Egg cleaning

[wildswanfarm]

Is egg washing simply scrubbing with a soft abrasive or cloth in cold or cool water, with maybe a little dish detergent if the mud/pooh are stuck? Rinsing then laying eggs on some paper towel, letting them dry, and plopping them in cartons? I assume sanitation of the cleaning surface and all is done?

 

[TamiHunter]

I personally do not wash my eggs. When the hens lay them they have a special coating on them and it helps with keeping the eggs longer. I might rinse the ones that have a little poo on them right before I eat it.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

I've been reading a good bit about this. First I use either one of those foam backed sanding pads (fine grit over 200) like you can get in the paint department at Lowes/Home Depot for tough grime, or a nylon scouring pad like you use for dishes to knock off the large debris (preferred method). Then I use warm water in a spray bottle and a paper towel to wipe the dirty eggs off: A mild detergent can be added in the proper proportions if necessary.

From what I have read (college ag departments etc), it is important to use water that is at least 10 degrees warmer than the egg, but not too hot: This causes the eggshell's pores to contract and push the dirt outward. Immersing eggs in water for any amount of time can allow contaminates to enter the shell.

So far, the best thing I have found for cleaning eggs is making doing what I can to make sure they don't get too dirty in the first place. Most of my hens use the nesting boxes: only a couple of my girls are bad and hide their eggs. I change the litter in their nesting boxes every morning, so I only get an occasional dirty egg, mostly in the afternoon.

 

[purecountrychicken]

I try not to wash them at all. Only the eggs that get mud/poo on them get rinced a lil and the clean one are put right in a carton.

 

[gritsar]

I don't wash eggs, as a general rule. I keep the nestboxes clean, so rare is the egg that's dirty.

Every egg that I bring in gets a quick rub with a rough paper towel and in the carton it goes. Slightly dirty eggs I use a paper towel or a clean green scrubbie to buff off the dirt.

The rare egg that is really dirty gets fed to the dogs.

Washing eggs removes the bloom, a top coating if you will, that the hen applies to her eggs. It seals out dirt and germs. Eggs with the bloom intact have been proven to last much longer than washed eggs:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1977-11-01/Fresh-Eggs.aspx

If you must wash eggs you should do so in water that is at least 20 degrees warmer than the egg itself. Dry quickly, refrigerate and use those eggs up first.

 

[Gypsy07]

I think most people have a different procedure for eating eggs and hatching eggs - if they're washing their hatching eggs at all.

With my eating eggs I just rub any dirt/poo off them while rinsing them under fairly warm running water, then sit them on a dishtowel to dry off.

When I'm planning on collecting eggs to hatch out I take extra care to keep the nest boxes spotless so that the eggs will be very clean to start with. I recently read a big long thread on here about the pros and cons of disinfecting hatching eggs and it was very interesting - people seem to feel quite strongly about it one way or the other. So I disinfected a few eggs in my latest batch to compare hatch rates of washed/unwashed eggs. Experiment still in progress...

 

[mistymeadowchicks]

Quote:
Please post when you finish your experiment, as your method should give an accurate comparison. I read the same thread & would love to hear your results!

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Please post when you finish your experiment, as your method should give an accurate comparison. I read the same thread & would love to hear your results!

Well, it's a very unofficial experiment as some of the eggs were filthy to start with and some of them were very clean. So the disinfecting/not disinfecting wasn't the only variable. But if my results are in any way interesting I'm going to repeat the experiment more carefully. Will post results when finished!

 

[ravenseye57]

I use warm water with a splash of vinegar. I just wash them when I put them in the fridge for use or when I'm selling them and since most are pretty clean to start with it's just a quick dip and rinse then dry on a towel I keep for just egg drying. If there's a little mud or poo I use a used (so not too abrasive) green dish scrubbie on the spots. Before I wash them I store them unwashed in a cool dark place (a dedicated cooler with a chunk of blue ice in summer, our cold storage room in winter).