Do you need to Refrigerate Eggs and Wash Them?
When Raising Chickens For Eggs, It's Good to Know How to Store Your Eggs
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Do eggs need to be refrigerated and washed? If you keep backyard chickens, the washing and storage of eggs are the two most controversial egg-related topics among avid owners of backyard chickens. One side says you should learn how to wash fresh eggs and wash every egg before you store it; while the other side says only wash a really dirty egg and only wash them just before use. One side says you should refrigerate eggs as soon as possible; the other side says no refrigeration is needed.
After I wrote an article about determining if an egg is fresh (because many people wonder how to perform an egg freshness test), I had many questions about whether or not to refrigerate eggs, or wash them. This inspired me to take a good look at the questions of do you need need to refrigerate eggs and do backyard chicken eggs need to be washed.
The truth is that you should not wash any egg that is to be stored unless you plan on using it within a week. If you feel you must wash an egg and you will not be able to use it within a week, be sure the water is 20 degrees warmer than the egg and no warmer than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Some people use a cleaning mixture of 4 tablespoons bleach with 2 tablespoons of detergent in 1 gallon of water. Wipe off any loose dirt or chicken poop with a clean, dry cloth. Wash it in this solution of bleach and detergent and rinse well with clean warm water. Never dry the egg with a cloth; allow it to air dry. Commercial egg plants wash their eggs in chlorine bleach and soap. YUCK!
I don’t wash any egg that I’m going to store. If one of the chicken eggs has dirt or chicken poop on it, I wipe it off with a clean dry cloth and put it where I can use it next, but I don’t wash it until just before I use it.
Why I don’t wash my chicken eggs
The reason I do not wash eggs is simple and is one of the more interesting egg facts you’ll ever learn: Eggshells are covered with a thin, protective membrane that is destroyed by washing. By not washing, the membrane is left intact and the egg keeps longer.
It’s pretty safe to assume that any egg has bacteria on it and egg washers cite this as the reason they wash their eggs. But the truth is, washing an egg and removing the protective membrane makes it more likely that bacteria can get inside the shell. Bacteria love moisture, so adding it along with removing the membrane, creates the perfect environment for bacteria to breed, increasing the risk of egg penetration. Whether or not to wash an egg is a personal decision. However, I feel very adamant that not washing the egg is the best way.
Is it necessary to refrigerate eggs?
Well, now that may seem like a silly question to us in an age of modern refrigeration, but in many countries, backyard chicken eggs are not refrigerated. As a matter of fact, old-timers did not refrigerate eggs. My great-grandmother and my grandmother had egg baskets to keep their eggs.
The old-timers used to store their eggs in crocks, barrels, or baskets. If they had a large supply, they would fill the container with sawdust or straw and store it in a cool place like their root cellar or basement. They stored them small end down to keep the air pocket in its natural place.
There have been scientific studies done in an attempt to answer the question, do eggs need to be refrigerated? They have proven that there is no difference in the bacteria levels of cold storage eggs versus room temperature eggs. You have to decide what you feel comfortable with.
They don’t refrigerate eggs in other countries.
Here in the U.S., cold storage is considered the best way to keep eggs by most people. However, in other countries like France, Britain, and most of Europe, they don’t refrigerate eggs. Our commercial method is to keep eggs stored between 35 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. They say that when kept at this temperature, with an adequate humidity level, eggs will keep for 100 days. Be careful storing your eggs next to something smelly like an onion because they have lots of tiny pores and will absorb odors.
I store my yard eggs in my egg basket at room temperature. They must not be placed in direct sunlight or next to a heat source. I keep some in the kitchen in a basket and the rest in the room where I keep my preserved garden produce. It is not heated so it remains a pretty even, cool temperature, and the humidity is good.
How long are backyard chicken eggs good?
As a general rule, eggs are good for 6 weeks. Those who support the refrigeration of eggs say that you can keep eggs in the fridge for up to 100 days at the right temperature and humidity level (like we talked about above). Washed eggs have been proven to spoil within a month or less.
