Topic of the Week - Cleaning and Storing Eggs

[50-45-1]

I did not know about salmonella vaccination protocols in Europe. I live in Italy and no one I know refrigerates eggs ever. If I have an egg that requires washing, I might cook it immediately after washing and feed it to the chickens. Or I might refrigerate it.

Here is an article about vaccinating laying hens.
It's a good one.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/business/25vaccine.html

 

[Jeri B]

Here is an article about vaccinating laying hens.
It's a good one.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/business/25vaccine.html

Sorry, I cannot read nytimes articles. They think I should pay.

 

[50-45-1]

Sorry, I cannot read nytimes articles. They think I should pay.

Wow, now it wants me to pay too!
Yesterday it let me read the whole thing.
Sorry about that!
Here is another one.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dfwed/prevention-priorities/salmonella-and-chicken.html

 

[calboy147]

You are correct. If eggs are washed, you cannot waterglass them. They should also be clean meaning no poop, dirt, straw, or other debris on them.

I get 3 gallon food grade buckets & lids from a local bakery for a $1/each. (They have to charge something for them by law here....). I can waterglass up to 5 dozen eggs in these buckets. Because of the nefarious egg eaters in my flock, I don't always get all the eggs I need to waterglass in a few days. Sometimes it can take up to a week for me to get eggs that fit the bill to be waterglassed. As long as your buckets & solution are in a dark, cool place, you can keep the bucket unsealed and add eggs as you get them. I keep an index card taped to the front of my bucket. On this card, I write - date I started adding eggs to the solution, the date I stopped adding eggs to the solution, and the total egg count. For example, if I start a solution and only have 30 eggs, I'll write "30" on the card. As I add more eggs, I will strike out the previous number and write the new number until I reach the total (60 eggs). After I reach my total, I put the lid on and seal the bucket.

I keep my buckets inside a cabinet in a large bookcase in my living room. I chose this spot because it is dark and consistently cool. I also don't waterglass more than I think I'll need. I do 5 dozen eggs on April 1st and another 5 dozen eggs on July 1st. This amount ought to get me through the Dec - Feb lull when egg production drops.

Out of newbie curiosity, hy do you put up with egg eaters?

 

[calboy147]

Washed or unwashed, all my eggs go in the fridge.
The science proves that refrigeration keeps food fresher. Period.
Egg freshness is 2 weeks on the counter or 3 months in the fridge. That's the science.
Let's look at that. It takes the refrigerated egg 3 months to arrive at the loss of freshness stage that the counter top egg gets to at 2 weeks.
Europe has strict vacination protacalls against salmonella for laying hens. Thus there eggs are room temp. Not so in the USA.
I was not born in the dark ages, or to traveling in a covered wagon.
I am blessed to live in a time of electricity and modern appliances.
I have been washing and refrigerating my eggs for 50+ years, and never got a bad egg because of it.

I have never actually washed or refrigerated eggs for my personal use. Do not think i have ever had a bad egg. Knock on a wooden cross.
Of course i have eaten things that would gag a maggot.
However my new wife is quite the "scaredy cat" when it comes to her food.
I have read everything i can find on BYC to find out what a bad egg looks, smells, tastes or feels like. I have not found it yet so i keep eating. Do you have any signs i should be looking for? I mean besides the obvious rotten egg. Which i have not seen in over 50 years. I do remember it had an uncomfortable aroma.

 

[Jeri B]

I have never actually washed or refrigerated eggs for my personal use. Do not think i have ever had a bad egg. Knock on a wooden cross.
Of course i have eaten things that would gag a maggot.
However my new wife is quite the "scaredy cat" when it comes to her food.
I have read everything i can find on BYC to find out what a bad egg looks, smells, tastes or feels like. I have not found it yet so i keep eating. Do you have any signs i should be looking for? I mean besides the obvious rotten egg. Which i have not seen in over 50 years. I do remember it had an uncomfortable aroma.

We had chickens when I was a kid (6-8 years). I remember mom always cracked each egg separately in a cup “in case there was a bad one”. My sister (age 4-6) was the primary egg gatherer. I’m sure she got them from the nests but probably also wherever she found them. I remember infrequent times when there was an egg that was bloody or had a developing chick in it. These were very interesting to me then

 

[Ponypoor]

You should always wash in warm water-not hot or cold. Although it is better to scrub with a dry paper towel sometimes washing is needed.
Because a hen coats the egg with a protective coating called the bloom, fresh laid eggs do not need refrigeration. But if you wash the eggs, you wash the coating off and then they will need to be stored in the fridge.
I keep my eggs in a wire basket with a towel (covered in chickens of course!) lining it. That way, if an egg breaks, the basket can be washed and so can the towel.

One last thing! Have you noticed that it is really hard to peel fresh hard boiled eggs? If you steam them and then put them in a bowl of ice and water, let them sit for a bit, and then the shell literally pops off in two pieces.

I usually use eggs that are a couple weeks old for boiled eggs, the membrane then has broken down enough that the shells comes clean from the egg white

 

[Ponypoor]

As stated, this would never happen, however, make sure you collect your eggs daily and if you ever find one that you suspect may have been laid on by a hen, discard it. I left someone to look after my flock while I was away on holiday for ten days. I warned them to collect daily, even twice daily, as I had a very broody hen but they were not so vigilant...it resulted in them cracking an egg open for an omelette, to find an embryo of about 5 or 6 days old. They didn't eat another egg for almost a year after that!!

Yep need to collect those eggs daily for sure !

 

[Ponypoor]

Cleaning and Storage of Eggs

My nest boxes are cleaned daily so there is rarely any poop on the eggs, the odd time there are blood or feces smears on eggs that I wash off, and I use those eggs myself.

Eggs are collected daily (no baby fetus mishaps here), I do not wash eggs (a regulation I am breaking) the bloom is a natural protective barrier that should be left intact. Eggs are placed into the egg carton and into the fridge. Some customers want to store their eggs on the counter and that is fine when they get home they can do so.

(If I have someone requesting hatching eggs of course these are not refrigerated)

There are rules in place for the sale of backyard flock eggs here in Ontario that need to
be followed:
- Eggs stored at 4C
- Eggs must be cleaned (as I stated I do not wash mine but they are very clean)
- Eggs must be labelled as 'Ungraded' on the packaging
- Eggs can only be sold at the 'farm gate', to direct consumers (no selling at Farmers
- Markets, restaurants, Food Banks, or someone who resells them, etc).
- Eggs cannot be 'delivered' to a buyer (I cannot drive over to person house and sell)
- A person can only have less than 100 hens for laying (300 for meat purposes)
* More than this and one must purchase a 'quota' from the govt.

Of course these are rarely followed and I bet most people do not even know about the regulations. And likely the 'egg police' are more concerned with other things anyways!

As for freezing eggs, I don't, but know people who crack them individually into ice cube trays, freeze then place into freezer bags.

Happy Eggers!

 

[DIYCHRIS]

I tip out nest boxes on the floor of the coop after a check then put new nesting material in. That keeps muck to a minimum and if one has a bit of poop on I wash it with soapy water as I would the dishes but genrally they are clean but I do use lots of wood shavings at least 4 inches thick all throught the coop, that keeps everything dry all the time. Most times I can dust them off because they are dry. Large nest boxes help too 20 inch square