How Bout the water method?

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Goat_Walker

Goat_Walker

I Am THE Crazy Duck Lady
11 Years
Jul 9, 2008
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Maryland
OK! So besides candleing - can I use the water method ( Sink/float ) on my incubated eggs? Or will the water mess with them?
 
I don't understand--what does sinking/floating tell you? I know with eating eggs, it will tell you whether the egg is still good to eat... but does it tell you something about fertility or ???

Just wondering... personally, I don't think I would put incubated eggs in water--I would think there would be too much danger of drowning or that the water, unless it was very carefully measured at exactly 99.5 degrees, would either overheat or overcool the egg very quickly.
 
The amount an egg sinks or floats has a lot to do with the size of the air sac. Older eggs will get larger air sacs. Doesn't apply to incubated eggs. If one goes rotten you will smell it quick and candling will tell you on most eggs. Submerging an egg you aren't going to use right away isn't a good idea and even less of a good idea with eggs you want to keep alive. The shell allows moisture in and out which can kill the chick if the eggs get too wet. I killed a few my first hatch because I didn't realize the weight of the eggs would shove the mesh down enough it touched the water underneath. The 2nd problem is bacteria can be carried in with that water. If any of my eggs I'm collecting for eating get wet I feed them to the pets or throw them away. Wet eggs are compromised. Bacteria can get into the shell easier and the coating on the outside that keeps bacteria out may have been washed off or get wiped off in your attempts to dry the eggs. The only eggs I would test in water are eggs I was breaking that same day.
 
Quote:
Thanks!




i wasnt sure if it applied to fertility or just if the egg was good or not . Ive heard though that you can put an egg in water to see if it is good or not,

I was wondering if I put an egg in water if it floats It was bad without stinking yet? Because I had an egg today that smelt fine yesterday but then all of a sudden today it was oozing brown goo.
 
When you use water on an egg near hatch - or an egg late to hatch, use fairly shallow water (couple of inches) at 99-100 degrees, as long as it's just deep enough to cover the egg BRIEFLY.

You place the egg in the water gently - making as little movement of the water as possible. Then watch. A LIVING chick will soon start MOVING around enough to move the egg and the water. Get it out fast - that one is alive! Yay. An egg that doesn't move at all and the water helps you TELL/SEE that clearly is a dead chick.

You'll get a few questionable ones, but it's actually a good way to tell when the eggs are WAY too dark to candle.

Just make it FAST - you are depriving them of oxygen, it's why they move.

Don't do this in front of children, this is a bad thing to let them think of doing when you are not watching. It goes on the list of what children should probably not see without gigantic lectures and a lock on your bator.
 
Wow--I had no idea you could do that. Cool!
big_smile.png
 
I agree, I wouldnt put my eggs in water that Im hatching, ESPECAILLY if it has a chick...its already tough enough for them to break out of the shell, much less scare them and try to figure out whats happening to them ....I wouldnt take that chance that I might "drown" a chick and it would be my fault either.

Thats just me...for one Im a Mom, and a Medic...to server and protect and save lives...
 

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