How many people wash their eggs?

[gritsar]

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Why?

Using cool water causes the contents to contract, drawing bacteria on the surface into the pores of the egg.

Yeah, what Mac said.

 

[Kanga77510]

I rinse with water if there's poo, otherwise I leave them alone.

 

[Hamptons06]

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Ditto. My eggs are never dirty. The nest boxes are always clean. I don't see a reason to clean them.

 

[RocketDad]

Sometimes my eggs are a bit streaked, mostly from one chicken. Oddly, not the Buff Cochin...

They don't get dirty in my nest boxes either. My hens are well behaved and only poop in their water

I don't even bother to rinse them for my own use unless they're really gross. I cold-water rinse them and towel dry right before I send them out the door to the neighbors.

 

[chicachic]

I keep seeing comments that some folks feed their chickens the eggs that are dirty. Do you hard boil them ?? Isn't that like what happened to the cows??mad cow disease?? Ha! Do chickens need a particular nutrient from eggs that they can't get elsewhere or do you feed them just so as not to waste the eggs? I find it very intereting.

 

[gritsar]

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I treat my chickens with scrambled or hard boiled eggs from time to time. If you think about it, eggs are the perfect food for chickens, being that an egg is what nourishs a chick before hatching.
They love them.

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

I was mine with soap and water and then put them in cleaned cartons in the fridge.
I have no poop or other yucky stuff in my kitchen!

 

[Wildsky]

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I don't think anyone else has poop or yucky stuff in their kitchens either. jes sayin!

 

[numamahen]

when the chickens lay eggs, they come out wet - that is a bloom. It is a natural covering/coat that helps to keep out any germs. When you get them wet or wash them, that is taken off. You can keep the eggs w/o refrigeration for 1-2 weeks UNWASHED. In a marine industry magazine, they reference keeping unwashed eggs covered with vaseline for over a month if no refrig is available. I will try to find the article again and post. There is also the whole deal with eggs not spoiling while the hen lays her clutch from 1-2 weeks. The first egg is as good as the last egg laid. An amazing process!!!!!!

with all of this in mind - I don't wash until right before I am ready to use. I tell my folks that buy them the same thing. I have friends in Africa with no refrigeration - same deal, keep eggs out easily for 1-3 weeks unwashed. No issues...... Any cracks, use right away.

 

[catdaddyfro]

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I clean the ones I sell. There are too many folks selling eggs around here, customers are fickle, and their are a lot of tightwads who like to point out the price of eggs in the store, so I try to provide the best quality product that I can. I've sold 500 dozen jumbo eggs in the past three months and I made sure they all had clean, high quality shells, and packed them in new cartons. Many are sold by my relatives who take 10 or 20 dozen at a time for friends or co-workers or if I have a glut of eggs I will take 30 dozen down to the local tavern where the owner buys them from me and resells them.

Now don't get me wrong here either as I don't send out a carton of eggs with a big wad of poop on them. If it can't be buffed off with a scuffing pad then I will wash and immediatly put it in the frig in the EGGS to EAT carton. I just don't wash everyone of the eggs as they don't need it, as most are not nasty. I try to keep fresh nesting material in the nests so that they are not laid in any nastiness, even though every once in a while one of the ol' gals doesn't quite get her valve closed off soon enough. Which I don't blame them afrter a while I would imagine thier ol' pucker string probably gets a little tired from time to time. The only other time I have a problem is when its wet and muddy outside they will get some on the eggs, but usually a quick rub with the scuffer and it easily is removed.

I just feel that if you do not wash off the natural coating (bloom) that is on the egg, that it is less likely to asborb any bacteria or even odors in the eggs. You know its a pretty good shield of such stuff because when a hen lays a clutch of eggs to set on and hatch, she can take as much as a couple of weeks laying eggs to get enough for her little brain to kick in the broody mode and you can bet that probably she'll still have a better hatch ratio than any of the highest quality incubators out there or professionals that operate these incubators. I've seen broody hens have 100% hatch rates many times. I'll quit chasin' rabbit and get back to the story at hand now.


catdaddy