Gathering eggs for a friend - do I wash them?

[amcal]

I've never gathered fresh eggs before but, a friend has gone out of town and I'm gathering her eggs for her. She says we can keep them - yay!!!! But, I'm not sure what to do with them - do I wash them? If so, do I use soap or some other type of antibacterial wash?

Also, how long are they good for? It's hot outside and the eggs might be out there for a couple hours before I collect them.

[1jooj]

They should be fine as long as you collect daily. I only wash the dirty ones, and I use a mixture of vinegar and water. I don't know what other folks do, but this works for us.

[mattemma04]

Over at the backyard chicken forum they mention something about a protective film/coating on the eggs.I don't wash mine unless it has poop on them.

As for how long they are good for I have read for months in the cooler.We generally use ours up in a week or 2.Oh and sometimes I don't collect my eggs either for a while ,but I do get them each day or early the next if there was an afternoon layer.Our coop is a metal shed but it seems to stay cooler inside.I have yet to crack open a nasty egg,or get sick from any of our eggs.

Lol, I am more worried about parasites in the eggs.Seen some pics of that which really churn my tummy.

I tell anyone who gets my eggs to just let me know if they get bad ones and I will replace them.Before I got hens I bought from a lady whose parents had chickens.There was a bad egg in the bunch.Nasty smelly thing for sure,but I got over it.

[FarmerCathy]

Hi,

The best thing to do is not wash them until you use them. To get poop off use a piece of sand paper so you don't wash the coating off the egg. This is what they do in Europe. They don't ever wash their eggs. HTH

[FarmerCathy]

Oh, and eggs are good for 70 days.

[amcal]

Awesome! Thank you!

A quick question. We gathered 3 eggs yesterday but only two made it home. DD accidently left one on a table outside in the shade. It was there from 5pm last night until 10am this morning. It's been cloudy but warm here - in the 80s/90s.

Should I toss the egg?

[FarmerCathy]

Toss it or give it to a dog if you have one. It's probably fine, but if they have a rooster cell division does start at 68 degrees.

[amcal]

ACK!!! We ate it! I cracked it and it smelled fine so we ate it. They do have a rooster but, he's only like 4 months old. Uggg..... is it a problem?

[EdnaMarie]

Looks like you have good advice here. I don't even expect the poop washed off... I'll do it myself! Even store-bought eggs in the US are not washed, at least not most of them, as that drastically reduces the shelf-life.

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by amcal

ACK!!! We ate it! I cracked it and it smelled fine so we ate it. They do have a rooster but, he's only like 4 months old. Uggg..... is it a problem?

Like I said it should be fine. I just tend to give those and really dirty eggs to the dogs.