do you / should you wash eggs

Hi, Should you wash eggs before eatting or incubating? What would you use?
Thanks Geri

We sell eggs at the local farmers' markets under a letter of approval from the local health unit. We are required to wash the eggs with potable water. No bleaches or soaps, but just straight water. Since eggs shells are porous the water should be warmer than the eggs. I avoid washing hatching eggs as I like to keep the bloom intact. I don't use dirty eggs for hatching although occasionally will clean a small spot on the egg.

I do wash my eggs, I use a dishwashing liquid on my eating eggs, just a quick dip, wipe, rinse. Do not soak them in the water. For really dirty eggs I generally feed them back to the dogs/chickens.
For incubating I just rinse with warm water if need be. Generally I keep deeply bedded nests to prevent dirty eggs, but we all know they do happen, so when they do I just wash them off. If too dirty I do not use them.

I always wash my eating eggs with a dribble of luke warm water coming from the tap, warmer than the eggs and set them in a strainer to dry and then on a towel to finish drying once they have airdried. Incubation eggs I do not wash. If there is a little dirt I will wipe that gently off with a damp cloth, but very lightly. Really dirty eggs. Don't use them in the incubator. I think the bloom is an important part of the egg covering that keeps the embryos inside safe from outside bacteria getting in. Although I hear of many people that sanitize the eggs before they go in the incubator. Who knows. I think it is just a personal preference. I too have birds that rarely give a dirty egg, the nest boxes are like a shining star to them, and rarely is there ever anything bad in their nestbox, smiling. Think they know to poop first, then go into the box. Eggs and poop all come out the same spot, surely they must know to poop first!! Have a most wonderful day, CynthiaM.

I wash my eggs in HOT water. Put eggs in bucket of HOT water, watch for rising bubbles as this alerts me to cracks in the shell. Wipe down with a little rag designated for this purpose, then set eggs in wire basket to air dry. Really gross eggs get tossed. With my eyes not working as well as they used to, it is helpful to see that air bubbles rising from a cracked shell, since sometimes I don't notice the cracks like I used to!

For hatching I will wipe a dirty spot. But try very hard to only set clean eggs, you don't want muck in your bator.

I don't really wash them for us. I'll wipe them clean from any shavings, or spot wash any yucky spots but our nests are fairly clean.
I've wiped poop of hatching eggs but that's it.
I think the bloom is more beneficial, but I'm no expert.

I will wash eating eggs with Sever Oaks Egg washing compound mixed with water. I do not wash hatching eggs.

I did an experiment last year with my EE eggs I hatched – half the eggs were washed in warm water and dipped in a hot water/bleach solution. The other half were left all natural, bloom intact; (all were clean though, no poop or crud of any kind). I had an equal number of chicks hatch from both batches, so no real, notable difference.

That said I prefer to wash and sanitize eggs before incubating. The warm, moist environment inside an incubator is the perfect breeding ground for all kinds of nasties that I’d rather NOT be incubating along with my eggs, if you know what I mean.

I agree it also help to keep your incubator a bit cleaner

Flicker Chick wrote:I did an experiment last year with my EE eggs I hatched – half the eggs were washed in warm water and dipped in a hot water/bleach solution. The other half were left all natural, bloom intact; (all were clean though, no poop or crud of any kind). I had an equal number of chicks hatch from both batches, so no real, notable difference.

That said I prefer to wash and sanitize eggs before incubating. The warm, moist environment inside an incubator is the perfect breeding ground for all kinds of nasties that I’d rather NOT be incubating along with my eggs, if you know what I mean.