Post here if you DON'T wash clean-looking eggs

[Vicky2479]

As most of the others, I don't wash, just wipe with damp paper towel if anything on them and they are stored on my counter in a bowl.

 

[LibbyPchickadee]

Haven't washed a single egg yet! No illness in the house or others who I give them to! Back in the day they didn't waste water for such nonsense!!

 

[Chicks4fun2]

Don't usually wash them but i do live in the PNW so our eggs are often muddy in the winter... if they are really muddy than i give them a quick rinse & put in the fridge!

 

[MelodyC]

I wash if they are poopy looking, otherwise I just do a quick rinse before I use them. I'm still having a hard time with the concept of leaving them out on the counter. We keep our house around 70, and I worry that's too warm for the eggs.

 

[Beekissed]

I leave mine on the counter all year long and we don't have an air-conditioned home. It's really not too warm at 70. Think about how warm it is underneath a broody hen and she sits on eggs for three weeks at 100* temps~and those eggs have been accumulating in a nest for 10-15 days already, depending upon the clutch size~ and the only thing that grows in those eggs are chicks. Eggs are amazing things if folks leave the bloom alone.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

We leave our eggs out on the counter all year long. I wash them before use. Usually they are pretty clean but if not I wash and put those in the fridge.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Nope! When you think about the temps/humidity it takes to turn a fertilized egg into a chick and just how long it takes to do that, I'm guessing time outside the fridge would have to be in a pretty hot and humid place to produce any chick activity. Think about how long eggs are in a hidden nest in the summer before the chicken actually starts to brood them...she doesn't start sitting until she has laid her whole clutch so that chicks won't be developing at different rates. So...several eggs in a nest for 7-10 days during hot and humid summers, but no chick development until Mom actually sits on them?

Quote:

I wash if they are poopy looking, otherwise I just do a quick rinse before I use them. I'm still having a hard time with the concept of leaving them out on the counter. We keep our house around 70, and I worry that's too warm for the eggs.

If they are washed, they should be refrigerated, but otherwise not.

I leave mine on the counter all year long and we don't have an air-conditioned home. It's really not too warm at 70. Think about how warm it is underneath a broody hen and she sits on eggs for three weeks at 100* temps~and those eggs have been accumulating in a nest for 10-15 days already, depending upon the clutch size~ and the only thing that grows in those eggs are chicks. Eggs are amazing things if folks leave the bloom alone.

True.
We do the same. If I have to wash because they're muddy or if an egg broke in the nest, I refrigerate them.

Above 80.6F/27C there will be cell division and possible development. I've had eggs start to develop if I didn't collect daily during the heat of summer. When it's really hot here, it sometimes doesn't get below 80 at night.

http://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/PowerOff.aspx

 

[ozark hen]

I don't wash our eggs either unless chicken poo is on them. They stay on kitchen counter year round

 

[MelodyC]

Sorry for the stupid question, but I figure I had better ask.

You mention about not washing, and if you do wash to refrigerate. Just curious - how wet would you consider "washing"? With all this rain we've been having, my hands are wet by the time I pick up the eggs. Is that ok, or should I put those into the fridge?

 

[triplepurpose]

Quote:


Above 80.6F/27C there will be cell division and possible development. I've had eggs start to develop if I didn't collect daily during the heat of summer. When it's really hot here, it sometimes doesn't get below 80 at night.

http://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/PowerOff.aspx

Huh?! That threshold of 80.6 just makes no sense to me. we've kept chickens in Hawaii for almost 30 years and never refrigerated our (fertile) eggs. They are good for a couple of weekst sitting out on the counter, yearround, without so much as a blood spot at over 80 F in summer, night and day...