'm going to sell them NOT for eating eggs, no.

 

[elizabethbinary]

No, and because water causes the shell to be porous and makes the bacteria on the outside of the shell get through to the inside. The reason you see clean eggs in the shops is because they don't get the chance to lay in nesting boxes to make a mess. If you collect them often, they really shouldn't be poopy. I just think of all that crap on the outside and think, "Do I really want that on the inside?" Dry rag it (microfibre works well) and done. Sell 'em like that, too.

 

[KazAnder Farms]

I wash 'em if they need washing. still building the flock for sales ability, and i've seen some stuff in a few catalogues called egg-wash? is that worth it, or is it as effective as just hand washing them.

elizabethbinary Wrote
Today 8:13 pm


No, and because water causes the shell to be porous and makes the bacteria on the outside of the shell get through to the inside.

I also heard that the bacteria entering the shell thing only happened if the water temperature was cooler than the inside of the egg, by way of air expanding under a heated environment pushes bubbles out through the porous shell, versus a warm egg washed in cool water would have the opposite effect?​