So they laid eggs.

Congratulations!

I don't wash until I use the eggs. We gather daily, so I don't usually have any sitting in the henhouse. I have kept mine on the kitchen counter, rather than the fridge, woithout problems.

Aren't fresh eggs gorgeous?

congrats on your first eggs!!!

we are waiting...waiting...waiting for our latest flock to start laying.

oh like the pp, we only wash if there is poop on them. and as long as it is not the heat of the summer...we sometimes let them sit in the coop for aseveral days (we don't have any roosters).

IMO, it's best to collect daily. If eggs are dirty, they can be washed just prior to use, but should not be washed before then. That film you mentioned is supposed to be there, it's protection. If you wash it off (it will come off with just water), the egg is more vulnerable to bacteria getting through the shell and growing, and won't stay fresh as long because too much moisture gets out without the protective film.

If you want to mark some of the eggs for you hen to set on, just put an X with a pencil on them. The collect all the other eggs daily.

Fertile eggs do not develop until they are set on. So if you gather fertile eggs daily and bring them inside, they will not develop, even if they are setting on your counter, unless you keep your house as warm as a hens bottom!

Just wanted to chime in and say that eggs will last weeks outside with no refrigeration, even in summer... the hens in our back yard are free-ranging and like to get creative about where they lay, so periodically we'll come across a stash of 20 or so eggs. The ones that pass the water test get eaten, and we've only had one or two failures in the 5 years the hens have been around.

The water test is how to tell if they're fresh enough to eat - submerge an egg in water, and if it floats, it's bad. If it stands up on one end, you *can* still eat it but you'll want to cook it thoroughly. Anything more horizontal is totally ok.

My grannie never refrigerates her eggs. They're in the pantry, and she buys a couple dozen at a time. She thought it was weird, putting eggs in the fridge.

I collect eggs daily, only wash when I am going to use them, if they have poo on them. I never have worried about how long they will be good, I figured weeks if not longer.