Farm Fresh Eggs: To Refrigerate or Not to Refrigerate?

An often discussed and disputed aspect of chicken raising is whether or not to refrigerate your farm fresh eggs. So, as noted from my previous article  Farm Fresh Eggs: Wash or Unwashed we note that in the United States the USDA requires that eggs are washed, sanitized and re-sealed prior to entering the food market, contrarily eggs are required to be unwashed and in their natural state to enter the food market in many European countries. So if your buying your eggs from a grocery store in the Unites States, I might as well let you know that you may want to just bypass this article right here and right now, as this simply doesn't apply to your washed, sanitized and re-sealed eggs. However, education is a powerful thing so I suggest you read on. The USDA adherent eggs must be refrigerated to remain safe. 

The reason the United States insists that eggs are washed, sanitized and re-sealed, further still, refrigerated has to do with poultry farm standards. Let me give you a visual concept.

Here is a poultry egg farm adhering to the USDA guidelines.

Yikes those poor birds. So tightly packed in, no free ranging, just sitting there to lay. I don't see how this can frankly be healthy, nor entice me into heading to the grocer to purchase a dozen of eggs.v 

                        

      Here are some of my own chickens out on the front lawn free ranging

The USDA does not require that these hens in the poultry houses are vaccinated for salmonella, which is pretty disturbing considering they are packed like sardines in the perfect breeding environment for salmonella contamination. Britain has standardized practice that all chickens are to be vaccinated for Salmonella. They are virtually wiping out the health risks, funny same place that requires eggs be untreated, bloom in tact, no refrigeration necessary AND they require commonsense  vaccination. Are you catching a theme here, or is it just me?

So the USDA has come out and essentially said that they do not believe vaccinating the chickens for salmonella would alleviate the risk of contamination. Without the USDA requiring the vaccination, which would cost the egg producer less than a penny for every dozen eggs, there is essentially no incentive to vaccinate, as they are clearly are concerned with profit and not human safety, as sad as it is to say.

I find it disturbing that because of the unsanitary, overcrowded living conditions rampant in the large farming industry based for mass production, 80% of all antibiotics produced go to the farming industry. Something just seems completely illogical in all of this to me. I guess we have choices, move to Britain or start holding our own government monitoring system responsible for this clearly illogical thinking. I vote we start letter writing right now.

Whew! OK so back to to our farm fresh daily eggs and to refrigerate or not. It is actually far less complicated than the politics of the food industry and I assure you,  it is politics.

The eggs we are discussing here are farm fresh eggs that are fresh from the nesting box out of your own back yard. If you purchase your eggs from a local farmer, understand that they as well have to adhere to the USDA specifications for entering the market and unfortunately their eggs have most likely undergone the wash, sanitize, resealed process.  If in question, ask your egg supplier. If you are from a European country which offers farm fresh eggs unwashed and shelved, read on!

Eggshells are porous, there are roughly 7500 openings per egg, so lots of little cuticles taunting it's environment to come and invade. They are essentially open to easy entrance of contaminants, be they bacteria, odors, or tastes bouncing around their environment. However an unwashed farm fresh egg invokes the beauty of nature as upon exit of the hen producing it, a protective layer called the bloom is sealed about the egg, keeping contaminates at bay.

We look over to the European standards for the most efficient answer on storage of farm fresh eggs as their eggs are just that. They have said that to bring an egg from cold storage to room temperature could lead to condensation, which can promote bacterial growth. So the standard is for eggs to be consistently stored at room temperature. They further state that eggs should be transported and stored at a consistent temperature. In the cold months  temperature ranging between 66.2 °F and 69.8°F and in the warmer weather between 69.8 °F and 73.4 °F

So with your eggs out on the counter at room temperature you have between 7-10 days for use then for further longevity, pop them in the fridge. A refrigerated eggs standard of safety is between 30-45 days. I personally have heard backyard farmers who claim to have cold stored them and refrigerated them for much longer.For safety sake, I am comfortable with the 7-10 countertop and 30-45 days refrigeration. 

So farm fresh eggs,... refrigerate or not? I say for the first 10 days, not. After that refrigerate away in my opinion.

As a side bar, for those fertilized farm fresh eggs, left in the coop,...

Fresh Eggs To Wash Or Not?

