Share your egg management tips!

[JennyLynnLuv]

Do you wash them on collection day then store in the fridge? Do you wait till you've built up a dozen, then wash and store in a clean carton? Am I overthinking this??

So far I've just been refrigerating immediately, then giving them a rinse before use. Doesn't feel very efficient, especially coming from grocery store eggs where you just crack and go.

Would love to hear what everyone else does

I collect mine and refrigerate unwashed. I wash when ready for use. I date my cartons and follow the first in first out rule. If I get an abundance of eggs in the fridge I'll bulk wash and gift cartons to friends and family. A lot of folks like to bake with farm fresh eggs around the holidays. If I REALLY have an over abundance I scramble and cook them for the dog and cats and ofc the chickens!

 

[thecatumbrella]

Wanted to update with an interesting tool I found:
Egg Scrubber

I've started using it for bulk washing sessions, and it does help move the process along. I just use it with warm water, no soap or cleaner. The silicone washes up nicely at the end. No clue if I'm cleaning more thoroughly than hands only, but it feels "mind clean"!

 

[The Welch Chickens]

No clue if I'm cleaning more thoroughly than hands only, but it feels "mind clean"!

I know what you mean! It doesn't bother me personally, but some of my friends are super squeamish knowing that the egg and the... um... yucky stuff come out the same place

 

[The Welch Chickens]

About the egg washing though, it depends on how dirty they are. We use hemp for the nesting material, and it sometimes gets really stuck on the wet bloom; so we just wash and refrigerate. But if we can just brush it off, we don't refrigerate them.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

Normally I wait until the end of the day, before I go to bed and wash the days gatherings of the eggs. There is like 25 a day, because it's winter time - but during the spring and summer I get about 50+

 

[thecatumbrella]

We use hemp for the nesting material, and it sometimes gets really stuck on the wet bloom; so we just wash and refrigerate. But if we can just brush it off, we don't refrigerate them.

We're using hemp as well (on top of a plastic nest pad), and WOWEE does it stick to everything! It does an excellent job of keeping things dry though.

The aspen pads were really nice and clean (and expensive), but Mushroom destroys them. Pine shavings don't stick, but Ginger eats them like potato chips. Pepper won't use the plastic pad by itself. So hemp it is!

 

[The Welch Chickens]

The aspen pads were really nice and clean (and expensive), but Mushroom destroys them. Pine shavings don't stick, but Ginger eats them like potato chips. Pepper won't use the plastic pad by itself. So hemp it is!

We use hemp for the coop bedding (we used it in their brooder as well). When they started laying, we were using straw, but they absolutely REFUSED to lay in the straw, and were instead laying in the coop. We tried using the fake eggs to encourage them, but it just didn't work.



Lo and behold, after trying hemp in the nest boxes, they all started laying in there. So hemp it is, for us too!