How do you keep your eggs??

[A.T. Hagan]

Quote:
I have been reading posts here for about a month, and have read a couple different 'conclusions' from this Mother Earth News experiment and wondered what they actually did find out. This appears to be the article from 1977. Since I can not post links yet you will need to copy and paste.

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


Their conclusion was unwashed eggs keep better than washed eggs, and eggs stored in a sealed container between 35-40F kept longest (for at least 7 months). Their methods were a bit 'flawed' (should have reduced the variables used by each sample), It only showed that unwashed farm eggs kept better than washed supermarket eggs, and eggs do keep longer refrigerated.

Which was all that they were trying to prove.

Quote:
I don't (ordinarily) keep eggs for months in my refrigerator and don't sell them past a week old, but do want the very best appearing eggs I can produce so I wash mine before refrigerating them. They'll all be eaten and gone within a month so the loss of the bloom of is no real importance. But wash or not wash is a personal decision anyway. Refrigeration is what is going to make the biggest difference unless your ordinary room temperature runs cools.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

For longer storage, I store clean, unwashed eggs in the refrigerator. This is for eggs that will be stored for months. Any that need to be washed before storage because they have a little mud or whatever on them, get used right away.

There are times when chickens may lay fewer eggs or none at all. This can happen when they are molting, broody or in the short days of winter. Normally, pullets aren't as effected by these things as hens, that are a year or more old. It also depends on the particular chicken's genetics and how you manage their diet, supplemental lighting, etc.

If you have a lot of broodies every spring, your chickens tend to have hard molts in the fall or you don't provide supplemental light and you don't have good winter layers, you might want to store a few more eggs going into those time periods. The rest of the time, eggs are pretty forgiving when it comes to short term storage.

 

[poodlepill]

I wash and refrigerate. I sell just a few dozen a week and I like them to look great, I would hate for someone to see some missed poop on my beautifully colored eggs.