There comes a point when you start raising chickens that the question arises should these fresh eggs be washed or not?
The question itself will raise a myriad of answers.
First let's see what the good old government has to say on the matter. The eggs sold and considered safe in the United States would be considered unsafe in the UK and other European Nations and vice versa. The USDA required that eggs be washed and sanitized prior to entering the food market, contrarily the European countries require the complete opposite. Grade A eggs in the European market are not to be washed prior to entering the grocery store shelves.
Across the pond the basic philosophy is that when a chicken lays an egg her body applies a protective layer to the shell called the "bloom". This is necessary as an egg shell is porous. If a farmer has clean practices, the eggs will be virtually clean and protected by the bloom from the entrance of bacteria and other little nasties.  I personally adhere to this belief system.
The United States washes, sanitizes and sprays a protective coating to the eggs prior to entering the market. Does this seem illogical to you? You wash off the protective coating to sanitize it and reapply an artifical protective coating? Illogical thinking at it's best.
So under what circumstances would you want to wash them? I would say if you collect your eggs and somehow they managed to be dirty whether with chicken poop or mud you may feel compelled to clean the eggs. I can understand that thinking. If you are sharing with family and do not want to get into the whole wash or not to wash, as well, explaining the many virtues of the bloom, there are two manners that you surely could undertake to remedy the not so pretty eggs.
To Clean the Eggs
1: Sand Paper. That's right sand paper from the good old hardware store. Many people prefer this method as it avoids wetting the eggs at all. You simply take a bit of sand paper and rub the surface of the eggs until they appear pretty enough. As you now have most likely removed a bit of the bloom apply a thin layer of mineral oil for good measure to add a protective barrier. Although fresh eggs will keep out on the counter for some time without refrigeration, after the bloom has been interfered with, these are the eggs you need to pop into the refrigerator for storage and eat before your fresh unwashed eggs.
2: Wash that bloom right off of your egg! Because eggs are porous it is recommended that you use water that is 20 degrees warmer than the eggs for washing. Cold water contracts the porous eggshell and is said to draw the exterior bacteria and such inside of the egg. Pretty nasty business. So how do you know what is 20 degrees warmer than the egg? Just use hot water. Boiling is not necessary but beyond room temperature, a notch above warm. The few times I have had to do this because I have muddy ducks that will often muck up the lower nesting boxes. I run hot water bringing the egg and a fresh paper towel under the stream and rub, rub, rub.  Then dry the eggs and apply a light coat of mineral oil to reseal it and pop into the refrigerator and plan to eat them before the fresh unwashed eggs.

How can you manage to keep your eggs pretty and not in need of a wash?

1:  Keep your nest boxes as clean as possible. Plan on adding fresh shavings or your choice of medium daily. Or as often as needed to maintain sanitary conditions.

2. Check for eggs often. Get to know your girls laying patterns and be sure to check the nesting boxes throughout the day. The less time an egg sits in the nesting box, the less likely a second or even third hen will come  to lay an egg and in the process step on it the already layed egg with their dirty feet and rub it with less than pristine feathers.

3: Make sure you have sufficient nesting boxes for the amount of chickens you have. Typically one nesting box for every 4-5 five hens is the recommendation. This  unfortunately isn't always a guarantee as sometimes one of two nesting boxes get picked as favorites by the girls and they tend to stand around next to any empty nesting box while clucking up a storm to get the other girls moving along and out of their favorite box. However build them, and the potential is there for equal use.

4: Make sure the entrance to the nesting box are is clean. I have generally used shavings in the coop and just a dirt floor in the run. When my flock free ranged this worked out perfectly, however since we have been in lockdown from the fox attack I am finding this method less and less attractive as we house chickens and ducks together. I am planning to add construction sand to the coop floor and run in the next few weekends and then I will daily scoop out the run and coop of foreign matter aka poop. A clean entrance to the box helps in having less muck and yuck on the feet and feathers of your girls.

5: Try and keep your hens using the nesting boxes for laying only. A broody hen is the one area you don't particularly have control over the situation. However a broody hen doesn't lay. There will be no eggs to collect from her. Leave her nesting box be until she hatches out her little flock.  As long as the other nesting boxes are kept clean and egg free the broody hen will direct herself right back to her nesting box that she had been setting on when she exits for short spurts to eat and drink. The other boxes will be free and clean to the rest of your girls.

So to wash or not to wash? Me personally if at all avoidable, Unwashed!