To Wash or Not Wash Chicken Eggs

A lot of people do not know that when a chicken lays an egg it leaves a bloom on the egg that naturally protects it from bacteria or the elements.  That is why when people ask me “do you feel safe eating your eggs?” that I want to say sometimes…”do you feel safe eating eggs from the grocery store?”  Here’s the thing in the grocery store you don’t know what the factory or farm looks like even when they say they are organic while I don’t know the specific criteria I would say in many cases they are overcrowded and probably would not meet your standards.  We have farmers that are quitting the chicken raising business because it such horrifying work.

See Video here about Chicken Farmer quitting his job:  I saw this posted on Reddit and feel that I have to share with everyone.

Let me clarify we do eat chicken eggs from the grocery store too sometimes we run out I mean we only have 4 chickens currently, and my husband, my lineman football player son and I can eat a lot of eggs each week.  I know not everyone wants to raise chickens or live where they can raise chickens.  It’s not for everyone but we love raising them we love their chicken antics and their fresh delicious eggs!

When you know what your chickens are eating and you know the quality of life they live in it is just peace of mind.  I know what my chicken coop looks like and my husband and I make sure to keep our chicken coop as clean and neat as possible.

Chickens really require very little care and maintenance considering the wonderful and delicious eggs that they give you just about every day of the year unless they are moulting or sick.

Without knowing it I  intuitively was not washing our eggs here at our Lil’ Suburban Homestead unless the egg is in very bad shape and sometimes that happens chickens will stomp on them or soil them excessively without meaning too.  I can vouch that we have kept chickens for about a 18 years off and on and we have not gotten sick yet so trust me it’s not soiled eggs because they are protected by the bloom the chicken leaves on each egg.  Isn’t it amazing how it all works?

I don’t know how it all works but I do know that chicken eggs have a bloom on them and you wouldn’t want to wash that off unless you absolutely had to at the same time you don’t want to store soiled eggs  that are ridiculously dirty which happens from time to time so you have to use your food safety instincts too….I mean “Hey they are chickens!

Anyway its always good to read what others are thinking on the same subject as well.

Fondly,