Post here if you DON'T wash clean-looking eggs

[Peppypap]

I only wash eggs if there is poop on them. Otherwise I just toss them in the fridge!

 

[Desertduck]

I never wash eggs I understand it washes away the "bloom" that protects the egg from bacteria entering through the shell. Fortunately my girls only leave eggs in the boxes !

 

[nursepinch]

Just started getting eggs a week ago. They've been pretty clean so I just collect them and put them into the carton in the fridge. But then I do wash my hands with soap and water.

 

[triplepurpose]

I never wash eggs either. If I keep the nest boxes clean (read "relatively clean" for a bird that eats garbage and walks in its own poop, lol) then the eggs are dry and clean with perhaps the occasional dried dropping which is wiped off (this is rare) or a little bit of dried mud stains when it's been raining really heavily (not so rare in the rainy season). In the rare event that an egg is "accidentally" laid outside in the mud or some other wet, foul place, I don't usually bother to eat and definitely would sell it, although if you dared me I would just to prove that I truly believe there's no real harm in doing so (in the rare event that an egg has truly gone bad, the noxious stench is generally a clue, but otherwise if it smells ok and looks ok, I'll eat it).

I also never refridgerate the eggs.

I think it's very important to remember that an egg is designed by nature remain intact and viable sitting in a nest on the "dirty" ground (chickens are ground nesting birds) at "room" temperature for at least a week or two, while the contents remain whole, sound, and uninfected by outside microbes. An egg is not something inert, like cooked ham, that is just sitting there waiting to be colonized by whatever disease-causing bacteria might float by, requiring special handling to preserve it from decay. It is a living thing that is built to keep just fine sitting for two weeks in a nest of grubby mulch under a bush out in the jungles of SE Asia. There's no reason to give yourself a headache worrying about something that nature has already taken care of for you... There are plenty of BETTER things to worry about... Like the economy, for example...

 

[Owner of Elsie and Doris]

I don't wash the eggs 'cos in England, we don't eat the shells!!!!!!

Tee Hee!

Actually, I love when they come in with bits of straw all stuck to them. It shows they are ours!

from Katy xxx

 

[chrisc2865]

I never wash my eggs. I never even heard of washing eggs. I thought it would ruin the egg if you washed it.

 

[ChezPoulez]

Like most here, I don't wash unless there is obvious poop, and then it's just a quick rinse under the garden hose.
That being said, I don't delude myself into thinking that the poopless eggs are any less germ laden than the poopy ones.
Seriously, when you reach your hand into that nest, or pet your chickens, or fill their feeders/waterers, you are inoculating yourself with salmonella germs, not to mention what you are tracking back into the house on the soles of your shoes. Didn't think of that now did you?

All it took were a few microbiology classes to destroy the illusion that things are clean if they look clean.

Life with chickens (or other livestock) and all their poo makes me curious to ask this further question . . . how many here find that you seem to have tough immune systems and are less prone to colds and flus than your non farming friends?
IMHO I think being exposed to continual low levels of germs is good for the immune system. My kids were always super healthy when little, and as adults they still seem to have rugged immune systems. I've worked in office settings where viruses ran through the building and folks were dropping like flies, yet I dodge the germs every time. I chalk it up to daily exposure to barnyard poo.

For those who give their flock eggs: you might want to give that a second thought. It is said that once they get a taste for egg they are far more likely to start beaking eggs in the nests. Perhaps it's a wives' tale, but I've always avoided giving them eggs just in case.

 

[Patches The Hen]

I don't wash them if they look clean, even if they have mud on them from the hens feet.
It's all going to be cooked in the end anyway

 

[betsyblueberry]

Never wash my eggs either, scrap off anything unusual with a paring knife and done.

 

[farmer9989]

Only when they are dirty