Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wash chicken eggs, yay or nay?

New to raising chickens. Do you wash the eggs? If so how? Read a few articles on it, just wondering whats is best.

No.

Not unless we were selling them.

I don't.

Eggs have a natural coating that protects the egg from bacteria. Wash them, and they won't last as long.

See above.

Sure enough

No, unless they are poopy.

The US is the only country in the world that refrigerates eggs. That is because the protective coating is washed off. If I have a lot of fresh eggs I still refrigerate them and only wash the ones with poop and feathers on them just before use.

depends if you like eggshell in your omlet.

Pretty sure Japan and Australia wash their eggs but it's been a minute...

My girlfriend and closest neighbor raises chickens so I get all the free eggs I can handle. I never wash them until I'm ready to eat them, then give em a quick scrub.

Polish too?

I only wash the few that have poo on them and then I put those in the fridge. Most are relativity clean so I don't wash off the bloom and they can be stored at room temp. I keep the nest boxes clean and change the straw often so very few need washing.

never wash the eggs.

I will end up selling some, so I will wash those before selling. Thanks guys! I currently have pullet eggs, got a total of six thus far!

nada

The coating is called the "bloom"...once eggs have touched water, the "bloom" is off and they need refrigeration. Unwashed, 2-3 weeks at room temperature is no problem...and they cook faster starting at room temp !!!

Mine are generally clean when collected, so I just put them in the fridge and rinse them in warm water, then wipe them with a paper towel, as I use them, not ahead of time.

For the occasional egg that's collected covered in poop, I just crack them into a bowl and give them to one or both of my dogs. That's rare, though. 99% of the eggs I collect from the nest boxes are clean in appearance.

Here's a typical day's collection. These have not been cleaned. That's what they look like when collected.



PS I've been keeping free range chickens for about 12.5 years.

Yep.

Seems there's a consensus.

Good idea if your selling them to wash them off some, perhaps. But, if you're selling to just friends ( I don't, I just barter for slips of paper) you might inform them they'll keep longer if unwashed.

Good luck with your chickens.

I’ll add that unwashed and set on the counter the eggs will last a long time ! I’ve kept some that way past a month and they were fine.