How do you clean your eggs? To remove dirt and poo?

[Flingmoo]

A lot of our eggs have a fair amount of poo, dirt, etc on them, especially as our chickens have not learnt to sleep and lay in the 'correct' places!

I am wondering what is the best way to clean off the dirt and poo?

At first I was using a dry piece of kitchen towel to brush off the worst of the dirt but this doesn't always work wonders. My husband has sometimes been washing them with water but I hear this is not ideal unless you're going to use the egg straight away.

Any advice? I'd like to give some eggs away to family as we're starting to have a surplus now, but I'd feel bad giving them a box of dirty eggs!

I have been gently washing mine under a cool tap and then storing in the fridge. Have never had any problems at all with eggs going off.
I have only recently read that you shouldn't wash them, and have been keeping chickens for about 5 yrs and not had a problem.

Yeah I have been wondering about that. I do the same use paper towel to brush off the worst and wipe some. I store mine in a NT egg storer in the kitchen but it is cold in there as the walls are stone. Still getting a few eggs.

You should really avoid washing eggs as getting them wet takes off the protective 'bloom' and makes them porous. If you must do it then use warm water as cold water creates a vacuum that actually draws bacteria in faster! Never let the eggs soak in dirty water. If you have washed them you should make sure you use them as soon as possible.
The best thing is to try and make sure the coop is as clean and dry as possible so they don't get dirty in the first place, but obviously some still will. If you can manage to collect the eggs as early as possible then often the poo is still damp and you can wipe it off with a bit of hay or something before it dries on.

I let the poo dry, brush it off and then try to use them quickly. Sometimes I serve them as boiled eggs if I'm worried about contamination.

And put your chooks on the roost every night to teach them where to sleep.