egg washing...been doing it wrong

[jewelzbird]

My hens have all started laying in the the coop and I am getting dirty eggs. They used to lay in the nesting boxes, and in a smaller brooder coop (both are super clean all the time). Now they are all laying right under the roosts!! Ugh. So I am washing the eggs in warmish water to clean off the poop. My hens all seem to follow the one bossy older hen who has clearly lost her judgement on this one! She is laying in the poopiest place possible. I clean my coop every week, but still the poop happens daily. I never refrigerate the eggs, but now I am thinking I should maybe because they are washed. Funny thing is this has been going on for a month and we haven't gotten sick. Thanks goodness!! Is it possible that a warm rinse doesn't kill the bloom layer? Honestly I do not even have room in my frigde for all the eggs, so I need to convince them to lay elsewhere. ASAP!

 

[Odelia]

Have you tried putting fake eggs in the nests to help encourage them to lay them there? Here is a whole episode on the topic. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to listen the show.

http://www.urbanchickenpodcast.com/ucp-episode-013/