I’ve kept a flock for eight years, twelve hens and one rooster with a bad attitude. The first thing most new egg keepers want to know is whether to wash their eggs. Short answer, no, not if you can help it. The longer answer depends on when you collect, how clean your nest boxes keep them and where they sit afterward, so here’s the whole routine.
Collect in the Morning, Then Again Before Supper
Hens are morning layers, and eggs are typically laid in the morning hours. So a trip to the nest boxes mid-morning catches most of the day’s eggs, and a second one before supper gets the late ones.
Collect twice a day if you can, at least. The longer an egg sits in the nest, the dirtier it gets, the likelier it is to get broken, and the lower its quality.
Any egg with a crack goes in the trash, not the carton, because bacteria get in through the crack. And wash your hands with soap when you’re done, even on the trip where you only grabbed two eggs.
Wondering how many eggs to expect? Our free egg production calculator works out a week and a year for your flock, by breed and age.
A Hen Laying in the Straw Is a Hen Hiding Eggs
A hen lays wherever she feels tucked away. If that’s a corner of the run instead of a nest box, you’ve got a problem. When hens hide eggs, you won’t know how old they are.
The float test won’t save you here either. It only tells you about the air cell (not the day the egg was laid). A stray pile of eggs you find in the straw goes in the trash. You don’t know when they were laid, so you don’t know how long they’ve sat out.
The fix is a nest box she’d rather use. The basics:
- boxes about a foot square
- higher than the ground but lower than the roosts
- no more than five hens to a box
- about 2 inches of clean, dry bedding in each one
For my twelve that works out to three boxes at the least. Clean the boxes out and add fresh litter at least every two weeks. Honestly, clean bedding does more for clean eggs than anything you’ll ever do at the sink.
Dry-Brush Them and Leave the Bloom Alone
Every egg comes out of the hen with a thin coat on the shell called the cuticle, or the bloom. It’s waxy, it seals the shell’s pores, it fights microbes, and it slows the loss of quality. Brushing, washing or rough handling takes it off.
So for a lightly dirty egg, go dry. Clean off dirt carefully with fine sandpaper, a brush or a cloth. A fairly clean egg only needs a dry cloth. Sandpaper takes some bloom with it too, so work only on the dirty spot and leave the rest of the shell alone.
Don’t wash warm, fresh eggs in colder water. Wash water can get sucked in through the pores. And you’re not required to wash eggs for your own use at all.
If one’s too dirty to brush, here’s how:
- water at least 90°F, and at least 20°F warmer than the egg
- a food-safe detergent in the water
- one egg at a time, rubbed clean, never left to soak
- rinse it, dry it, then straight into the fridge
Soaking for even 1 to 3 minutes can let bacteria in, so don’t fill the sink. For a truly filthy one from my own birds, I’d skip all that and toss it.
Found a blood spot, a soft shell or a double yolk? Our free What’s Wrong With This Egg tool tells you if it’s safe to eat and why hens lay them.
Fridge, Not Counter, and Keep Them Cold
Once the days get long, a flock can hand you a pile of eggs. Hens need 14 to 16 hours of light to lay, which is why laying drops off in winter. When they’re coming in fast, they all go in the fridge, as soon as possible after you gather them.
Once an egg’s been cold, keep it cold. A cold egg left out at room temperature can sweat, and that moisture helps bacteria move into the egg. The limit is 2 hours out of the fridge. Quality drops fast on the counter too. An egg sitting at 75°F can drop as much as one grade in a day.
Skip the egg tray in the door. Keep eggs at 40°F or below, in their carton, in the coldest part of the fridge, large end up. Kept that way, raw eggs in the shell last 3 to 5 weeks. Don’t freeze them in the shell.
Write the collection date on every carton so you’re not guessing later. If you do lose track, the float test is a decent check. An egg that floats has a big air cell, which means lower quality, though it may still be safe. Crack it into a separate bowl and smell it before it goes near anything else.
Got a carton you’re not sure about? Our free egg float test shows what sinks, tilts, stands and floats mean, washed or unwashed, fridge or counter.
Sources: NC State Extension; Virginia Department of Agriculture (VDACS); CDC; USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service; Penn State Extension; UC Cooperative Extension, egg handling guide.
Related read: How to Raise Chickens for Eggs — Instant PDF download. Secure checkout by Stripe