As always, I do not try to set myself up as an authority on any subject. I am just an experienced farmer with generations of chicken keeping to rely on. Where do you stand on this issue? Are you a washer or a non-washer? Do eggs need to be refrigerated?
Be sure to share your experiences, ideas, and tips in the comments below and remember you can always use the Contact Me page at The Farmer’s Lamp for any questions, suggestions, or concerns you may have.
Originally published in 2015 and regularly vetted for accuracy.
I do not wash my eggs and they are on the kitchen counter. I generally give my excess away so I’m not inundated. If I have a bad one and can’t pick it off, I once in a while wash it and put in fridg to use soon. I try to keep my nest boxes clean so the eggs are generally nice, too.
I sell my eggs to the public from my back porch. Tho’ I am not regulated by the Health Department , I follow their guidelines for the sale of my eggs. My chickens get a lot of their eggs really dirty, so I do wash mine and refrigerate them. However, I would never use bleach or soap to wash them. YUK, indeed!
I have a dorm-type fridge on my back porch where I keep eggs for my customers. There is a locked mail box above it for their payment, and a small security camera connected to an app on my phone that watches over the whole transaction. This works well when I have to be away from home or don’t won’t to interact with my them…
I wash my eggs and store them in the fridge. I don’t have the time while baking to go wash eggs & wash my hands up afterward. It is just not efficient. I also don’t have space to store eggs on a shelf and really dislike the thought of raw chicken poop on a shelf, counter, in the fridge or on my carton/egg basket inside the house.
I spray cleaning strength vinegar on the eggshell after gently brushing off dirt/poop under fairly warm running water, & then rinse it afterward under the fairly warm running water. This is a much safer alternative to using bleach in the water and has been proven to kill salmonella!
My eggs have stayed fresh for quite some time. I have rarely had any go bad, and I suspect those would be minimally cracked ones that I must have missed, which would go bad in any situation.
I certainly am not an experienced egg producer or anything else, however, when I stayed with an organic fruit farmer in Australia, he also had many free range chickens and his system was never to wash the eggs but use some sandpaper to gently sand away any dirt on the eggs.
The reason being that he said the shells were very porous and if you washed the eggs the soil and bacteria would be absorbed through the porous membrane.when wet.
I do not wash any eggs. Any visibly dirty eggs go in a separate compartment in my fridge. These I scramble up and only feed back to the chickens and dogs. All other clean eggs are refrigerated for family use and giving away to friends. I have thought about the sandpaper method but that must also “scrape” away the protective bloom.
I use Poultry Egg Cleaning Wipes to remove any obvious poop as needed. (It happens) Then I store them in the fridge. Like Laurie stated above, I like being able to take out what eggs I need without having to start washing them etc. I store them in Plastic Egg Containers that I routinely clean and wash. My family brings their own containers to get “Free Refills” when needed. I Love giving eggs as gifts to visitors or workers. In 6 years of having layers, I have never had a problem with an egg. Especially dirty or slightly cracked eggs are scrambled and fed back to the chickens. I always give my chickens scrambled eggs when they are molting for the extra protein or when one is feeling poorly. Little chicks love their scrambled eggs.
I grew up on an old chicken farm in upstate New York and we just gathered the eggs and brought them in.. Maybe a quick wipe if they had crap on it. They would be good for a couple of weeks sitting in the basket. Rinse if you see something before cracking open and using. If one ever went bad you knew it.
No wash, no refrigeration! Only if visibly dirty, will I wash an egg just before using it. Best way, ancient way! Why do we always think we need to improve on some of the simplest, best methods if doing things? Humans…..
Most of the people that get eggs from me like that they are NOT washed. It gives them more room in their fridge. I always have stacks of eggs on my counter and my girls, surprisingly, are very clean when laying. There are some people that want the eggs washed. I DO NOT use chemicals when washing. I have a bath glove I use (scrubby type from the Dollar Store) and running water. Also, I have a 4hp blower/dryer (cool air) so I if I don’t want to have them out air drying, I “blow dry” them and put them straight in the fridge.