One seller I did contact, one I haven't yet. I agree about the animal husbandry comment. I have all kinds of waterfowl, Pekins, Runners, Muscovys, Calls, plus Sebastopol geese. I know they can muck up their eggs. But its up to US as their caretakers to make sure that their living conditions are suitable and CLEAN for them. Someone suggested to me that I use light sandpaper on the eggs. That's not going to work...we had to wash these eggs. There was no other way around it.
We use lots of hay, straw, and/or pine shavings in our coops, duck/goose houses. They're mucked out at least 2 times a week. This winter was horrible with all the snow we had here in TN. Between the cold temps and snow, we still managed to do a good job, I think anyway, of keeping things as clean as we could. I have to give alot of credit to my husband who does a major portion of the mucking due to a disability I have with my right arm. But we're out there daily seeing what we can do to improve things.
Even after a rain storm and their pens get muddy....we're right out there with hay to cover the mud. The ducks, geese, and chickens work it into the soil. We also try to reseed pens with grass seed every few weeks. I thought we were doing the norm, not the exception.
I do staggered hatches constantly and I also have some expensive stock that I'm trying to add to my place. I can't have eggs that could possibly contaminate my other eggs in my incubator.
Laurie
