What are the brown spots on eggs?

[SparksNV]

Illia: I looooove those eggs! And your avatar - I really want two hens that lay the same colored eggs....

 

[[email protected]]

I am new so forgive me, but I read in a poultry magazine it could be a sign of mites? Is it? I get these all the time and I have dusted my birds relentlessly.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

I was wondering also, especially brown/red spots on brown eggs that can be scrubbed off. I thought it had something to do with blood or poop. I have been scrubbing my eggs because I was wondered it could be unhealthy if it could be washed off. Thanks.

 

[off-grid hen]

Some of the pigment can be scratched off. It doesn't mean it's droppings. It may be difficult to tell feces and blood from speckles sometimes, but usually droppings have a different color brown (like a greenish brown) than the speckles. White streaks on colored eggs are urates, and part of the droppings. They should rinse off easily with minimal rubbing under running lukewarm water with a finger tip or damp paper towel. Blood would rinse off without scrubbing.

If your eggs appear clean, they probably are. Egg shells are porous, and scrubbing can actually "push" bacteria into the egg, so easy does it. I don't wash clean-looking eggs.

Edit for typos.