To wash or not to wash....

[minskey]

What do all you peeps do about mucky eggs?

Because of the wet at the moment I get a few each day which are muddy but I also get some now and again which have poop on them.

The nest boxes are filled deeply with clean shavings, I remove anyone which has got cosy in there in the evening and pop them on a perch, and check the nestboxes are clean each morning. It looks like poop which had been treaded inside.

Is it true you should not wash eggs and store them? mud I can cope with but poop on the eggs which are on a spiral on the kitchen side is not good

[Nicos]

To be honest- I 've no idea- but I thought that by wetting the shell made them porous-so any bacteria could enter through the shell membrane???

I have to say that I just wipe mine with a dry cloth and if they have poop on them, make sure those eggs are cooked thoroughly - as opposed to poached etc.
It'll be interesting to see what other peeps do/think!!

[MrsC]

Considering my girls lay where the hell they want and not where they are supposed to, I do at this time year getting dirty eggs. I wash lightly and dry with a soft cloth. Never poisoned myself. I was led to believe that if you scrubbed them you would break down the natural shell coating and allow bacteria to penetrate. Could be wrong though? Interesting to hear what other people say

[Scottishnewbie]

blooming heck! didnt know this and leave mine to soak in water - supposedly for a few minutes but sometimes for hours if I forget about them! AND i sell them as well! dont think i've killed anyone yet but am seriously worried now!! cant sell them dirty though and dont commerical sellers wash their eggs?

[tlck9]

my friends and family actually dont want spotless eggs, they like them as they come, apparently they feel its more natural

[RichmondHens]

They wash them in special solutions, not ordinary water. I wipe any poopy eggs with a piece of wet kitchen paper, or if really mucky, then wash under the tap, but yes it does remove the "invisible" bacteria guard laid down by the hen so the egg's life is shortened. I generally use any washed eggs within a couple of days. I try not to sell anything that I have needed to clean, only the pristine ones. It is certainly difficult to keep nestboxes clean in the winter - since all the snow my bantams have started up a habit of getting into the nestboxes and scratching all the straw out as the ground has been frozen and they have had nowhere to dig!

[MrsC]

blooming heck! didnt know this and leave mine to soak in water - supposedly for a few minutes but sometimes for hours if I forget about them! AND i sell them as well! dont think i've killed anyone yet but am seriously worried now!! cant sell them dirty though and dont commerical sellers wash their eggs?

Wouldn't worry about it, mine don't gleem, just get the muck off them. We sell them in summer also. No complaints. Re - commercial sellers - are we talking battery farms or not? Battery farm hens pop their eggs down a shoot etc and are clean, but taste yuck as you know. I'm of the opinion that there are 'free range in the shops' and 'free range at home' as you know, big difference

[chicken_house_man]

Grade A eggs cant be washed.Once washed they can only be used for industrial processes.
Most commercial egg producers use rollaway nest boxes which helps keep the eggs clean.
either you need to simple wipe the eggs whilst dry or leave as they are. Egg washers are mainly used by game breeders cleaning eggs before incubation

[Nicos]

hi there CHM...and welcome to the Vine!!!

good to have another chook expert!

...where abouts are you located?...can you put it on your profile???

[Snadger]

The main egg sellers answer to not supplying dirty eggs is to bung chooks in a small cage with a wire mesh floor that tilts backwards so the egg runs into a trough..........battery hens in other words!

It's inevitable chooks that have access to the outdoors are going to get mucky at this time of year.
I sell some of my eggs in an honesty box but the really dirty ones I keep for my own consumption.
I wash them for myself, but use them quickly!

(People haven't been able to get out, because of the snow, to buy my eggs so was thinking about alternative use ie pickling etc............then it thawed a bit yesterday and I sold 3 Dozen!!!!!!)

[Flummery]

I leave mine as they are. My naughty girls sleep in the nest box. Doesn't fuss me - I just put in a deep layer of easibed - when the eggs are collected, any very mucky ones are wiped on the easibed and then stored. When I'm ready to use them I wipe them with kitchen paper dampened with cold water. If I'm giving them away (never enough to sell!) I wipe them, again, with cold water.

[MaureenHall]

I read on an American forum that they wash their eggs with a very weak bleach solution. I don't wash my eggs but the really really mucky/pooey ones I do wipe over with a piece of kitchen roll dampened with weak bleach or dettol. None of my eggs are ever over a week old anyway so I'm not too worried (just look nicer when they're clean on the worktop )

[CountryFayre]

If you are going to sell your eggs you must not wash them.

If they are for your own consumption then use warm water. If you use cold water the egg shell will contract drawing the bacteria in (aparently).

For storage purposes if you can leave them be until you need to use them and wash them just before use. You can use a dry scourer to remove the worst.

[chicken_house_man]

The main egg sellers answer to not supplying dirty eggs is to bung chooks in a small cage with a wire mesh floor that tilts backwards so the egg runs into a trough..........battery hens in other words!

Free range eggs are also largely laid in rollaway nests as not getting them dirty in the first place is preferable.

One of the main suppliers is SKA S.r.l. - Attrezzature per avicoltura e suinicoltura

[Jeanied]

Just to add from a different perspective - I'm no expert at chickens or eggs, but I used to paint blown chicken and goose eggs for a bit of income - I have to say that to get the waxy coating off took a good deal of work and preparation - usually involving scouring powder - before the egg would 'take' the paint.