Originally Posted by MacThayer

I used to live in England, where we never even bothered to refrigerate eggs, and I used them in everything without problems. One thing to know about eggs is that if you take them directly from the hen without washing them, the hen leaves a protective surface on the egg that prevents permeation of the shell by bacteria. So has long as your hen is not infected (which can happen) and you don't wash the eggs until ready to use them, you're safe.

BTW, I also raised chickens for years, and never had problems with samonella.