I have. Broody hen with many of the eggs covered in poop. Can I clean the eggs? If so how?

[magentaraven]

Wondering if I can or should clean poopy eggs my broody hen is sitting on?

 

[nuthatched]

Warm Wet rag, is it wet or dry poop?

 

[magentaraven]

Warm Wet rag, is it wet or dry poop?

It’s kinda dry. I heard not to use a wet cloth as it takes the anti bacteria coating off the egg?

 

[nuthatched]

It’s kinda dry. I heard not to use a wet cloth as it takes the anti bacteria coating off the egg?

Well, yes, a little but the poop can't stay there. A little Peroxide might bubble it off.

 

[myaprilchooks]

do not use water, as it may destroy the bloomb

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

How much poop is on the eggs, and how far along are the eggs in incubation? If they are only a few days from hatching and not disgustingly covered in poop, I would leave them be. If they are early in incubation, you could try gently using sand paper to remove the dried poop. However, you won't be able to remove contamination that has invaded the egg shell.

I base the above suggestions on my personal experience, where if late in incubation, the chicks hatched sucessfully. Unfortunately, with eggs that became severely poop-covered (or if a broken egg coated the other eggs) early in incubation, the embryos usually died before hatching, whether I tried to clean the eggs or not. I do my best to make sure nest boxes remain perfectly clean whether a broody hen is sitting on eggs or not, but sometimes poop (and broken eggs) happens. If within the first several days of incubation and several eggs are affected, I now remove all eggs and give the hen a brand new clutch to incubate.