How to Collect Clean Eggs
- Donna Weekes
- Jun 23, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 19
For many backyard chicken keepers, collecting clean eggs is a primary goal. However, many factors influence the the cleanliness of your eggs. The systems you have set up in your coop and run are essential to ensuring success.
NESTING MATERIAL
The primary purpose of nesting material are to protect the eggs from breakage when the hen lays them and to facilitate cleaning of the nest box. Because a hen squats when laying eggs, nest bottoms should be cushioned to prevent shells from breaking as eggs drop from a hen's vent.
Some chicken keepers mistakenly believe that nesting boxes should provide a comfortable seating area for hens, but nesting material is not intended to provide a cozy sanctuary for hens to settle in for the long-haul.
Hens have tons of feathers, which gives them lots of cushion and have alligator skinned feet. They do not have the same type of skin on their feet as we do, when realizing these features of a hen, you need not worry about the comfort of the plastic nesting pads when laying an egg.
Eggs that have a soft spot to land will be less likely to break than those that drop onto the bottom of a hard nest box after the hen has hollowed out the middle if using pine shavings or straw for nesting material.
We use plastic nesting pads. The plastic nest pads can not be easily kicked out of the nest by the hens, they protect the egg from breakage, are easy to clean in the event of a broken egg or soiled with poop and are easily washed and sanitized.
Everyone is always looking for ways to make use of the chicken feed bags. We cut them up to fit the nest boxes, use them as a liner under the plastic nesting pads, if an egg happens to get broken (or hopefully not eaten) pick up liner along with dirty nest pad. Replace chicken feed bag liner and wash off nesting pad.
SAND FOR LITTER
Eggs in nest boxes remain cleaner in wet or muddy outdoor conditions because hens' feet are cleaned and dried while walking through sand to reach nest boxes.
DROPPINGS BOARDS
A shelf or catchment system under the roosts to collect chicken droppings while they sleep.
Using droppings boards under the roosts, to be scraped off every morning with a drywall taping knife into a compost bucket, makes for quick and easy clean up along with a sand scooper if there happens to be a few dropping on the floor.
For even more efficient sifting of droppings on the coop and run floor, use the sand scooper in conjunction with the sand sifter
NEST PAD TRAINING
Chickens are prey animals and do not like change. If your hens have been using a different type of nesting material, they most likely won't be eager to switch to something else.
When we switched over to the plastic nesting pads, we added golf balls in the nesting boxes to make it look more enticing and give the illusion that a hen already laid her egg there and it is safe for her to do so. It might take a bit of time, but they will warm up to them.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The type of litter you use, the droppings boards under the roosts, and the nesting material are important for collecting clean eggs. Avoid placing food and water in the coop, as this encourages chickens to spend all day inside eating and drinking. Since their main activity is eating, they will also defecate, leading to a coop that is neither clean nor dry, resulting in dirty eggs. Dirty eggs allow bacteria to penetrate the eggshell and contaminate the egg. These elements all work together.
Our eggs are always clean when collected, so there's no need to wash them; they resemble the eggs you purchase at the grocery store.
The combination of all these systems ensures that we gather clean eggs consistently.
PHOTOS OF MY NESTING BOX SET UP. I GET CLEAN EGGS EVERY DAY.
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