To wash. Or not to wash. That, is the question.

[AgentJeffy]

My thoughts exactly! I give eggs away as well and inform them of the pros and cons both ways and let them make the decision. You can certainly wash an egg if you want, but you can't UNWASH them lol.

As I said earlier, my contribution to the cleanliness of the coop is how I prevent any disease or bacteria problems.

 

[RoyalCoopMom]

I never wash. If they are dirty, even a little bit, I scramble them and feed it back to the chickens but honestly that is rare.

 

[KikiLeigh02]

@AgentJeffy have you ever read this article? https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-store-fresh-eggs-zmaz77ndzgoe

 

[Better Than Rubies]

My family doesn't wash off my birds' eggs until we're about to eat them. Even then, some of the eggs are so clean that there were a couple I didn't wash off before I cracked it open...despite of it, my mom still wasn't happy I did that. I'm tempted to wash off the really dirty ones (I believe they occasionally get dirty because of the plentiful rain we've been getting, and then their run is disgusting and full of mud, so when they go in their dog house to lay, they're tracking in the mud, I'm sure), but I asked my mom if she wanted a disease and clean eggs, or to refrigerate the dirty eggs as they are and stay healthy by the time we do use them and only wash them off then...And she chose the latter. Okay, I don't know too much about the rinsing and not rinsing and all that, but that's the sum of what I've gathered from what I have read about it, and I'd rather be safe than sorry, even if the eggs don't look nice if they're sitting in the carton all dirty.

 

[Pugsabi]

Hmm, on the counter, unwashed. In the fridge, washed.

 

[Conan]

@AgentJeffy have you ever read this article? https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-store-fresh-eggs-zmaz77ndzgoe

Great article! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Conan]

I have chickens and ducks.
I never wash the chicken eggs.
I always wash the duck eggs because they freaking bury them in dirt, poop and straw. They are pretty filthy. I occasionally have a duck that will lay in the dry nesting box. If her egg is clean and dry, no wash. Honestly though, it's pretty rare for the duck eggs to not look pretty nasty.

 

[happyfrenchman]

I wash off visible dirt when I bring them in and I wash the ones I am giving away which is most of them. (for a person with chickens, I do not eat a lot of eggs.) A couple a week maybe. Salmonella is always present with chickens and I know that someone is as likely to get it from a store bought egg or some other source because of poor handling. But as the backyard chicken guy, you will be the suspect if someone gets sick. So I wash them all. Even if I keep them on the counter, I know my egg customers are keeping them in the fridge.

 

[chickenmama109]

I wash them when have poop and stiff on them if I give some away I will also wash them

 

[SplashyDashyChicksHatchi]

I wash mine completely before putting them in the pot
They go in the fridge dirty and are cleaned before eating. We've started to sell our eggs and unless the person requests clean eggs we don't wash them(and put a little 'wash before eating' notice on the box).