# How long do pastured eggs keep?



## mama1803 (Mar 4, 2008)

I have the opportunity to purchase pastured eggs from Polyface farm.







They deliver to my area only every 5 weeks or so. How long will pastured eggs keep in my refrigerator?

Also, do I have to wash them? I remember reading here on MDC about people buying pastured eggs and favoring those that sometimes still had feathers stuck on them. If I have to wash them, what do I wash them with?


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## lyno (Sep 22, 2008)

i buy them from a farm near here. they say they last about 5-7 weeks if you refridgerate them. I don't wash them. I think they do because they look pretty clean to me.


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## CKHB (Jul 1, 2009)

I also buy pastured eggs in bulk (up to 15 dozen at a time) and they have always been fine until we run out - up to two months. I think it is also possible to freeze cracked eggs raw - maybe someone else here knows for sure. Enjoy your eggs!


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## mama1803 (Mar 4, 2008)

Thanks!


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## Pepper44 (May 16, 2006)

Yes you can freeze raw eggs, just crack them out of the shell first...like into an ice cube tray or something. Don't freeze them in the shell because they expand and the shell cracks. (This has happened to a lot of our eggs outside in the winter!)

Fresh eggs can keep for several weeks (2-3) unrefrigerated and for several months (2-4) refrigerated. The good thing about eggs is there's no question--crack a rotten one and you know it!

I wash the eggs I sell because I don't know how people feel about a few feather bits or streaks of poo/mud on their eggs. You're supposed to wash eggs in water hotter than the egg, otherwise with cooler water you force bacteria through the porous shell and into the egg.

Washing takes off the natural good bacteria coating/barrier on the outside, so it makes the eggs keep for less time. (Grocery store eggs are washed then coated with some kind of wax to reseal them.)

For the eggs we keep to eat, I don't wash them unless they are very dirty and then I wash them right before I crack them.


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## Magelet (Nov 16, 2008)

if they aren't washed, don't wash them to make them last longer.

(they should likely be just fine for 5 weeks. if you wanted to keep them longer, you could coat them in a layer of melted butter. or some weird stuff that I forget the name of that starts with an i. both traditional methods of keeping eggs over winter. I've never tried it.


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## annethcz (Apr 1, 2004)

Unless something has changed, Polyface does NOT wash their eggs. There's a funny chapter about the subject in Salatin's book Everything I Want to Do is Illegal. I think they do wipe off anything that might be stuck to the egg though.

As others have mentioned, not washing the eggs will help them to last longer. They should last many weeks in the fridge without a problem. At least, the eggs from *my* pastured chickens last that long without issue


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## laohaire (Nov 2, 2005)

And when my eggs are aging (I have some aging pastured eggs right now) I do the float test - if they sink, they're great, if they float, toss, if one end turns up somewhat they are older but I usually use them.


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## inkslinger (May 29, 2009)

We keep chickens, and our eggs last for quite awhile...6-7 weeks or so. I don't like to wash them, but it grosses my H out if they aren't washed. I also do the float test mentioned above if the eggs are questionable.


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## blueridgewoman (Nov 19, 2001)

We've gotten eggs from Polyface before and they've been clean.... They last about eight weeks or so in the fridge- at least, we've kept them that long.


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