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Six Tips For Cleaning Your Backyard Eggs

eggs in a bowl

If you got chicks in the early spring, you may be lucky enough to start seeing the first eggs from them. Isn't it exciting to come out to the coop to see those first eggs lying in the nesting box!

Once the eggs start coming, how do you deal with the ones that look less-than pristine?

There are a few steps you can take to ensure your eggs look as beautiful as they taste:

Collect eggs daily or, better yet, twice a day. It goes without saying that the less time eggs spend in the nesting box, the less chance they have of getting dirty.

Preventing dirt from ever getting on them is the best way to keep eggs clean. Make sure your nesting boxes aren't used for roosting at night. If your roosts are above the nesting box, make sure the nesting areas are covered. Clean your nesting box at least weekly and replace with fresh shavings.

Provide one nesting box for every three to four chickens. You may find that everyone wants to lay eggs in the same box. Even so, you need to offer enough nesting boxes so the hens will be encouraged to lay there instead of, say, outside in the mud or rain. Hens like their nesting boxes to be dark and private so that they feel safe while laying eggs. Make sure yours are not near an open, busy area of the coop.

Eggs covered in small amounts of dirt and debris can be cleaned off with some fine sandpaper or emery cloth. If sandpaper isn't enough, you'll probably have to wash.

Wash the eggs in water at least 20 degrees (F) warmer than the egg. I recommend making sure the water is almost -- but not quite -- too hot to put your hands in. This prevents the insides of the egg from contracting and pulling in any bacteria through the porous shell. Use unscented soap. Perfumes and other scents in many soaps can soak into the shell. I use an unscented castile soap-based dish washing liquid and it works quite well. Let the eggs dry completely before packing them into an egg carton.

You could also dip the eggs into a solution of one tablespoon bleach to one gallon of hot water.

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