Monday, May 2, 2011 Hens are temporarily indoors due to fowl weather
ecoeggs 
We apologise for the hens not being allowed out to play much over the past fortnight. The weather has been fowl! All our farms have been troubled with regular storms with heavy rain and winds. Hens can tolerate light rain but they do not like heavy rain or high winds.
As a result the pastures are quite wet at the moment. So when the hens go out they return with very dirty feet and hens are notorious for not wiping their feet. When they walk this into the nests it can stain the eggs. Unlike some other producers we do not wash our eggs as it can increase the risk of contamination and reduces the life span of the eggs. We know most of you don't like like dirty eggs, hence our dilemma. Please be assured our hens will be out as soon as possible, and we will post an update here, on Twitter and Facebook.
Weather and filed in Farm Updates
Reader Comments (2)
How do you know that "most of us don't like dirty eggs"????
I would love to see eggs with dirt or even chookshit over them. That's how we used to get our eggs and we knew that they were fresh.
Perhaps you would like to poll us and ascertain what the percentage of people "don't like dirty eggs". You might be pleasantly surprised!
Just imagine, if you don't have to clean the eggs! What a saving in man/womanpower!!!
Go for it!
Joe W
I suspect you might be in the minority liking dirty eggs, although I too remember getting them like this from our neighbour when I was a kid. But I can assure you being dirty is not a great indicator of being fresh, it just means they are dirty ;-)
Still, I might do a poll just for interest, you might be right!
Just to clarify though, we don't clean the eggs, and cannot sell dirty ones. Dirty eggs are separated on the grading floor. It's bad practice to wash or wet wipe the eggs at this stage as it degrades the outer protective layer and risks contamination inside the egg. Eggs shells are porous. It's OK if you want to wash them, but don't do it until you are ready to eat them. For other tips on keeping eggs fresh search our FAQ and blog.