To mist or not to mist (EGGS)

Never wash an egg going to be incubated. We have racks that auto turn with the eggs on their sides, but I also hand turn 3 times a day and mist when I turn the eggs. Good luck with your eggs.

I'm confused If you are never supose to wash an egg how do you keep notes on it (per Pete55) I understand it's perferable not to wash. I also know never to use warm/hot water it'll cause the pores to open more. But sometimes the eggs are horrid. Do we just eat those?

P. Sue

I rinse the worst of the dirt off of my goose eggs and then let them air dry.  I have an Iowa farm background and my family said the bloom on the egg helped keep it from spoiling, but if you don't use soap some stays in and on the pores.  I tried the goose turners for my hovabator and didn't like them so I mist and hand turn my eggs.  I also incubated the first eggs from all three of my geese, all of which are less than a year old and I have only had 5 that weren't fertile out of 30.  This is my third time to incubate eggs so I don't feel as if I am an authority by any means and I am still learning.

i have 6 Sebastopol eggs coming to me from ebay now, so will be following your thread and hoping for some good tips.  i have never incubated goose eggs, but a good friend has.  He said he does mist his every day and has very good hatches.

Thanks Littledear,

I helped my Grandma with chickens but had never used an incubator or handled Geese.

I got my Embdens in Dec. thanks to the mild winter and got in a hurry and bought an incubator, stoled eggs from Momma and started them on the 8th.. I didn't wash them they weren't that dirty and they are growing  

I got a trio of Pilgrims for Valentines Day and the man gave us the 4 eggs he found in their pen. One was craked and the others were bad enough I really couldn't tell if they were cracked until I washed them off (cool water,no soap).

All I can do is wait and see if I am doing anything right

P. Sue

Pete posted a thread on incubating goose eggs that is very informative.  Just type it up in the search bar.

I hand turn because otherwise they stay in the same spot (date side up) the entire time. The extra turning seems to help. I turn all the goose eggs, mist and close back up after hand turning the Emu eggs and misting the duck eggs. So the cabinet door is open may e 5-7 min when I go in three times a day.

I never wash hatching eggs. I will wipe off with a paper towel. I also use Mr Clean magic erasers to take heavy stuff off if needed. Changing the bedding often and turning it helps keep clean eggs for hatching. We have 1 duck who insists on laying the dirt.

Hi

As per my previous article I do tend to wash the eggs in tepid water, especially the Dewlaps. I dont rub the shell but try to lightly rinse so any dirt, bacteria etc is not rubbed into the pores of the egg shell.  I also mist as a method of cooling the eggs through evaporation when cooling daily.  This encourages good gas exchange for the embryo and moisture loss from the egg.  However cooling and misting is not started until the 2nd week when the eggs are clearly fertile on candling..

Pete