Allotments 4 All

Produce => Kept Animals => Topic started by: chicken girl on January 29, 2011, 12:03:44

Title: to clean or not to clean
Post by: chicken girl on January 29, 2011, 12:03:44
should you clean mucky eggs with a damp cloth, does anyone clean theirs ????
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: grannyjanny on January 29, 2011, 13:24:50
How mucky are they?
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: saddad on January 29, 2011, 13:52:58
When we kept chickens in the 70's and had an egg round we always washed them... it was a check for any strays not left in the nest boxes (the off ones float!) and they looked better for the customers...
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: pumkinlover on January 29, 2011, 14:39:09
We always wash ours, when OH comes back from the plot in the morning he warms his hands in whats left of the washing up water and the eggs as well.
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: birdsrfun on January 29, 2011, 15:21:15
When you wash the eggs make sure the water is warmer than the egg so any nasty micro's don't get drawn in to the shell which is porus, then dry. They say to use a special sanitiser but I never have. If they are for your own use you can take the chance, you know how 'clean' your hen houses are..
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: pumkinlover on January 29, 2011, 16:48:23
Thanks for that info. will make sure.
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: cocopops on January 29, 2011, 20:10:55
I never normally clean my hen's eggs, in the winter it is normally their muddy feet that makes them dirty.  I just give them a quick rinse under the tap before I use them and crack them in to a cup so if any muck falls in I can throw it away.
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: chicken girl on January 29, 2011, 22:28:20
grannyjanny there are not that mucky just from mud
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: teresa on January 31, 2011, 14:10:36
I dont wash eggs either, you wash them then the natural ageing proscess starts.
With this weather I have woodshavings  in the nest boxes so when my girls scrat around to make a nest to lay they clean their feet the same time.
There are woodshavings on the floor of hen house but its worth putting them in the nest boxes.
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: Morris on January 31, 2011, 21:18:46
I only wipe mine (with kitchen towel and warm water) if they have definite chicken poo on them, otherwise so far as I gather from my research it is better to leave them.  The shells are naturally protective and anti-bacterial until they are washed when their coating is then removed.  Also there is a risk, as birdsrfun has said, of actually transferring disease into the shell because the shell is porous.

One of my hens has a tendency to lay in the roost in the midst of the night's droppings... I know who the bad girl is as they all lay different coloured eggs... >:(  ... those eggs are really filthy mucky so do I wash them, keep in the fridge, and use quickly for fully cooked dishes.

My sister, however, who has been keeping hens for 30 years, always washes hers because they look nicer.  Her chickens are properly free-range and have very muddy feet and odd laying habits  ;D  She has never, so far as we know, had any egg related problems.

So perhaps it is a matter of preference...
Title: Re: to clean or not to clean
Post by: Le-y on February 16, 2011, 08:49:07
we dont wash ours