Storey's guide to raising chickens book and her views on egg handling

[gale65]

I have read a lot of good things about this book so I got the kindle version. I was looking through it tonight and it was interesting how different her egg handling recommendations are compared to what people here do. She recommends that if any eggs are slightly soiled they should be washed and dipped in a bleach solution, and if they're soiled any more than that they should be discarded. I see that a lot of people here just wipe off any soiled spots and don't sanitize. She does not recommend washing clean looking eggs btw-and never mentions washing them before using or anything like that.

But the most surprising was that she only recommends storing eggs in the refrigerator for up to 5 weeks (unless you have a refrigerator that maintains a high humidity, which most modern ones do not-then it's 2-3 months) and she writes that 1 week in the refrigerator is the same as 1 day on the counter, so following that logic, eggs shouldn't be kept on the counter for more than 5 days.

 

[Judy]

Mother Earth News did a lengthy research project a few years ago on storing eggs, easy to find with Google. And I believe it is a lot more recent than Story's guides. If 5 days on the counter were the upper limit then 5 weeks in the fridge would also be, by that logic. Yet store bought eggs are close to 5 weeks the day you bring them home. They are then kept for some weeks in many homes, where eggs are not eaten often. When I was young and lived alone, I know I kept eggs for a month, easily. I've actually never smelled a rotten egg.

Eggs aren't like a fruit which is good one day and a pile of black mold 2 days later. Their quality deteriorates over time. It's easy enough to see this with the flattening of both parts when cracked. And when they go bad it is evidently screamingly obvious.

Eggs are shipped, stored and sold unrefrigerated in Europe. That alone says a lot.

As for cleaning, commercials are required to clean them all, but many backyard chicken keepers prefer to leave the bloom alone, which I think was the usual method on the farm in days past. I won't argue that either is better, but I won't wash my eggs, either. A grossly poopy egg gets washed then cooked, or just tossed. The rest are untouched.

 

[TroutsChicks]

I have that book, but i don't agree with some of the things that shes saying. I rinse my eggs off before i cook with them if they are dirty ( usually mud ..well chicken mud! dirt runs are so much fun

) I keep the dirty ones in their own carton and sell my clean ones. I don't use alot of eggs so I have had eggs for over a month in the fridge ( i keep them so long i float test them! ) But my fresh eggs haven't made it that long!

 

[Aemelia]

I rinse any obviously dirty eggs and refrigerate them. I don't rinse eggs that look clean, which is most, I have more refrigerator space than counter space and my husband wouldn't eat eggs kept on the counter. I might have two eggs a week I would consider dirty.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

For longer storage, I only store clean unwashed eggs. Dirty eggs that need to be washed get washed right away and put in rotation to be used right away. Very few of my eggs need to be washed like that.