Free-range eggs......how do they get the poop off?

[Katymac]

When I get eggs out my chickens run they are covered in poop

I don't wash they - as my mum always told me not to wash eggs or the "seal" would be broken

So how do free-range eggs arrive at the supermarket/farmersmarket so clean?

Can you wash them?
(Is my mum wrong?)

do you have laying boxes for them or just a big coop?
you aren't supposed to wash them because the shell is porous so dirt can get in. free range ones in sainsburys sometimes have feathers on so i don't think they wash them

When I worked at a poultry farm ages ago (not freerange), they cleaned the eggs by brushing off dry poop with a sandpaper on a block.
I think you are right not to wash them.

Never thought that bit of information would ever come in useful!

Sandpaper

Wow - the things you learn

Perhaps you should make sure their nestbox straw is kept clean too.
The sandpapering was for eggs destined for a hatchery, but I guess it would work for home chickens too.

But doesn't the sandpaper break the seal too?

I wipe ours with damp kitchen towel - we've three laying boxes for 7 hens but they all use the same box and even though I put fresh straw in everyday, the eggs still get dirty. And when the run is really muddy, the eggs get absolutely filthy!

You can wipe them, but you are supposed to use water that is warmer than the eggs, because of the shells being porous, that supposedly then stops any nasties entering the egg.

That's what we do with our eggs anyway.
Our chickens all use the same box too!

Last I heard, the EU was debating whether or not eggs should be washed. Some countries, think it's the US and Sweden, actually require all eggs to be washed before going on sale.

We have the same problem, especially with duck eggs as they lay them on the floor of the house so inevitably get a bit mucky. I tend to pop them in the fridge and then wipe them with warm water later on.

Wow, I have never ever thought about this!

Blimey I have been gaily washing my chickens eggs in complete ignorance[vom]

I don't think I've ever been ill as a result of eating a washed egg!

Farmer friend of mine visited loads of chicken/egg farms recently and, although they're not supposed to, they all seemed to have a bucket and cloth at the ready. I think in the larger free-range houses a lot of the hens don't actually get to go outside - huge numbers of birds milling around inside and a bit of bullying around the pop-holes. Also, they mostly lay their eggs in an area where they roll down onto a moving line. Little chance for the eggs to get dirtied with poo or by muddy feet.

Great tip about the warm water. I had no idea that that worked on keeping the nasties out. Tonight I will mostly be cleaning eggs.