Should you wash your fresh backyard eggs or not? 

I keep mine on the counter.
But there are two schools of thought…
In the US the commercial suppliers wash the eggs and then they are refrigerated
Why?
When the eggs are laid, ?
There is a clear bloom that is naturally put on the outside of the shell to protect the pores in the shell
And that’s so that if the egg is going to be incubated and have a chick hatch, any diseases can’t get inside the shell to harm the chick as it is developing. 

So the bloom actually seals the holes, the pores in the shell, and helps the chick to develop all the way to being able to hatch out of the shell.
That’s the purpose of the bloom. 

So if you wash the eggs, you wash that bloom off.
Now you’ve exposed all the pores in the shell.
And that’s why you have to refrigerate them
Because otherwise things you don’t want, like salmonella, could get into the egg causing a problem if you use them for food.
So how long can you keep eggs? 

Well, you could keep your eggs on the counter like I do for as long as a month.
I rotate them, the oldest get used first. 

I also have family and friends that I give eggs to, so they help me go through them a little faster. But you can keep them out in room temperature for a month.
You do wash them right before you use them.
If your henhouse is clean, if your nest box where the eggs are laid is clean, then your eggs are clean.
A lot of people do wash them right away from their hen house and put them in the fridge.
If I happen to crack one by accident, for example when I’m collecting eggs for the day, ?
That one I wash right away and put in the fridge
I know it didn’t go bad because I just knocked it and cracked it.
So that one, I still use. 

If I find one cracked out in the hen house, I throw it away because I don’t know how long it was that way. ?
If you sell your eggs to other people, you need to look at your local ordinances for selling backyard. ?
They call them ‘nesting eggs’ and see what the local ordinances are about whether or not you have to wash them before you sell them.
Let’s say you’ve got some eggs and you’re not sure if they’re good or bad anymore.
How do you tell? ?
Well, you can do that with a bowl of water. 

You set up a bowl of water and you put an egg in it, a raw egg in the shell.
If it’s fresh, it’s going to sink to the bottom and lay on its side.
If it goes to the bottom but it stands on an end, it’s still good to eat, but it’s not fresh.
If it floats to the top, it’s a bad egg and toss it.
So that’s how you tell if your eggs are good or bad if you’re not sure.
So whether you keep your fresh eggs on the counter or put them in the fridge …
That is a personal choice.
Remember … Be The Organic U – Feed Your Soul
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