safe egg handling?

[Faeshka]

My whole need for egg layers is because the farm I used to get pastured eggs from sold us some bad eggs & we wound up with food poisoning. Now that I'm researching getting my own egg layers, I need to know how to make sure the eggs are going to be safe to eat since I can't afford to keep getting food poisoning. To make it more challenging, it gets ridiculously hot here which probably makes it more likely the eggs could be a problem. How to I make sure I'm getting the eggs quickly enough so we don't wind up giving ourselves food poisoning?

 

[CoopintheWoods]

Obviously, collect them as soon as possible after they are laid and refrigerate them if you need to, but that's just common sense.
Something I never really thought about until it became a problem is to never eat eggs that are found in the run, pasture, a nest in the woods, whatever, even if you're pretty sure they're fresh. Only eat the ones in the designated nest boxes, because those are the only ones you can be sure haven't been sitting for a week. Some folks don't have a problem gambling on that, but to me it just isn't worth it.

Best wishes!

 

[My Bagurks]

Collect as often as you can. But daily is just fine. I live in west Alabama and have never had an issue with bad eggs. Even if I didn’t collect for a day or two.

Any found in the run or the yard, I give back to the chickens to eat. Any that are questionable, I do the float test.
As an egg ages, the air pocket inside grows. You take a bowl of water deep enough to submerge an egg completely. A fresh egg will sink and lay flat on the bottom. An egg starting to show age, will stand up. (If it stands, I cook it and give it to the chickens or our dog)
And if it floats it’s garbage.

Also. An egg is laid with a film that you can’t see. An egg will keep in a cool dry pantry for days, and be perfectly fine if you don’t wash it. Once you wash it, it needs to be refrigerated. Egg shells themselves are porous, and the film seals the pores. But once they are washed and the film is gone, bacteria can get through the shell and start the decomposition process.