Egg Carton Contamination

[Lazy Farmer]

I not a really big fan of washing my eggs except if a little poo gets on them. I usually use wipe them down and place them in the cartons prior to refrigeration storage.

So this time, I have been a little busy with my pigs & goats and slacked off on cleaning my nesting boxes...

SO, 18 of my eggs were laying in poo.. Gross.
I rinsed and washed them clean and lightly dried them and placed them in a Green Great Value Brand 18 pack carton. That was yesterday.
Today I pull them out of the fridge to sell them to a good long time customer who was at our gate. They are pretty particular on colors of variety so I open that carton of washed eggs I mentioned and went to arrange them for my customer.
The Carton Stained the Eggs! All of them.

The chemicals in the package seeped into the egg shells and stained the eggs green on one end. White, brown & Easter all stained from chemicals from the carton.

Usually when I wash I will use a paper flat until they dry but this time I was in a hurry and used a "Great Value" Styro carton.

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I am not taking any chances for human consumption.
I scrambled up 18 eggs with some milk & fed them to the feeder pigs.

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Who else has ever witnessed this phenomenon?
I can't say it was toxic but I have plenty more eggs where they came from so I ain't taking no chances. I should have hard boiled one to see if it made it into the membrane.
So if you have to wash your eggs, let them dry on paper, not a Great value Styrofoam carton..

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[GC-Raptor]

I wash all my eggs and air dry overnight in this. . I hang over sink on a hook. I collect in a pail, only clean eggs in basket. I candle in the morning and put them in fiber cartons and refrigerate. . Older eggs are on the right. GC

 

[Lazy Farmer]

fiber cartons

 

[Fairview01]

At 28 cents a piece, it's not worth the trouble nor my time to recycle used egg cartons. Ordered and shipped 13 Dec. Rcvd 15 Dec.

 

[lazy gardener]

Wow. Who'd think that styrofoam would leach color? I recycle egg cartons. Folks are happy to recycle them for me. Any that are not clean get tossed or burned. If I sold at a farmer's market, or to a store, I'd be buying cartons. But for my low volume, I do not mind recycling. It keeps more trash out of the land fills.

 

[Pensmaster]

I recycle cardboard ones. Styrofoam are tossed. Any dirty cardboard ones are composted.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

At 28 cents a piece, it's not worth the trouble nor my time to recycle used egg cartons. Ordered and shipped 13 Dec. Rcvd 15 Dec.

I get 65 eggs a day from my egg house alone. My low prices generate callers. If I tag on 48 cents for a carton, My refer fills up beyond capacity..

There are a million people selling eggs in my area for $2.50... @ two dollars, the phone rings off the hook. The answer is.. WASHED eggs dry in paper... not Walmart cartons..
I have over one hundred hens, Breeding in the winter is not feasible. Hanging baskets, drip dry or small scale back yard remedies don't apply. Thanks for the advice.. Going to save my money though. I wash the used cartons and sun dry them. Ultraviolet rays kill the bacteria but just don't place a damp egg into them.. Kinda a chemical reaction.

 

[Pensmaster]

I get 65 eggs a day from my egg house alone. My low prices generate callers. If I tag on 48 cents for a carton, My refer fills up beyond capacity..
View attachment 1216819
There are a million people selling eggs in my area for $2.50... @ two dollars, the phone rings off the hook. The answer is.. WASHED eggs dry in paper... not Walmart cartons..
I have over one hundred hens, Breeding in the winter is not feasible. Hanging baskets, drip dry or small scale back yard remedies don't apply. Thanks for the advice.. Going to save my money though. I wash the used cartons and sun dry them. Ultraviolet rays kill the bacteria but just don't place a damp egg into them.. Kinda a chemical reaction.

Wow I could double your money here in a heart beat. $5 a dozen. The guy I get spent grain from saves his cartons for me. I get about 15 from him every two weeks now. Giving him eggs goes a long way.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Wow I could double your money here in a heart beat. $5 a dozen. The guy I get spent grain from saves his cartons for me. I get about 15 from him every two weeks now. Giving him eggs goes a long way.

Yup, I could get $5-$6 a dozen where I live, if I ever had extras... I must need more chickens.

Gary

 

[Fairview01]

From a numbers standpoint I'm curious. You are getting 5 dozen eggs a day. Assuming you're selling that many a day at $2.00 per dozen, that's $10/day; $70 a week.

Does $70 a week cover feed costs for 100 birds, maintenance on your equipment and buildings, and your time devoted to the flock activities and washing cartons and the refrigeration and electricity for the frig. I'm just not seeing where you are able to stay in the black profit numbers.

I had a small business a long, long time ago. I learned two valuable lessons. Never work hard at losing money and winning the job with the lowest bid is never a guarantee there will be a profit.

I'm not able too get my arms around all the things you're doing and all the expenses I see and still break even at $2 a dozen at the end of each day.