Keeping eggs from going bad

[Axalea]

I’m unsure if I’m in the right place for this so if staff needs to move this that’s fine. However my wife and I currently have about 40 laying hens, we live in central Illinois however we sell our eggs to my MIL friends and family in Chicago IL. We collect the eggs everyday and typically every Sunday when my wife heads to Chicago to see her family she takes the eggs with her. We have been having problems with the eggs being rotten or spoiled. I had resisted washing them and sending them unwashed to preserve the bloom. However my MIL does not want to wash them and customers are wanting them washed upon receiving them so we have been washing them. We leave them at room temperature from the day collected till the day sold.

Does anyone have any tips on how to PREVENT rotten/spoiling of the eggs ? Advice as in best by date or tips to preserve them? I’m well aware you’re not supposed to wash farm eggs or you have to immediately refrigerate them however unfortunately customers want them washed.


Also please note I’m sure there’s rules on this forum about trying to do large scale business and it might be frowned upon however we are nothing of the sort, we simply have chickens, transport, and sell the eggs which the egg money typically gets put in an envelope and saved up for winter to pay for refilling our LP tanks for heating.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

If you wash them you need to refrigerate them so I wouldn’t wash them until the last possible minute then keep them in a cooler on the trip

 

[Axalea]

If you wash them you need to refrigerate them so I wouldn’t wash them until the last possible minute then keep them in a cooler on the trip

I try to wash them all Sunday morning however they’re still going bad. Do you think at that point it’s simply just customers taking too long to eat them or should I mark some sort of best by date so the customer knows?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

how old are the eggs once you wash them? Do the customers know to keep them in the fridge? The place I was buying eggs from last summer had a little note saying to put them in the fridge.

 

[Axalea]

how old are the eggs once you wash them? Do the customers know to keep them in the fridge? The place I was buying eggs from last summer had a little note saying to put them in the fridge.

They’re either 6 days or 1 day before washing. Ones I collect on Monday are 6 days before washing Sunday morning before she leaves 1 day or less than a day.

Yes the customers know to keep them in the fridge.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree. Wah them whenever it is convenient for you but immediately refrigerate the eggs and keep them cool until they are delivered. When you wash them, use water a little warmer than the eggs, it doesn't have to be much warmer. Washing them in cooler water can cause the egg material inside the egg to shrink, causing a suction which can bring in dirty water through the porous shell. In warmer water the egg material expands a bit, keeping wash water out.

Instead of giving a time, tell them to refrigerate them. Whether they do or not is up to them.

What are the signs of the eggs spoiling/rotting? If they smell like a rotten egg then yes, they are rotting. But are they seeing blood spots or meat spots in the eggs? That is not spoilage. It's not that unusual for hens to lay eggs with blood spots or meat spots. Commercial hens do it as well as ours. Commercial operations candle their eggs before packaging them for sale to remove these eggs and sell them to pet food manufacturers or such that don't care if the eggs have something in them. They are still safe, just unappetizing. I suggest opening our eggs in a separate bowl before they are mixed with anything.

I'll give a link to the egg quality guide so you can see photos of what blood spots and meat spots might look like.

Egg Quality Guide - The Poultry Site | The Poultry Site

 

[Chicadue]

If customers are complaining about spoilage I would mark the cartons with a DOC- date of collection. Collect the eggs and place immediately in the fridge. Don’t wash unless they are particularly dirty. Write farm fresh wash me. If eggs are really dirty look at where the chickens are laying. Eggs layed on the ground and not in a nest are suspect to picking up more than bacterial bloom and should at least be separated from nest layed eggs for washing. It only takes one bad layer hen with bad habits to ruin the whole flock egg laying sanitation. With 40 chickens you should be gathering at least twice a day with frequent inspection of nesting areas for cracked and broken eggs and feces in the nest for immediate cleaning. Definitely mark the DOC on the container just to keep things organized for yourself too. You don’t want to have a carton shoved to the back and forgotten. This is what I do and have never had a complaint. Good luck